According to conscious persons about the case, Ricky Gill, a top officer of Trump White House on South Asia, Ricky Gill, is expected to visit India for a summit focused on India’s Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). Gill’s visit is also expected as bilateral tension between New Delhi and Washington has increased on tariffs and India’s energy purchase from Russia in the last week.
Gill, who is currently a senior director for South and Central Asian Affairs in the powerful National Security Council, is expected to hold meetings with top Indian authorities as well as representatives from several European countries. The NSC, which is based out of the White House, usually acts as a powerful body that coordinates military, economic and diplomatic policies in a range of government departments and agencies.
Gill is the first experienced of the Trump administration, when he also worked in the National Security Council handling Russia and European Energy Moses. Gill has also worked in the US State Department.
The IMEC Summit, which will be hosted in New Delhi on 5 and 6 August, will be attended by officials from European and Middle Eastern countries who are prominent supporters of ambitious connectivity scheme. Launched in September 2023 on the occasion of the G20 summit in India, IMEC was a planned economic and trade corridor that would connect India’s economy to markets in Europe through the Middle East. India, America, European Union, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, France, Germany and Italy were the leaders of the 2023 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) who founded the IMEC.
After the October 7 attacks in Israel, IMEC connectivity corridors have faced negotiations due to an outbreak of conflict in West Asia.
“This has certainly been a source of concern for us and when we signed the agreement in September, we had such expectations, we had to adjust it a little,” in 2024 India’s external affairs minister S. Jaishankar said, said, a few months after the outbreak of conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The IMEC summit in New Delhi is expected to carry forward the discussion on the trade and connectivity corridor.
However, the meeting will also be held in the backdrop of rapidly stressful relations between India and the US. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on India, as well as an unintended punishment for purchasing Russian energy products. The two countries have been unable to make a trade agreement despite the fact that talks were started in February 2025. On the same day, Washington signed a trade agreement with Pakistan and promised to help develop the “large -scale oil reserves” of the country. Later, in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump lashed India and Russia as “dead economies”.
It is not yet clear whether the current bilateral stress will affect Gill’s plan to travel to India.
As a hand of Trump’s top South Asia policy in the National Security Council, Gill has an important role in shaping the White House approach to India. However, in April, the size of the NSC was allowed to go to their original government departments after several employees or half after retiring. This has affected the traditional effective role of NSC in shaping the US foreign policy.
However, Gill is still considered one of the hands of some India in the event of authority in the Trump administration. Paul Kapoor, nominated by Trump, who led South Asia affairs in the state department, has not yet been confirmed by the United States Senate. No announcement has been made about the administration’s plans to nominate an ambassador to India. This especially matters at a time when bilateral relationship has faced some stress.
The IMEEC will include two separate corridors, the eastern corridors connect India to the Gulf and connect the northern corridor connecting the northern corridor to Europe. The corridor intends to increase connectivity, increase efficiency, reduce costs, secure regional supply chains, increase business access and generate jobs, resulting in transformational integration of Asia, Europe and Middle East.
(B) Two (E) India-Midil between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an inter-government framework agreement (IGFA), an inter-government framework agreement (IGFA), was signed on 13 February 2024 between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Containers and liquid bulk to enable IMEC.
