COINCIDING with President Biden’s visit to Israel, the first virtual summit of the curiously named I2U2 on July 14 gives undoubted heft to a new group that brings India together with Israel, the US and the UAE. The emergence of this new quartet in West Asia last year had been greeted with raised eyebrows by some observers who queried its purpose and asked if it was aimed at deterring Chinese or Iranian ambitions in the region. The scepticism may have been due to the relatively unexpected virtual meeting of the four foreign ministers on October 18, 2021, during External Affairs Minister Jaishankar’s visit to Israel or due to the paucity of hard information about the agenda and purpose of the new grouping.
Some clarity could have emerged during the proposed in-person meeting of the foreign ministers on the sidelines of the Dubai Expo earlier this year but the meeting could not take place and this only fuelled speculation about the group’s raison d’etre.
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