Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in his first bilateral engagement since taking charge Tuesday. Both leaders reaffirmed their strong commitment to further strengthening US-India relations, deeper US-India energy cooperation, improved US-India security cooperation, and deeper US-India tech cooperation.
It comes immediately after Rubio and Jaishankar appeared at the Quad foreign ministers’ summit alongside the Australian and Japanese equivalents. In their bilateral meetings, the ministers highlighted the criticality of keeping a free and open Indo-Pacific, and they sought to project the same in the Quad meeting that was attended by the envoys from Australia, India, Japan and the US. Intensified cooperation in the areas of maritime security, technology and economic security has been agreed by the ministers, particularly with the fast growing global threats.
Jaishankar thanked Rubio for meeting him and said the occasion was significant as it was Rubio’s first bilateral engagement since taking office. The US Secretary of State has done a great service to the US-India partnership by being a ‘strong advocate’ to deepen it in ‘critical areas’ essential to US and India’s future growth and security, he said.
Rubio and Jaishankar’s discussions reflected the evolving US-India relationship, which is also growing with shared values and common interests. Big issues both countries are dealing with also include defence, technology, and energy, which the two nations have never been so important to each other before. The meeting was a strong signal of their mutual determination to advance this partnership and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
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