New Delhi: The United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio is to make an historic move in the evolution of U.S.-India ties during his first-ever visit to India. Rubio reached here on Saturday and is likely to visit New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur on the four-day trip.
The visit coincides with India and the U.S. working towards strengthening collaboration in various areas including trade, energy security, defence, regional strategy, etc. During his visit to New Delhi, Rubio will have bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
Close co-operation should be a key topic of the talks around energy. The US is reportedly mulling over an increase in its energy exports to India amid nervousness in global oil markets. Rubio will also be expected to talk about how to enhance economic cooperation and ease trade tensions which impacted relations over the past few years.
The visit is also of great geopolitical significance. The Quad grouping of India, the United States, Japan and Australia is a key player in the grouping. The Quad has been taking on a more prominent part in the Indo Pacific especially in view of China’s growing influence. On 26 May Rubio will be at the Quad meeting, where he will talk to foreign ministers in New Delhi. He will be talking about things with New Delhi. Some people who study these things say that Washington wants to get closer to New Delhi. There were some problems between them over the year. They did not agree on trade and some other things. India has to balance its friends in the world. The United States thinks India is an important friend in Asia.
Rubio is going to Kolkata. This city is where Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity started. His trip shows that India and the United States care about the things like helping people. This is a deal because no one from the United States has visited this city in a long time almost 14 years. Rubios visit is important, for India and the United States.
But aside from the negotiations, the visit also has an economic aspect to it. The two countries will likely discuss the issue of supply chains, importation of critical minerals, cooperation in the area of technology and defence partnerships. With the world’s political and economic landscape taking a dramatic turn, both sides want to deepen their cooperation, experts say.
India is repeatedly called a key player in assuring stability in Indo-Pacific by the United States. Meanwhile, India is continuing to build ties with the US, while safeguarding India’s strategic interests. Rubio’s trip comes as a closely watched one in the coming months, as it could affect the next steps in India-U.S. ties, as well as cooperation among the Quad alliance of the four nations.
