US Secretary of State Rubio's maiden India visit aims to repair strained ties; boost Quad cooperation

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will arrive in India on Saturday for a maiden four-day visit, aimed at repairing bilateral ties that have been under strain since mid-last year.The top US diplomat is scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in addition to meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attending a meeting of the Quad foreign ministers in New Delhi.The US Secretary of State will arrive in Kolkata at 7 am on Saturday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will arrive in India on Saturday for a maiden four-day visit, aimed at repairing bilateral ties that have been under strain since mid-last year.

The top US diplomat is scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in addition to meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attending a meeting of the Quad foreign ministers in New Delhi.

The US Secretary of State will arrive in Kolkata at 7 am on Saturday. After attending an event there, Rubio will fly to New Delhi to call on Prime Minister Modi in the afternoon.

On Sunday, he is scheduled for bilateral talks with Jaishankar and will attend the US Embassy's Independence Day celebrations.

Rubio will travel to Agra and Jaipur on Monday before returning to Delhi on Tuesday morning for the Quad foreign ministers' meeting.

''There's a lot to work on with India, they're a great ally and partner. We do a lot of good work with them, so this is an important trip,'' Rubio said on Friday about his trip to India.

Ways to bolster India-US ties in energy, trade, investment, critical technology and people-to-people exchanges are likely to dominate the talks between Jaishankar and Rubio, people familiar with the matter said.

The two sides are also expected to deliberate on the West Asia crisis and its economic impact, including on energy supplies, they said.

Rubio's trip to India comes more than five weeks after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri undertook a three-day visit to Washington DC that focused on stabilising the ties after a spell of uncertainty and strain.

The relations between the two countries witnessed a major downturn after Washington imposed punitive tariffs on India and President Donald Trump made controversial assertions regarding his role in de-escalating the India-Pakistan military clashes last May.

Over the next few months, the US president repeatedly and publicly claimed that he had resolved the military conflict between the two neighbours and saved millions of lives as it was going in the direction of a full-scale war.

New Delhi stoutly maintained that the cessation of the hostilities was the result of talks between India and Pakistan, and the US involvement had nothing to do with it.

Washington's new immigration policy and its decision to increase the H1B visa fee also contributed to the slide in India-US ties.

However, both sides made efforts in the last few months to repair the ties. The two sides have resolved to firm up a mutually beneficial trade deal soon.

President Trump and Prime Minister Modi on April 14 held a nearly 40-minute phone conversation.

Following the call, Modi said he and Trump reviewed the ''substantial progress'' in the bilateral ties and that both sides are committed to further strengthening the India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership in ''all areas''.

It is learnt that India and the US will carry out a comprehensive review of their ties during Rubio's visit and focus on boosting the overall trajectory of the relations.