Aditi Bhaduri 

Recent cataclysmic events in Syria may have rendered India's search for alternative and faster trade routes more critical. Last year during the G20 summit in Delhi India, together with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdel Aziz, had launched the initiative for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC).

This trade route, consisting of a multi-modal transport Corridor, was meant to connect India to the UAE, from where it traveled overland via Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine,  and Israel and further to Greece and Europe. This would expedite the transportation of freight while cutting down costs.

Geo-Strategic Insights

India's search for alternative trade routes to the existing one through the Suez had begun long ago. Still, it was expedited first after the Suez blockade of 2021 and later by the trade disruptions caused by Yemen's Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea through which goods from Asia and Africa sailed to pass through the Suez into the Mediterranean Sea.

Yet, the Hamas-Israel war being waged since 7th October 2023 had put the IMEEC project in cold storage for now. The changes in Syria have added another layer of complexity as the region has plunged into more uncertainty. This made the recent trilateral consultations between India, Iran, and Armenia so significant. Iran and Armenia have now emerged as key to India’s connectivity aspirations to Europe,  via the Eurasian landmass, bypassing the Suez. 

On December 12, New Delhi held the second India-Iran-Armenia trilateral. J.P Singh, Joint Secretary, PAI Division led the discussions from the Indian side. The delegations from Iran and Armenia were led by H.E. Mr. Hashem Ashja’ Zadeh, Director General of the South Asia Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and H.E. Ms. Anahit Karapetyan, Head of Asia-Pacific Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, respectively.

Flags of Armenia, India and iran

The first such trilateral was held last year in April in Armenia.  A statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said "Building on the outcomes of the previous trilateral consultations held in Yerevan in April 2023, the three sides discussed connectivity initiatives, engagement in multilateral fora, and regional developments....The officials also explored ways to promote trade, tourism, and cultural exchanges while strengthening people-to-people ties." 

Over the past few years, cooperation between these three countries has been increasing. Traditionally India has enjoyed close and cordial relations with Iran. India also has historical and civilizational ties with Armenia. Iran and Armenia share a border and close historical ties.

The Armenian Diaspora which appeared in India by the 18th century made their way through Iran. The three countries, though very different at first glance, share a common challenge - difficult neighborhoods. Their historically cordial relations have since paved the way for closer bilateral relations and are evolving into trilateral cooperation.  

The key to this cooperation is connectivity and trade routes. India, scouring for faster and more cost-effective trade corridors both to its east and west, has been working on implementing the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) which would link it to the Russian Federation through Iran, it had launched the initiative for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) last year, more recently it activated the Vladivostok-Chennai Maritime Corridor. 

Map of the proposed route link between India, Iran and Armenia

Not for nothing did the meeting in Delhi focused also on "fostering close cooperation under the INSTC and highlighted the role of Chabahar Port in this regard". 

The first trilateral meeting last year had also focused on "...economic issues and regional communication channels......." as a statement by the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. 

Iran and Armenia are crucial for India’s connectivity ambitions. Iran serves as India's getaway to Central Asia and the Caucasus.  Since at least 2013, India has been mulling over the development of the Chabahar port on Iran's East coast in the Sistan-Baluchistan province, overlooking the Gulf of Oman. For India, this is the nearest Iranian port. It was also meant to counter the China-built Gwadar Port on Pakistan’s Makran Port. However, western sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme had stalled the progress on Chabahar.

In 2016 during his visit to Tehran Prime Minister Narendra Modi earmarked $500 million for the work. Since 2018, the port's operations have been managed by the New Delhi-backed India Ports Global Limited (IPGL). Despite delays because of continuing American sanctions on Iran, earlier this year India signed a 10-year contract for the operation of the Chabahar port - a bold and strategic move.  

Meanwhile, the Armenian government has launched an ambitious project to leverage Armenia's geopolitical location to turn it into a "Crossroads of Peace". Armenia has a unique geopolitical location- a landlocked country in the heart of the South Caucuses, it borders Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia. The plan aims to leverage this to turn the country into a trade, transport, and communications hub, and enable countries of the region to access European and Asian markets and vice versa.

The second Iran-India-Armenia consultations in New Delhi

At the trilateral in Delhi, the Armenian side briefed the participants on "The Crossroads of Peace”. This initiative converges with India’s connectivity aspirations.  Given the war that the Middle East has been engulfed in for more than a year, the IMEEC project has been pushed into cold storage. There is no end in sight either, with recent developments in Syria.

In this context, Armenia becomes important as such an alternate trade and transport route could only pass through Armenia which has joined the Chabahar Port project, and is a part of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). The shortest route for India to Europe now, bypassing the Suez Canal, is through Iran and Armenia. Through Iran, and via the INSTC, which would be connected to Armenia's North-South Transport Corridor, the corridor would run further through the territory of Georgia to access the ports of Batumi and Poti on the Black Sea.

Another geo-strategically significant port of Anaklia is under construction by the Chinese. For India,  this is the shortest route to the Black Sea and onwards to the Mediterranean and Eastern and Southern Europe.  

Such a corridor will also be a significant counter to China's Belt and Road Initiative which runs parallel, connecting Turkey to Central Asia through Georgia,  and Azerbaijan. 

Such India-Iran-Armenia trilateral cooperation is crucial for the economies of both Iran and Armenia too. Iran has just taken a huge battering from its shadow war with Israel. It's also reeling under sanctions and trade and transit routes running through it will be a source of enormous revenue. Apart from Armenia, other Central Asian countries have also connected to the INSTC and signed on to the Chabahar port cooperation. 

For Armenia too, turning its landlocked geography into a regional connectivity and communication hub will pay rich dividends. However, large tracts of the North-South Corridor running through Armenia need to be constructed. The government of Armenia, however, has already embarked on a reconstruction of some of the decrepit rail routes which will be part of the Corridor.

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Such trilateral cooperation will be salient for the stabilization of east-west and north-south trade routes, as for the security of the South Caucuses.