Negotiations have resumed on the construction of a transnational railway that should connect India, the countries of the Middle East with Europe. While Israel was busy with the war, Türkiye and France began to seek Israel’s exclusion from the project, proposing to build a road through Lebanon and Syria.
According to the Ynet website, last week Transport Minister Miri Regev visited the United Arab Emirates, where she held several working meetings. Last Wednesday, the Israeli minister and her team met with the chairman of the local national railway, Etihad Rail, and the Emirati minister of transport. This meeting lasted several hours and was devoted to the construction of a transnational railway, which, according to the original plans, was supposed to pass through Haifa, and from there goods could be delivered by sea to Europe and the United States.
After the outbreak of war in Israel, the project was frozen. At the same time, the UAE continued negotiations with the Indians, Saudis and Jordanians. According to their agreement, their section of the road should end in the Dead Sea area. Israel is asking to move the connecting point of the lines 20-30 km to the north. The Emirates insist that it is Israel that must go further south.
According to Ynet, during the negotiations an agreement was reached on the creation of an interstate railway administration, which will regulate the movement of trains between countries. In addition, the parties agreed that the agency would consider the possibility of building a railway line between Jordan and Israel not only through Beit She’an, but also through the southern coast of the Dead Sea.