India-Europe trade: Modi, Macron pledge port partnership

India and France have agreed to strengthen links between two of their largest ports and others, giving fresh momentum for a proposed commercial corridor stretching from South Asia to Europe that analysts say could rival China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

The agreement between India’s Adani Ports and France’s Port of Marseille Fos marks a key step towards realising the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).

The memorandum of understanding, signed on Wednesday, calls for the creation of an “IMEC Ports Club” to coordinate key ports along the corridor and strengthen trade connectivity between India and the European Union.

First announced in 2023, IMEC is a 6,000km (3,728-mile) multimodal transport initiative linking Indian ports to Europe via the Middle East through a network of shipping routes and rail lines. Backers say the project could cut transit times by 40 per cent and costs by 30 per cent compared with existing trade routes between the two regions.

Marseille Fos is one of Europe’s largest integrated port ecosystems, while Adani Ports’ Mundra facility is India’s biggest commercial port.

Analysts expect Mundra and Hazira – both operated by Adani Ports – to enhance connectivity between South Asia and West Asia under the proposed corridor.

Through these ports, along with Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai, goods would move from India to Middle Eastern ports such as Jebel Ali, then travel via rail through Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Haifa Port in Israel, before crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.

“We are seeing a geopolitical vision that rivals China’s Belt and Road becoming operational bit by bit. It encompasses port digitisation, green shipping and coordinated trade logistics in a single framework,” said Uday Chandra, a political-science professor at Ashoka University in India.

“Let’s call it a new Eurasian trade backbone and keep an eye on how it materialises. It [the memorandum of understanding] is a major step towards bringing an idea proposed during the G20 summit in September 2023 to fruition,” he added.

The ports agreement announcement came during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to New Delhi, which was concluded on Thursday.

“This fresh MOU with Marseille’s big port, signed right in the middle of Macron’s visit, feels like the missing piece finally snapping into place for IMEC,” said Srinivasan Balakrishnan, director of strategic engagement and partnerships at the Delhi-based think tank Indic Researchers Forum.

“It’s turning the corridor into a real, greener trade highway between India and Europe by adding capacity, smarter digital ports, low-carbon shipping and better coordination all along the route,” he said.

The port deal came a day after Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi renewed a 10-year defence cooperation pact and upgraded bilateral ties to a “Special Global Strategic Partnership” on Tuesday, when they unveiled areas of expanded collaboration, ranging from missile production and artificial intelligence to trade and taxation.

It followed the conclusion of a long-awaited free trade agreement between India and the EU last month.

Linking economic connectivity to the new defence partnership is “smart geopolitics”, according to Balakrishnan, as it builds resilience and enables the sharing of critical technology in port development and other areas.

“It also builds on the India-EU trade deal, firming up certain aspects concerning trade and logistics in a new environmentally sustainable framework that complies with EU standards.”

IMEC is expected to be a key node in expanding trade between India and the EU, which reached US$136.5 billion in the financial year ended March 2025.

“India has already taken a leadership role in advancing this corridor, and with the conclusion of the India-EU free trade agreement, trade between the participating countries is expected to grow manifold,” said Ashwani Gupta, CEO of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited.

Closer ties between Delhi and Paris, as well as with the EU, come as countries race to diversify trade links while US President Donald Trump continues to tie tariff policy to access to the world’s largest economy.

Balakrishnan said India’s growing engagement with France and the EU reflected global momentum towards diversification amid heightened trade and geopolitical uncertainty.

“It gives the whole India-EU relationship a much stronger economic backbone, making supply chains tougher against global shocks and offering a practical alternative to heavy reliance on any one route or player,” he added.

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