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Macron names former Engie chief as envoy for future Asia-EU passage

French President Emmanuel Macron named the former head of gas utility Engie as its special envoy to an international rail and ports job linking the Middle East and South Asia tipped as an alternative to China's Belt and Roadway initiative.

By calling Gerard Mestrallet, a well-connected veteran of the energy market, Macron desires France to end up being an essential player in this project and ensure French companies are best-positioned in the early stages of the task, his office said on Monday.

The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Passage (IMEC) was launched on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September last year and becomes part of Washington and Brussels's. plan to counter China's flagship global infrastructure task.

It aims to connect Middle East countries by train and connect. them to India by port, helping the circulation of energy and trade from. the Gulf to Europe, U.S. and European officials have actually said, by. cutting shipping times, expenses and fuel usage.

A memorandum of comprehending on IMEC was signed by the. European Union, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates,. the U.S. and other G20 partners.

IMEC is imagined to consist of two separate passages with. an east corridor connecting India to the Gulf, and a northern. passage linking the Gulf with Europe, according to the MOU.

Along the railway route, individuals mean to lay cable television. for power and data lines, along with a pipeline for hydrogen. derived from renewable energy for use in power generation.

(source: Reuters)