New Delhi: Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal has hailed the India-Mediterranean Economic Corridor (IMEC) as a crucial initiative for India’s maritime security and faster movement of goods between Europe and Asia, a PIB press release stated.
During the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) India-Mediterranean Business Conclave 2024 in New Delhi, Goyal said that the IMEC was launched during India’s G20 presidency and aims to integrate India, the Europe, the Middle-East through UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and the European Union. He said that lower logistics cost, faster connectivity and secure movement of goods is dependent on better cooperation in this area.
The minister said that various initiatives including PLI scheme, Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) through FTAs and economic partnerships have boosted India’s manufacturing growth story and nation’s efforts to promote agri-value chains can support the initiatives between India and Mediterranean countries. He also suggested that the government should constitute a working group on tourism between the countries of the Mediterranean and India as there is a huge potential for cooperation and mutual benefit.
“India offers a large market for the Mediterranean goods and services given the close connection both the nations have shared over the decades,” Goyal said. He said that India is one of the fastest growing economies with a young demography and it will drive global growth for decades to come. India is expected to become the third largest economy in the next few years, he said.
The minister also said that the Centre sees huge opportunity in developing ports and has doubled the port capacity in the last decade. We hope to double the capacity of ports in the next 5 years.