Lebanon Makes the IMEC Ports Club Guestlist.

On 6 October, in New Delhi, the chairmen of the ports of Beirut and Tripoli signed on to the joint declaration of the Ports Club of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), to much applause and handshakes.

It was a big day in India for Lebanese Transport Minister Fayez Rasamny, who helped bring about the invitation after signing a three-year memorandum in July, between Lebanon and Marseille Fos on trade, logistics, the energy transition and digitalisation.

Some took this as a sign of rapprochement, Beirut insists that this is all just a trade issue, and as someone who thinks in TEU, this suits me fine.

But whatever one makes of Lebanon's IMEC ambitions, the timing stung a tad. Speaking the same day, President Macron's IMEC envoy reminded the press corps that only the corridor's eight participating governments can widen it, a cool welcome for a country that had just made a beeline for India. So for now, Lebanon waits in the salle d'attente with Egypt, Oman, Greece and Cyprus, hoping to be called in.

Whatever the IMEC Ports Club is (or isn’t, since there is no new body, Beirut and Tripoli aren’t official IMEC signatories), Lebanon’s two main ports now have a standing invitation to conversations between ports that could well become nodes. And IMEC isn’t only about trade revenue; if Lebanon is plugged in, there would be a data cable and electricity inter-connection which would mean much for a place that’s never had enough of either.

The membership also nudges Lebanese ports to consider how to align with a more digitalised port sector, in which customs procedures are harmonised and auditable, a great opportunity for more transparency.

Earlier in summer, in Toot Toot, ’A Trablos Before Beirut, I argued that Lebanon’s most bankable infrastructure play would be to revive the rail link between Tripoli and Homs and with Beirut as the deepwater feeder.

It’s heartwarming to read that, at New Delhi’s launch, Tripoli signed on under its own name, and somewhere down the line, a train may yet leave the station.