First virtual I2U2 summit

Context

The first-ever I2U2 Virtual Summit was held comprising India, Israel, the UAE, and the US.

Key-highlights

The grouping focused on the food security crisis and clean energy during their meeting.
They also discussed innovative ways to ensure longer-term, more diversified food production and food delivery systems that can better manage global food shocks.
I2U2 will bring together countries, governments and the private sector to tackle challenges.
The leaders welcomed India’s interest in joining the United States, the UAE, and Israel in the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate initiative (AIM for Climate).
For India

The grouping unveiled initiatives focused on food security and clean energy, including:

UAE will invest $2-billion programme to develop a series of integrated food parks across India.

Food parks will incorporate state-of-the-art climate-smart technologies to reduce food waste and spoilage, conserve fresh water, and employ renewable energy sources.
The Indian government will provide appropriate land and facilitate farmers’ integration into the food parks.

It will consist of 300 megawatts (MW) of wind and solar capacity, complemented by a battery energy storage system.
The project is expected to be another step in India’s quest for “500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030”.

About The I2U2 group

I2U2 stands for India, Israel, the UAE, and the US, and was also referred to as the ‘West Asian Quad’.
The group was first conceptualised in October 2021, during a meeting of the foreign ministers of the four countries in Israel.
At that time, the grouping was called the ‘International Forum for Economic Cooperation’.

Objectives

Its stated aim is to discuss “common areas of mutual interest, to strengthen the economic partnership in trade and investment in our respective regions and beyond”.
Six areas of cooperation have been identified by the countries mutually.

With the help of “private sector capital and expertise”, the countries will look to modernise infrastructure, explore low carbon development avenues for industries, improve public health, and promote the development of critical emerging and green technologies.