• I2U2 was first put together in October 2021, after the Abraham Accords between Israel and the UAE, to deal with maritime security, infrastructure, and transportation problems in the area.
It was called the “International Forum for Economic Cooperation” at the time.
People called that the “West Asian Quad.”
• I2U2 is a new group made up of India, Israel, the USA, and the UAE.
• “I2” in the group’s name stands for India and Israel, while “U2” stands for the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
• This is a great accomplishment that shows how geopolitics change in the area.
• This will not only bring alliances and partnerships around the world back to life and give them new energy, but it will also bring together partnerships that did not exist before or were not used to their full potential.
• I2U2 wants to give American relationships around the world a new lease on life.
• The group wants to improve the ties between these four countries and talk about food security, maritime issues, and other ways they can work together.
• One of the goals is to strengthen trade and business ties between Israel and the UAE and work on biotechnology.
• India, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are all major centres of technology. These countries can work together in many areas, including technology, trade, climate, COVID-19, and security.
• I2U2 tries to find ways for the four countries to work together on security within the new group.
Importance of the I2U2 (Significance)
• Security Cooperation: This will help the four countries look into ways to work together on security within these new groups.
• Hubs of Technology: Each of these countries is a hub of technology.
o Biotechnology is a big deal in all of these countries, of course.
• Food Security: This project gives us a chance to talk about food security.
• Work together in different areas: These countries could work together on many different levels, including technology, trade, the climate, fighting Covid-19, and even security.
How I2U2 is important for India
• Benefits of the Abraham Accords: The Abraham Accords will help India strengthen its relationship with Israel without putting its relationships with the UAE and the other Arab states at risk.
• Market Benefit: India has a huge number of people who buy things. It makes a huge amount of high-tech things that are also very popular. India will gain from being part of this group.
• Alliances: It will help India make political and social ties with other countries.
Highlights of the first summit of the I2U2
The goal of the Summit was to get people to work together and spend in six areas that everyone agreed on. These included water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.
The Grouping wants to bring together money and skills to help improve our infrastructure, the health of the people, and the development of important new and green technologies.
• The food problem and clean energy were the main topics of the meeting.
The leaders talked about new ways to make sure that food supply and delivery systems are more stable and can handle global food shocks better in the long run.
• Sustainable energy and the issue of food security were two of the topics at the summit.
The leaders talked about creative ways to make food production and supply networks more stable and able to handle global food shocks in the long term.
• “AIM for Climate” (Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate):
It is a joint effort by the United States and the United Arab Emirates that will start on the eve of CoP26 in November 2021.
It aims to solve both global hunger and climate change over the next five years, from 2021 to 2025, by getting people to work together to spend much more in climate-smart agricultural and food system innovations.
Initiatives announced in the summit
Food Security:
• The UAE will spend $2 billion USD to build Integrated Food Parks in different parts of India.
• India will give the project the land it needs and make it easy for farmers to take part in the food parks.
• Private businesses from the United States and Israel will be asked to share their knowledge and come up with new ideas that will make the project last longer.
In these parks, modern climate-smart technologies will be used to reduce food waste and spoilage, save fresh water, and use green energy sources. These investments will help reduce food insecurity in South Asia and the Middle East by increasing crop yields.
• The I2U2 Group will move forward with a hybrid green energy project in the Indian state of Gujarat.
The project includes 300 MW of wind and solar power as well as a way to store energy in batteries. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency helped pay for a feasibility study of the $330 million project.
