September 19: The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed to advance the 'India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor' (IMEC) project recently during the G-20 Conference held in New Delhi, India, has gained worldwide attention.

The project connecting the three continents is expected to greatly help in economic development. IMEC will speed up the current trade from India to Europe by about 40 percent. It is expected that the expenses incurred will be greatly reduced.

While the world leaders were making such far-reaching agreements in neighboring India, Nepal remained in a 'quiet' state as if it had not received the information. Although Nepal was not invited to the G-20 Conference, it can still benefit from that project if Nepal uses through diplomatic initiative.

Perhaps, if successful diplomacy had been practiced, Nepal could have participated in the G-20 Conference in one way or another. For that, Nepal was not able to prove its need, nor could it convince the organizers with diplomatic assistance. Meanwhile, Bangladesh, which holds a similar status to that of Nepal, got an opportunity to participate in the G-20 conference and is also participating in the IMEC project initiated by India. There are various reasons why Nepal was not invited to the G-20 Conference, but the prime reason is Nepal's weak diplomatic ability. Therefore, besides focusing on developing Nepal's existing diplomatic capacity, it is necessary to emphasize on how to join the IMEC project. Nepal is becoming more and more dependent day by day. Therefore, it is beneficial for Nepal to fully participate in regional and international projects.

This project is being initiated by India, Nepal's close neighbor, and it is more necessary for Nepal as it is also related to economic development. If Bangladesh can participate in the project that starts from Mumbai, which is known as the financial capital of India, it does not mean that Nepal cannot participate. Even now, goods are imported from Mumbai to Nepal. Geographically, connecting Nepal with Mumbai does not seem that difficult as Nepal has already decided to participate in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is considered more complicated than IMEC. Even though Nepal has been a member of BRI for a long time, there is no visible progress, so there is no problem in becoming a member of IMEC. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Italy, which are members of IMEC, are also members of BRI. Therefore, Nepal needs to take care of what work and what decision is more beneficial.

If Nepal ignores IMEC because of ego, or not being able to participate in the G-20, there is a great danger that Nepal will be isolated from the integrated world. The countries that signed the MoU for the IMEC project are currently at the world's leading level. Only with the help of connectivity, Nepal can benefit from the economic, technical and other progress made by these countries. It is necessary for everyone to understand that the cooperation of developed countries is indispensable and lobbying to become a member of a project like IMEC should not be delayed.

What is IMEC?

It is a trade link starting from Mumbai, the financial capital of India, and will pass through Jabel Ali (UAE), Al Ghuwaifat (UAE), Haradh (Saudi Arabia), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Al Haditha (Saudi Arabia), Haifa (Israel), Jordan, Piraeus (Greece) to connect America and Europe.

Initially, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Mauritius, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States signed agreement for this project. It has prioritized sea and rail connectivity elsewhere.