The ongoing conflict in West Asia has cast a shadow over I2U2 – a grouping of India, Israel, the US and the UAE forged to tackle global challenges such as food security, energy, water and health, and advance economic opportunities. Discussions in the group have gone dormant with no meetings taking place for almost a year because of Israel’s attack on Gaza, sources have said.
“India has adopted a ‘wait and watch’ approach on the matter as it does not want to disturb its balancing act in the region. The status quo may continue unless the US and Israel want to proactively push things despite UAE wanting to distance itself from Israel,”, the source told businessline.
The last I2U2 Sherpas meeting happened in New York in September 2023 on the sidelines of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly. After terror group Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 killing over a thousand Israelis and taking several hostage and Israel started a horrific war against Palestine in which hundreds are being killed every day, the I2U2 became dormant.
“It is not possible to expect the UAE to be dialoguing with Israel when it is at the centre of the conflict in the Middle East and Muslim countries are being affected. It is a sensitive matter, and the UAE does not seem interested in reopening the dialogue,” the source said.
As it may take a long time for the situation in the Middle East to normalise, there is a lot of uncertainty on what is to happen to I2U2 in the days to come.
“The success of the I2U2 depends on the West Asia situation being resolved. One has to see what position the US and Israel take on the grouping if the crisis continues,” the source said.
Middle East crisis
In February, White House representatives had said that the I2U2 group continued to be a priority for the Biden government and was not on the back-burner due to the Middle East situation.
I2U2 was initially formed during a virtual ministerial call hosted by Secretary Blinken with his I2U2 counterparts in October 2021.
The heads of state of the four countries convened the first leaders’ summit on July 14, 2022, to establish the I2U2 Group . The focus of the group is on encouraging joint investments in six mutually identified areas including water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.