How the Abraham Accords spawned the I2U2 forum

The foreign ministers of the 'I2U2' had met virtually during the visit of the Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar to Israel in October 2021. Discussions had centred around improving trade ties, cooperating in the region’s maritime security, synergising efforts for global public health, and joint infrastructure projects.

Recently India, the UAE, Israel and the USA announced the launch of the I2U2 website. It was followed by another announcement  - the four countries within the framework of the I2U2 (India, Israel, USA, UAE) forum would be launching a joint space programme.  What’s unsurprising is that the announcement came on the third anniversary of the Abraham Accords, signed between Israel and the UAE to normalise relations between them.

Conflicts Recede, Synergies Beckon

On 15 September, 2020, Israel, the UAE and Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords, brokered by the United States. The UAE became the first Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) state to establish ties with Israel, paving the way for other Arab states like Bahrain, and Morocco to follow suit.

The accords, however, have also benefited India, paving the way for trilateral cooperation between India, Israel, and the UAE. India has had good strong relations with both Israel and the UAE. India is the UAE's second largest trading partner and a strategic one. Both countries have signed the Comprehensive Economic Partner Agreement, while with Israel India's ties span a wide range of sectors from defence to agricultural  cooperation.

Both countries have an estimated $7.5 billion trade turnover and are negotiating a free trade agreement. The accords have made trilateral cooperation possible for India also. The very same year India, Israel and the UAE signed their maiden trilateral agreement, whereby an Israel-based company, Ecoppia, will be producing an innovative robotic solar cleaning technology in India for a landmark project in the UAE. The company’s manufacturing base is in India.

In 2021, India, the UAE, and Israel also entered into a defence partnership. After a string of attacks on the UAE reportedly by the Iran-backed  Houthi rebels in Yemen, the UAE deployed at least two Barak air defense systems on its territory.  The system is jointly developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in close collaboration with two Israeli defence firms, Elta and Rafael. It is able to shoot down enemy aircraft at a range of 50-70 kilometres, at both low or high altitudes. India is hugely invested in Gulf security as it has about seven million Indian expatriate workers in the region. Recall that the drone attack on Abu Dhabi in January 2022 had killed two Indians.

Win-Win For All Sides

Trilateral cooperation is a win-win for all sides – whether defence, trade or economic – with India having a sound manufacturing base, Israel’s technology, and the UAE one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. This would dovetail with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Made in India" initiative. Besides cooperation in defence,  counterterrorism,  and intelligence sharing as all three countries share common security concerns.

The Abraham Accords further engendered the I2U2 forum, also called “Middle Eastern Quad". The foreign ministers of the 'I2U2' had met virtually during the visit of the Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar to Israel in October 2021. Discussions had centred around improving trade ties, cooperating in the region’s maritime security, synergising efforts for global public health, and joint infrastructure projects.

The following year, in July 2022, the leaders of the four countries held a virtual summit, where  Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, and UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan formally launched the forum. An immediate outcome was an India-Middle East food corridor with the UAE pledging $2 billion for food parks to be established in India, leveraging India’s food production capacity, with the help of Israeli and US agritech, clean tech, renewable energies, and knowhow.

Economic and trade cooperation is the major focus of the forum, prompted by the disruptions caused by Covid-19 and now the Ukraine conflict. In February this year, the I2U2 held its first business forum in Abu Dhabi, where representatives of both private and public sectors met to identify joint business ventures and projects. The group’s website, launched during the I2U2 High Officials Meeting in New York, aims to attract new investment projects under the group’s umbrella, and empower businesses and investors.

I2U2 And China

But there is a geopolitical context too. The I2U2 has also been floated primarily by the US to counter China’s growing footprint in the Middle East, precisely when the US is receding from the region to pivot to the Asia-Pacific to counter Chinese hegemony there.

That is also partly why the India-Middle East-Europe trade corridor has been proposed. Both the UAE and Israel have robust relations with China.

But India’s integration with the West Asian region will help balance the Chinese presence.  Simultaneously, India’s steady integration will ensure continuing convergence and sustained engagement between India, Israel, and the UAE, irrespective of the future trajectory of the US's engagement with West Asia.

Aditi Bhaduri is a journalist and political analyst. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.