Rubio’s visit next week to focus on business, energy ties

US secretary of state Marco Rubio will travel to India next week with a large business delegation and meet Indian officials to strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership and to discuss regional and global issues and prospects for enhanced energy cooperation.Rubio is scheduled to visit Mumbai and Jamnagar after participating in the C5+1 ministerial meeting in Uzbekistan. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)This will be Rubio’s second visit to India this year – he last travelled to the country in May, when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister S Jaishankar and participated in a Quad foreign ministers’ meeting – and comes at a time when India-US relations continue to be strained.Also read: Ahead of Marco Rubio’s India visit, US National Security Council likely to arrive to revive tech tiesMumbai, Jamnagar on Rubio’s itineraryRubio will travel to India from Uzbekistan, the first leg of a two-nation visit, and visit Mumbai and Jamnagar during the trip, the US state department announced on Wednesday. While the announcement didn’t provide the specific dates for the India visit, people familiar with the matter said he is expected to arrive in Mumbai on October 18.He will meet senior Indian officials to “strengthen the US-India strategic partnership, exchange views on regional and global dynamics, and discuss prospects for enhanced energy cooperation,” the US state department said. Rubio will also meet business leaders to promote opportunities for commercial investment and economic cooperation.Also read: Piyush Goyal cites resilient defense, tech ties, says India-US relations remain strong200-plus business leaders to join US secretary of stateRubio will be accompanied by a commercial delegation comprising more than 200 business leaders. A business event will be held in Mumbai, and the people cited above said Jaishankar is expected to meet Rubio for talks there.US-India ties have been rocky in recent months because of a range of issues, including the whimsical trade and tariff policies of the Trump administration, the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act (SRIA) that allows President Donald Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on India for purchasing Russian energy, Trump’s repeated claims of brokering an India-Pakistan ceasefire in 2025, and a US military attack ‌on ⁠a merchant vessel off Oman that killed three Indian seafarers.Also read: America may close its doors, India must open its ownIndian officials have cautioned that the SRIA can have implications for bilateral relations and the global energy market. Russia continues to be India’s main energy supplier. More recently, senior Indian and US officials have indicated that long-running efforts to finalise a bilateral trade agreement have stalled again.While in Uzbekistan, Rubio will participate in the C5+1 ministerial meeting that will focus on strategic cooperation between the US and Central Asian states. He will also participate in bilateral engagements with senior officials from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.