IMEC, Suez Canal of the XXIst century
Gérard Mestrallet (X68) was the keynote speaker for the official launch of X India Group in Maison des X last fall. He introduces in this interview the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) for which he is France’s special envoy for IMEC. This initiative, endorsed by eight major countries during the G20 September 2023 in New Delhi, is an alternative complementing China’s New Silk Road, the Belt and Road initiative.
First of all, thank you very much for accepting the invitation from La Jaune et la Rouge to carry out this interview. Before getting to the heart of the matter and talking about IMEC, could you briefly remind us of your career path since graduating from Polytechnique ?
Thank you for your invitation. It’s always a great pleasure to reconnect with Polytechnique, a school that still holds a special place in my heart.
I’m a graduate of the promotion X1968. After graduating from Polytechnique, ENAC, ENA and Sciences Po Toulouse, I joined the Direction Générale du Trésor, and afterwards the Cabinet of Jacques Delors, then Minister of the Economy and Finance, as Advisor in charge of industrial affairs. I later joined Suez, where I held various positions, culminating in my appointment as CEO in 1995. Suez and GDF merged in 2008 to become ENGIE, and I became CEO of the new company until 2015.
I was then Executive Chairman of the Agence française de développement culturel, patrimonial et touristique d’AlUla (Afalula), in Saudi Arabia, from 2018 to 2023.
Finally, in November 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron appointed me as France’s Special Envoy for the IMEC project, a position I’ve been delighted to hold for over a year now.
I’m sure that your rich career path will inspire many of our readers. Could you tell us more about the IMEC project ?
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is a project for an economic and logistics corridor linking Asia to Europe via the Middle East. Announced on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023, eight participants signed a memorandum of understanding on this occasion : India, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
IMEC is likely to be one of the major infrastructure and connectivity projects of the 21st century. The project will connect countries representing half the world’s GDP and over 40% of the global population.
The corridor will be made up of three legs : a maritime axis linking India to the Arabian Peninsula, a land segment connecting a large part of the Middle East to Israel, and another maritime line crossing the Mediterranean to Europe with the port of Marseille.
IMEC aims to enhance connectivity and foster integration between India, the Middle East and the European Union while developing greener logistics solutions along this route.
In concrete terms, how will this corridor materialize ?
In practice, IMEC will result in highly ambitious infrastructure projects, including the deployment of over 1 500 kilometers of rail track, 20 000 kilometers of fiber optic network, and green hydrogen infrastructure. Harmonization of administrative and customs formalities will also be essential to promote such interconnection projects.
In addition, IMEC is likely to require a considerable investment of over €500 billion according to the first estimate. Private and institutional investors from the various countries involved will thus have a fundamental role to play in the corridor’s development.
What are the advantages of such a project ?
This project is particularly promising : IMEC will bring out considerable advantages, both for France and for a large number of other countries.
Above all, France wants to become a key player in the project, as reflected in the appointment by the French President Special Envoy for the IMEC in November 2023. IMEC will enable us to strengthen our international influence promoting the know-how of French companies abroad.
The Grand Port Maritime de Marseille is at the heart of this strategy : we want to position it as one of the corridor’s main entry and exit points in Europe. The port of Marseille, one of the largest in the Mediterranean, already benefits from excellent connections to the rest of Europe. IMEC will also enable the completion of major national projects, such as the Marseille-Fos Euro-Mediterranean hydrogen hub and the Grand Port Marseille-Lyon.
IMEC is also taking place against a backdrop of major growth in trade between Asia, the Middle East and Europe, and particularly between India and the European Union. For example, the projected growth in trade flows between these two parties averages 6% per year, with a volume of €175 million.
This dynamic opens up considerable business opportunities in a wide variety of fields. Public-private partnerships will therefore be a key success parameter. As French companies and expertise are already leaders in IMEC’s many sectors, our “fleurons” will naturally have a fundamental role to play.
« Beyond these economic considerations, IMEC also aims to unite peoples and build solidarity between countries. »
IMEC is also one of the priorities of the European Union, also a signatory to the original memorandum of understanding. The corridor could thus become the flagship project of the “Global Gateway”, its new connectivity strategy launched at the end of 2021. This project contributes to securing and diversifying value chains between the East and the West.
IMEC will leverage economic development of the regions crossing this new route. At local level, the corridor contributes to the development of hinterlands and infrastructure, as well as the emergence of economic clusters. Internationally, this new trade route will boost trade by reducing transport time and costs.
Beyond these economic considerations, IMEC also aims to unite peoples and build solidarity between countries. Interconnections foster dialogue, which is always the first step towards reconciliation and the key to lasting peace.
I am therefore deeply convinced that IMEC will be a powerful instrument for development, progress and peace.
Where does the project currently stand, and what are the next steps ? Is the war in the Middle East having an impact on IMEC ?
Indeed, IMEC was designed to cross the entire Arabian Peninsula to the Israeli port of Haifa. When the memorandum of understanding was signed at the end of September 2023, the project represented the first concrete materialization of the Abraham Accords.
Despite this difficult context following the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, IMEC remains a relevant connectivity project on the long term. In this context in Middle East, it could also represent the project of “the day after”.
We are currently engaged in a preliminary phase, requiring feasibility studies which will take years to complete. The results of these studies will determine the precise route of the corridor. IMEC is nevertheless already a reality on some segments. In any case, we are pursuing our work with our most active partners.
China’s influence in the world and in the West is increasingly important, particularly through China’s ambitious New Silk Roads, the Belt and Road Initiative. Do you think IMEC has the means to counter and compete with this influence ?
I regularly read that the IMEC is an alternative, or even a competitor to China’s New Silk Road. Although these projects both have the ambition of linking Asia to Europe, in reality they are much more complementary than they are presented.
I would therefore like to reassure our partners : IMEC’s primary aim is to develop new logistic and commercial exchanges between countries by creating other routes, that will connect regions and diversify our partners. We should therefore be delighted that such projects are multiplying. However, it is clear that the IMEC will make India’s offer more and more competitive.
What’s more, the project must above all be efficient, reducing transport costs and time : in the end, it’s the market that will choose the best route.
