Lebanon’s exclusion from transport route linking India and Europe

Lebanon is out of the deal, a deal in which we could have been a part of, as the project connects India by sea to the United Arab Emirates and then by land via a railway to Saudi Arabia. Jordan has chosen the Israeli port of Haifa as its final stop in the Middle East before continuing its journey to Europe.

The project aims to facilitate the movement of goods between Asia and the Middle East, extending to Europe, and the transmission of renewable energy and clean hydrogen through cables and pipelines. Lebanon, however, was excluded.

According to some observers, this exclusion can be attributed to the political and economic instability that deters investments in the country.

Additionally, as the sponsor and investor in this project, the United States seeks to support its ally, Israel, in its economic growth.

Consequently, Lebanon has lost billions of dollars across various sectors, such as trade, energy, and the digital economy, which could have contributed to economic growth and opened the door to numerous job opportunities.

While Lebanon failed to become a bridge between the East and West in the 21st century, it was a key route for transporting Saudi oil to Europe in the 1950s through the Trans-Arabian Pipeline (Tapline).

This pipeline transported billions of barrels of crude oil over 1,648 kilometers from Abqaiq in Saudi Arabia to the Arabian Gulf, passing through Jordan, Syria, and then to the port of Sidon. From there, it continued to Europe through oil tankers in the sea.

After World War II, the idea of establishing Tapline was developed by Saudi Aramco and other international companies to pump more oil to European countries that had become economically dependent on it, especially as maritime oil transportation was lengthy and expensive at the time.

However, with the emergence of large oil tankers, now the optimal way to transport oil worldwide, Tapline was utterly shut down and dismantled in 2001.

In the end, Lebanon continues to lose out on its geographic advantages and remains marginalized on the world map.