​​​​​​NEW DELHI

The India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) is “progressing but not at pace initially expected," Indian External Affairs Ministry Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Saturday as he addressed the Munich Security Conference.

IMEC, a multinational railway and maritime project, was announced in 2023 between India, the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, France, Germany, Italy, and the EU, aiming to connect India to the Middle East and Europe to enhance trade, provide energy resources, and develop digital connectivity.

Speaking at the panel discussion, "Navigating Uncertainty: India and Germany in a World in Disarray," Jaishankar was asked if IMEC is progressing.

"Answer is kind of yes. But not at the pace at which people initially expected it to, which is understandable, because there was a big conflict going on in the Middle East, and everybody's attention was on that conflict,"Jaishankar said.

There is a "big European and Indian interest" in the IMEC, he said, adding that the "purpose of the IMEC is really to address connectivity, logistics issues, and improve the economy…the purpose of the IMEC is not to solve the Palestinian issue."

Noting that the world is "heading towards greater multipolarity," the Indian minister said “there will be many more independent or autonomous centers of decision-making."

The world order, he said, suffered "a series of shocks" over the past five years and it "accelerated" changes in that order.

The COVID-19 "was a shock, the conflict in Ukraine was a shock. What's happening in the Middle East was a shock ... even in Europe, some years ago, Brexit was a shock," he said.

To another question whether India's weaning off Russian oil under the recently announced India-US trade pact impacts its strategic autonomy, Jaishankar said: "We are very much wedded to strategic autonomy. Because it's very much a part of our history and our evolution."

“Where the energy issues are concerned, look, this is today a complex market," he said. "I think oil companies in India, as in Europe, as probably in other parts of the world, look at availability, look at costs, look at risks, and take the decisions that they feel is in their best interest."