The emerging mesh of connectivity paradigms and plurilateral groupings marks a decisive shift towards a South-first connectivity architecture
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This is part of the essay series: Sagarmanthan Edit 2025.
At the quarter mark of this century, the balance of global economic power has tilted towards the Global South, particularly Asia. Oil-rich economies of the Gulf and Asian economies such as India, China, Indonesia, Singapore, among others, have emerged as hubs of economic dynamism, growth, and development. The Southern pivot in the global economy is also responsible for the emergence of politico-economic plurilateral groupings such as the BRICS+, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), the I2U2 and the Group of Twenty (G20). The Global South’s economic heft is also signalled by the Indo-Pacific’s increasing significance. The Indo-Pacific region houses 62 percent of the global GDP, accounts for two-thirds of global economic growth in 2023 and handles 20 billion tons of cargo annually via nearly 190,000 vessels navigating its seas, ports, and chokepoints.[1] Yet this new world economic and trade architecture relies on old trade routes, connectivity paradigms and infrastructure, reflecting the economic order of a bygone era.
These emerging hubs of economic dynamism need a new structure of connectivity to strengthen maritime linkages across Africa and Asia, to unlock their economic potential and build resilient, reliable and responsive supply chain networks.
In the recent past, reliance on old routes like the Suez Canal route and the Strait of Hormuz has led to major trade disruptions, impeding economic growth in Asia and Africa. These emerging hubs of economic dynamism need a new structure of connectivity to strengthen maritime linkages across Africa and Asia, to unlock their economic potential and build resilient, reliable and responsive supply chain networks. This article argues that in a globally fragmented order, plurilateral groupings and new-age connectivity corridors are emerging as critical enablers of a South-first global connectivity architecture.
Recent plurilateral partnerships––the Quad, the BRICS+, the I2U2, the BBIN grouping, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), the G20––alongside new age corridors and investment frameworks––India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), Asia Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), the Global Gateway, the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and the Maha-Sagar––underscore the centrality of Asian and African economies, particularly within the Indo-Pacific geospatial construct. Simultaneously, these partnerships and connectivity initiatives are knitting a dense mesh of trade corridors and collaborative frameworks that interlink key Indo-Pacific economies with stakeholders such as Gulf nations and the European Union, signalling a new phase of global economic integration that must be South-first. India’s investments in the Chabahar, Haifa, Sittwe, Mongla, and Colombo ports; the domestic port expansion efforts of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates alongside their maritime infrastructure development and economic engagement in Africa; and national initiatives by key corridor partners along the INSTC’s Caspian Sea to address maritime infrastructure gaps and bottlenecks, all underscore the growing strategic focus on port development and maritime connectivity. At the same time, competition among Trieste, Piraeus, and Marseille to emerge as the dominant European landing port for the IMEC further highlights the centrality of these infrastructure efforts in shaping new-age multimodal trade routes.
The underlying imperative uniting these diverse initiatives is the need to secure an external environment conducive to sustained domestic economic growth.
Plurilateral groupings are increasingly anchoring these connectivity initiatives in tangible port development and maritime projects. The Quad is aligning infrastructure financing through the Quad Ports of the Future Partnership and a US$50 billion infrastructure fund, while the PGII and Global Gateway are expanding their maritime infrastructure development footprint in Africa. BBIN and BIMSTEC focus on Bay of Bengal subregional connectivity via the Mongla, Chittagong and Sittwe ports, complemented by India-backed development efforts at the Colombo and Trincomalee ports. Key BRICS+ members are pursuing their own differing agendas—the IMEC, the INSTC, and the Belt and Road Initiative. Notably, the BRICS+ grouping serves as an ideal platform for these dominant stakeholders from other initiatives to engage in dialogue, manage competitive overlaps, and explore selective complementarities to advance shared economic and connectivity interests, without undermining their strategic priorities.
The underlying imperative uniting these diverse initiatives is the need to secure an external environment conducive to sustained domestic economic growth. Equally significant is the pursuit of holistic economic resilience—building redundancy and flexibility in trade, investment, and supply chains to withstand systemic shocks and geopolitical disruptions.
Since 80 percent of global trade is seaborne, the new connectivity paradigms underline the imperative to achieve economic and supply chain resilience through diversification of maritime trade routes and modernisation of port infrastructure. The new-age corridors are being designed to move beyond legacy maritime chokepoints (Straits of Hormuz, Gibraltar, Bab-El Mandeb and Malacca) and outdated shipping lanes that no longer align with the trade volumes or strategic needs of the Global South. These initiatives will enhance resilience in supply chain networks and global trade flows by integrating smart logistics and green and sustainable maritime infrastructure development in developing key maritime ports and routes linking Asia, Africa, and the Gulf.
The Quad, the BRICS+, the G20, BIMSTEC, etc. serve as platforms where competing corridor visions can be discussed for selective complementarities, ensuring trade flows remain uninterrupted despite geopolitical rivalries.
Plurilateral groupings are emerging as critical enablers of this resilience imperative. The Quad, the BRICS+, the G20, BIMSTEC, etc. serve as platforms where competing corridor visions can be discussed for selective complementarities, ensuring trade flows remain uninterrupted despite geopolitical rivalries. The multiplicity of corridors also bodes well for the emerging partners and members of these groupings as well as the emerging economies of the Global South at large, in terms of their strategic autonomy. Therefore, in a global geoeconomic order that is shaped by great-power rivalry, increasing global fragmentation and systemic shocks, ensuring the resilience of global supply chain networks and trade flows has become foundational for forming a South-first connectivity architecture.
The emerging mesh of connectivity paradigms and plurilateral groupings marks a decisive shift towards a South-first connectivity architecture. By diversifying trade routes, modernising maritime infrastructure, and embedding smart and sustainable logistics, these frameworks will reduce dependence on legacy chokepoints and create resilient supply chain networks capable of withstanding systemic shocks and geopolitical disruptions. Plurilateral groupings are crucial in aligning these efforts, fostering selective complementarities, and ensuring uninterrupted trade flows. As the Asian and African countries assert their economic heft within the Indo-Pacific geospatial construct, this mesh proposition is well-positioned to serve as an enabler of global growth as well as a redefined geoeconomic and international trade order, driven by the priorities of the Global South.
Prithvi Gupta is a Junior Fellow with the Observer Research Foundation’s Strategic Studies Programme
[1] Data collated from the traffic data from Colombo, Doraleh, Aden, Assab, and Berbera, Fujairah, Sohar, Duqm, Bandar Abbas, and Khor Fakkan, Singapore, Port Klang, Tanjung Pelepas, Belawan, and Penang ports.
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Prithvi Gupta was a Junior Fellow with the Observer Research Foundation’s Strategic Studies Programme. He worked out of ORF’s Mumbai centre, and his research focused ...
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