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The escalation in the war between Palestine-based terror group Hamas and Israel is likely to slow down projects envisaged by the I2U2 (India, Israel, US, UAE) grouping including the $2-billion investments in food parks promised by the UAE in Gujarat and Maharashtra and collaborations in renewable energy, sources have said.
India, which was to host a virtual meeting of senior officials from I2U2 nations this month to fast-track the announced projects, is looking for fresh dates as the time is not “conducive” for a meet.
“The UAE and Israel may want to wait for things to cool down before they talk business. The two are not in the best position for talks while such a bloody fight is on. The projects lined up under I2U2 after last year’s leaders summit may suffer a setback, at least till the situation normalises,” a person tracking the matter told businessline.
While Israel has been maintaining that it is ‘business as usual’ for it and the war has not affected its functioning, the diplomatic strain between Israel and the UAE is definitely casting its shadow on the I2U2, the source said.
Under scrutiny
“If an I2U2 meeting is held at this point, the optics would not be good. For India, it would be okay but not for Israel and the UAE. The UAE will come under scrutiny of the Arab world which may ask why was it sitting in dialogue with Israel while there were killings going on in Palestine,” the source said.
At the virtual I2U2 Summit last year, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister (former) Yair Lapid and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, it was decided that the UAE will invest $2 billion to develop integrated food parks across India as part of an initiative to enhance food security in West Asia and South Asia. These food parks, which would be set up in Gujarat and Maharashtra to begin with, would incorporate state-of-the-art climate-smart technologies to reduce food waste and spoilage, conserve fresh water, and employ renewable energy sources.
“Several meetings have already happened between the two sides and problem areas were fast being ironed out. But the situation in Israel needs to cool down before talks can progress,” the source said.
It was also decided at the summit that Israel and the US will work with the UAE and India to highlight private sector opportunities in green energy. The idea is to help the private sector in India contribute to achieving the country’s goal of attaining 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030.
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