In the words of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, U.S. president Joe Biden, and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, IMEC is not just an economic project but a historical endeavor with the potential to reshape global trade dynamics for decades. The geopolitical complexities and transient hurdles posed by conflicts like the Gaza or Israel-Iran hostilities are navigable challenges, not insurmountable barriers. Moreover, regional economic integration and co-development are integral to peace and prosperity, including for Palestinians and across the Middle East. It is thus imperative for the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel to ensure that Hamas and Iran’s efforts to thwart IMEC’s progress do not succeed.

IMEC’s launch represents a triumph in advancing member nations’ economic and security interests without the concomitant obligation of enormous foreign assistance or military forces. Realizing the initiative’s awesome promise will, however, require sustained statecraft, committed public-private partnerships, and intrepid energy. The upcoming G7 Summit in Italy is a timely opportunity to set this enterprise in motion.

Kaush Arha is president of the Free & Open Indo-Pacific Forum and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue.

Carlos Roa is a Visiting Fellow at the Danube Institute and an Associate Washington Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy. He is the former executive editor of The National Interest and remains a contributing editor of that publication.

Image: Shutterstock.com.