India Great Partner, Ready To Expand Energy Exports: Rubio

Rubio, interacting with reporters in Miami, described India as a “great partner” and said his visit was important as it would give him an opportunity to meet with ministers from the Quad nations.

“Well, we want to sell them as much energy as they'll buy. And obviously, you've seen I think we're at historic levels of US production, and US export,” Rubio told reporters in Miami as he embarked on the trip to Sweden and India.

Rubio will be in India from May 23-26 and will visit Kolkata, Agra, Jaipur and New Delhi.

“We want to be able to do more. We were already in talks with them to do more. We want them to be a bigger part of their portfolio. We also think there are opportunities with Venezuelan oil,” Rubio said.

He was responding to a question about India being affected by high energy prices due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Rubio described India as a "great partner" and said his visit to New Delhi was important as it would also give him an opportunity to meet with ministers from the Quad nations.

“They are a great ally, a great partner. We do a lot of good work with them. And so it is an important trip. I'm glad we're able to do it because I think there'll be a lot for us to talk about,” Rubio said.

“We'll also meet with Quad there, which is important. I think my first meeting as Secretary of State was with the Quad. I'm glad we are able to do it now in India and we're going to do one later in the year as well,” Rubio said.

Rubio said the acting President of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez was also scheduled to visit India next week and there will be many opportunities to work with New Delhi.

“In fact, it's my understanding that the interim president of Venezuela will be travelling to India next week as well. So, there's opportunities. There's a lot to work on with India,” Rubio said.  The Quad meeting is planned for May 26, and it is scheduled to be attended by Rubio, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu, with Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar presiding over it.  Rubio’s visit to Kolkata will be the first by a US Secretary of State in almost fourteen years. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Kolkata in 2012.

The US Consulate General in Kolkata is America’s second-oldest consulate in the world.  On November 19, 1792, US President George Washington appointed Benjamin Joy of Newburyport as the first American Consul to Kolkata.