Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid, US President Joe Biden, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan participated Thursday in a virtual “I2U2 Summit” of their countries.
In their meeting, the leaders decided to establish a $2 billion food corridor between India and the UAE using Israeli technology and capabilities. They also decided to start a $300 million 300-megawatt wind and solar energy storage project in India using Israeli, Emirati and American technologies.
The four leaders each made an opening statement, led by the UAE president, after which the summit was closed to reporters and the public. “This summit is clear evidence of the great opportunity for cooperation” between the four countries to achieve “peace, security and prosperity,” Sheikh Al Nahyan said.
“Only partnership can overcome today’s problems and overlapping challenges, the most important of which are food, and energy security, climate change and healthcare,” he said.
PM Lapid said in his remarks, “Our starting point was that in the new world we live in, we need to improve our ability to cooperate quickly to make the most of our comparative advantages.”
Lapid said the world needs to think in new ways about energy, food security, water technology, defense and trade. “Challenges are local but solutions are global,” he said.
Pres. Biden thanked all the leaders for their participation, and said, “The simple truth is this: the challenges we face…demand we find new ways of working together.” Growing food security, climate change, “volatile energy markets” and tackling the health security needs and fallout from the recent global coronavirus pandemic, he said, all “require cooperation and coordination, and none of us can mount a comprehensive response on our own.”
PM Modi’s statement concluded the round of opening remarks. “This truly is a meeting of strategic partners,” he said. “We are all good friends as well, and there are a lot of similarities in our approach and in our interests,” he said, noting the group has already identified joint projects in several areas “and also made a roadmap to take them forward.
Modi said that under the “I2U2 format” the group has agreed to increase joint investment in six areas: water, energy, transport, space, health and food security.
“We can make an important contribution in this way to the global economy,” Modi said. “In the midst of increasing global uncertainties our cooperative framework is also a good model for practical cooperation.”
The media was then cordially invited to “make your way out.” No questions were taken.
