The resource-rich newly formed quartet between India, Israel, U.S and United Arab Emirates (UAE) or West Asia Quad is on a modernization mission in the Middle East. New Delhi, the most acceptable among the trio –Israel, U.S. and India -- will spearhead the tech boom in the conflict-stricken region by riding high on the financial might of the UAE.

Foreign ministers of the four nations – India, Israel, the UAE and the U.S. -- are holding their first physical meeting in the coming weeks in Dubai as part of their West Asia Quad grouping. After their last month virtual meeting, the forthcoming conclave is aimed at setting up an economic cooperation platform to boost tech transfer, among others.

On the sidelines of the Dubai Expo, India’s foreign minister S Jaishankar, said, “…that follow-up meeting will take place in coming weeks, probably in Dubai."
From the Indian perspective, a technological partnership aimed at the entire Middle East can make use of Silicon Valley’s venture capital funding, Tel Aviv’s close-knit start-ups, industry, and academia environment, and Dubai’s funding and thrust on innovation.

Southern Indian cities of Bengaluru and Hyderabad will call the shot along with Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv’s close-knit industries and blue chip firms as the newly formed quad grouping plans to take its tech-based ties to the next level to modernize the oil-rich Gulf nations.

Depending on the kind of technology and its use, India will swap Bengaluru, India’s technological nerve center, with neighboring Hyderabad. These South Indian IT hubs possess a vibrant technology base with many state-funded defense units, research centers, startups, and private sector firms, including the joint ventures with the U.S. and Israel.

The four nations will collaborate on three transformative technologies -- quantum science, blockchain, and 3D printing – as they are rich with exciting applications used for encrypted communications, cryptography, aerospace engineering, infrastructure, and manufacturing.

Co-operation in the renewable energy sector is going to be the next big thing as the Middle East, the Mecca of the fossil fuel industry, is planning to switch over to clean and green energy sources in the future.

Spearheaded by the International Federation of Indo-Israel Chambers of Commerce, India, Israel and the UAE inked a pact in May this year to churn out robotic solar cleaning technology in India to be used in the Emirates and produced by an Israel-firm Ecoppia. Their collaboration also extends over water and energy projects.

Newly appointed Israeli Ambassador to India Naor Gilon said Nov. 16 that Israel, India, UAE and the United States have a huge potential for further cooperation. Gilon was referring to the new quad grouping called the Indo-Abraham Accord, a term suggested by US-based scholar Mohammed Soliman.

With the participation of EU nations like France, with whom India is betting big on the renewable energy sector, similar technological partnerships will be initiated with Bahrain, a party to the Abraham Accords which normalized relations between Israel and Arab states and African nations of Morocco and Sudan. The first two Arab nations to recognise Israel were Jordan in 1994 and Egypt in 1979.

Soon it will be the turn of other Middle Eastern and African nations to roll the red carpet for an amalgamation of investments which will bring together the economically affluent Gulf country and Israel’s know-how with the manufacturing expertise of India, backed by the strategic support by the U.S.

Experts said that U.S. plans to put its junior partners at helm of affairs as it moves away from the Middle East under its pivot Asia policy.

Currently, the quad grouping is a non-ideological engagement. However, the world is skeptical about its non-ideological nature given the participation of three nuclear powers and the world’s largest defense spenders with the financial capital of Asia.