US Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Kolkata on Saturday (May 23) as part of his four-day official visit to India, marking his first visit to the country.
His packed diplomatic schedule includes meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and participation in the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi.
According to ANI, Rubio and his wife Jeanette D Rubio visited Nirmala Shishu Bhavan and the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata at the start of his India visit. The Missionaries of Charity was founded by Mother Teresa in 1950.
According to the US Department of State’s public schedule, Rubio is expected to travel to New Delhi later on Saturday for talks with PM Modi and engagements at the US Embassy.
The visit is being seen as significant amid growing strategic cooperation between India and the United States, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region and under the Quad partnership involving India, the US, Japan and Australia.
Quad talks, trade tensions in focus during Rubio’s India visit
New Delhi has been pushing for a visit by US President Donald Trump linked to a Quad leaders’ summit, but analysts say those plans have remained uncertain amid trade disagreements and wider global crises in West Asia, according to a Reuters report.
Analysts also see growing US-Pakistan ties during the West Asia peace efforts as another point of tension in India-US relations.
Richard Rossow of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said the absence of a trade agreement months after the interim deal announcement continued to cloud broader engagement between the two countries, the Reuters report added.
He also noted that the upcoming Quad foreign ministers’ meeting in Delhi would be the third such gathering without a leaders’ summit, calling it an “unannounced downgrade” of the grouping.
Despite the concerns, the US Embassy in New Delhi stressed the importance of the Quad partnership, saying the grouping stood together for a “free and open Indo-Pacific” and cooperation on regional security and critical mineral supply chains.
Rubio’s four-day India visit schedule
According to the Ministry of Defence, Rubio is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Jaishankar on Sunday (May 24) at Hyderabad House in New Delhi before attending an Independence Day celebration hosted by the US Embassy later in the evening.
On Monday (May 25), he will travel to Agra and Jaipur as part of the outreach programme.
The final leg of the visit on Tuesday (May 26) will centre around the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Delhi, followed by press statements before Rubio departs India later in the day.