Moscow will launch talks with Delhi for the creation of a corridor connecting Russia-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman-India, sources indicated to ET

India is partnering with both the US and Russia to build connectivity networks and related infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region that will run parallel to China's mega Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has been described as Beijing's tool to dominate geopolitics.

While the US government's international finance development agency is in talks with India to sign an agreement for joint investments in energy, transport, tourism and technology infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region, Moscow will launch talks with Delhi for the creation of a corridor connecting Russia-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman-India, sources indicated to ET.

The idea of the corridor will be discussed at next week's Indo-Russian annual summit. It will complement the International North South Transport Corridor, Ashgabat Agreement (connectivity project in Eurasia along with Oman) and India's association in Iran’s Chabahar Port. The issue could also be discussed at the Indo-Uzbek Summit here early next week, in the backdrop of a mega transport conference that was organised in Tashkent recently.

Issues such as the transport and transit potential of Central Asian countries, new corridors in the region, creation of a network of customs warehouses, creation of modern conditions and development of customs and border procedures for international freight transport, introduction of information technologies and marketing and digital services were discussed at the Tashkent meet.

India is keen on the promotion of non-BRI corridors in the Eurasian region and it is the only country which did not endorse BRI in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit Communique. When foreign minister Sushma Swaraj visits Tajikistan mid-October for an SCO Heads of Governments meet, she will reiterate India's principled position on connectivity initiatives that do not violate sovereignty and implemented in a transparent fashion without financial burden and military motives, people in the know said.

The US government is putting in a mega financial package for partnering with India, Australia and Japan to build infrastructure projects to counter-balance BRI, it has been learnt.

After signing agreements with the overseas finance development arms of Japan and Australia, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is “in discussions with India right now” to reach a memorandum of understanding, OPIC president and CEO Ray Washburne told Hong Kong English daily South China Morning Post on Monday. If concluded, the agreement “will reflect very much like the ones we have with Japan and Australia”, Washburne said.

"Those partnerships allow the three countries to streamline the process of joint investments in energy, transport, tourism and technology infrastructure. The investments are also meant to attract private capital to the projects — investments that are, in some cases, many times larger than those of the three governments. OPIC’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region is set to grow after the passage of a Bill that would give the agency authority to invest equity in development projects instead of just providing loans," the paper reported.

If a Bill is passed and signed into law by US President Donald Trump, OPIC would be renamed the US International Development Finance Corporation (USIDFC) and the amount of money the agency could put towards infrastructure projects would more than double, with a cap of $60 billion, the paper said.