US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Mumbai and Jamnagar from October 17-22 as part of a trip that will also take him to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the US Department of State said on Tuesday.
During his second official visit to India this year, Rubio will meet senior government officials to strengthen the US-India strategic partnership, exchange views on regional and global developments, and discuss prospects for enhanced energy cooperation, the department said in a media note dated October 13.
He will also meet business leaders to promote commercial investment and economic cooperation between the two countries.
The visit comes as India and the US continue trade negotiations, with a recent US law allowing tariffs of up to 100% on Indian goods over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, which have not been significantly reduced.
Rubio’s meetings are expected to provide an opportunity to discuss bilateral priorities alongside regional and global developments.
Before travelling to India, Rubio will visit Samarkand to participate in the C5+1 Ministerial, a diplomatic platform bringing together the United States and five Central Asian countries: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Kyrgyz Republic.
He will also hold bilateral engagements with senior officials from the five countries and lead a US commercial delegation comprising more than 200 business leaders to promote commercial cooperation between the United States and Central Asia.