Before his visit to India, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Washington is ready to sell as much as New Delhi is willing to buy.
Speaking to reporters in Miami, Rubio described India as a “great ally and partner” and said his visit was important because it would give him an opportunity to meet the ministers of the Quad countries, PTI reported.
“We’ve done a lot of good work with them. So it’s an important trip. I’m glad we’re able to do this because I think there’s going to be a lot to talk about,” Rubio said.
He added: “We will also meet with the Quartet there, which is important. I think my first meeting as Foreign Minister was with the Quartet. I am happy that we are able to do that now in India and we will do that later in the year as well.”
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Against the backdrop of the ongoing global energy crisis in the wake of the US-Iran war, Rubio said: “Well, we want to sell them as much energy as they buy. And obviously, as you’ve seen, I think we’ve reached historic levels of US production and US exports.”
The US Secretary of State is scheduled to visit India from May 23 to 26, and will visit New Delhi, Kolkata, Agra and Jaipur.
Rubio said the United States wants to do more and is already in talks with India to do more. “We want them to make up a bigger part of their portfolio,” Rubio added. “We also think there are opportunities with Venezuelan oil.”
His reference to Venezuelan oil was in relation to Delcy Rodriguez, the interim president of Venezuela, who will visit India next week to discuss the sale of oil – an announcement also made by Rubio.
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The Quad meeting is scheduled for May 26, and is scheduled to be attended by Rubio, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu, and chaired by Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
Meanwhile, Rubio will be the first US Secretary of State to visit Kolkata in nearly 14 years. The last such visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in 2012.
It is worth noting that the US Consulate General in Kolkata is the second oldest US consulate in the world.
US President Donald Trump first mentioned India’s purchase of oil from Venezuela in early February when Washington and New Delhi announced a major trade agreement, including a reduction in reciprocal tariffs of 18 percent from the current 25 percent on Indian imports.
