US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who is in India on a three-day trip, held a trilateral meeting with India’s minister of external affairs S Jaishankar and UAE’s foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Tuesday.
Rubio later said he held a ‘great’ meeting with the two leaders where they discussed regional energy security and way ahead on shared economic priorities.
Rubio also expressed support for India’s efforts to diversify its energy portfolio despite its continued purchases of Russian crude oil. It’s not easy to do that from one day to the next. I think they’ve made some substantial progress in that regard, and we’re happy to see that. We’ve discussed Venezuela and other countries, and I think it’s in our interest to have strong allies with diverse energy portfolios.
He said, “I think what India has expressed repeatedly is its desire to diversify its energy portfolio, which is a smart thing to do. On India’s purchase of Russian oil, Rubio said, “But in the end, it’s not just about Russian oil; it’s about India’s desire to diversify, and we think we can be a source of some of its energy inputs. Speaking in Mumbai, Rubio said US President Donald Trump had expressed openness to discussions at the leaders’ level. He said communication was essential to diplomacy, even between countries with strong disagreements, but added that he was unsure whether China was willing to participate. Rubio said Beijing had historically maintained that it would discuss arms control only after catching up with other nuclear powers.
