Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on Thursday (July 14) will participate in an I2U2 Summit, along with Israel PM Yair Lapid, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and US President Joseph R. Biden.
I2U2 stands for India, Israel, the UAE, and the US, and was also referred to as the ‘West Asian Quad’ by Ahmed Albanna, Ambassador of the UAE to India.
Back in October 2021, a meeting of the foreign ministers of the four countries had taken place when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was visiting Israel. At that time, the grouping was called the ‘International Forum for Economic Cooperation’.
The first Leaders’ Summit of I2U2 will be held virtually today.
“The Leaders will discuss the possible joint projects within the framework of I2U2 as well as the other common areas of mutual interest to strengthen the economic partnership in trade and investment in our respective regions and beyond,” as per the press release.
The development comes during US President Joe Biden’s upcoming visit next month to the Middle East in accordance to the Abraham Accords.
The visit will focus on Israel’s increasing integration into the Muslim world, both through the Abraham Accords with UAE, Morocco and Bahrain…and also an entirely new grouping of partners including Israel, India, UAE and the United States — what we call I2U2.”