00:00Marco Rubio who's landed in Mumbai, remember he's on a two-day visit to India and these are the
00:05visuals of him landing in Mumbai. He is now also going to go to Jamnagar where he's going to
00:11reliance refinery but this is an important meet that is scheduled for the two-day visit of Marco
00:17Rubio. They're important points of discussion and especially when it comes to US-India ties
00:23and there's a lot on the table when it comes to Marco Rubio visiting India. Now for more on that
00:29we have Praneo Padeh joining in. Prane, now we're getting in the first visuals of US Secretary of
00:34State with Marco Rubio landing in Mumbai. What can we expect from his visit?
00:40Jessica, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on a tour to South and Central Asia. He has arrived
00:47from Uzbekistan and this is a very important visit of Secretary of State Marco Rubio especially in
00:52terms of the timing because as you know that in diplomacy timing is everything and he is visiting
00:59India's economic capital Mumbai and he would also be visiting Jamnagar which is world's largest
01:05refinery and this visit is being seen in terms of reset of India-US ties in terms of the diplomatic
01:12engagement in terms of you know the recent well of trade tensions etc and paving the way for the
01:20conclusion of the India-US trade deal you know and other engagement and also this is being seen as a
01:26precursor or the preparatory visit for Prime Minister Nareen Modi's you know upcoming visit to United
01:31States to participate in the G20 summit in December 2026. So in every term you know this visit a two
01:38-day
01:38visit of Secretary of State Marco Rubio is is very important and he would also be participating you know
01:44his itinerary includes the participation in the 250th celebration year celebration of the United States
01:51independence and in fact you know you would recall that last you know few months ago when he visited New
01:57Delhi he
01:57participated in the 250th anniversary event in New Delhi Bharat Vandabam and in the same sequence similar events will be
02:04organized in Mumbai and besides that he will be holding a crucial you know bilateral talks with the external affairs
02:10minister Dr. S.J. Shankar in Mumbai besides that he will also be paying homage to the
02:14marches of 26-11 because this is a month of you know this visit is taking place yes few weeks
02:21you know before the the anniversary of 26-11 terror attack and which you know the U.S. national also
02:27lost their lives and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio would
02:31be staying at the Taj Mahal only and then there he would be meeting the India's external affairs minister and
02:37other senior officials and before flying to Jamnagar which is our largest oil refinery and this visit is also being
02:46seen in terms of you know his it is oil diplomacy and oil diplomacy of President
02:50President Donald Trump because the Venezuelan oil is being imported in India for the refining purposes and as you know
02:57that for President Donald Trump Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the point person for Venezuela and the U.S.
03:03administration is trying to push the Venezuelan crude oil and its refining process and its supplies to stabilize the prices
03:11you know the play for global crude oil prices as well as stabilizing the oil prices in the United States.
03:19You know you know when we're talking also of India and U.S. there's of course the important topic of
03:24trade deals so what can we really see what can we expect when it comes to India-U.S. relations
03:29and the trade deal around the corner?
03:33You know Secretary of State will be talking to his Indian counterpart Nixon affairs minister Dr. Jai Shankar on overarching
03:41issues of India-U.S. bilateral ties because as far as the trade issue is concerned you know that is
03:46being taken care of by the Commerce Ministry and his Commerce Minister Dr. Piyush Goyal and his U.S. counterpart
03:53U.S. trade representative and other senior officials in the United States recently India's Finance Minister Nirmala Titaraman also visited
04:03the United States Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also visited the United States and also now Secretary of State
04:09Marco Rubio will be taking the stock of interviewing the bilateral ties including the progress of the bilateral trade agreement.
04:18You know what can be done and how soon that can be concluded because the statement he gave before embarking
04:24to his India visit he said that he is very close to signing up this bilateral trade agreement.
04:30So indications are positive on either side but before you know it gets concluded there are certain things you know
04:37which need to be ironed out which need to be sorted out and besides that there are multiple issues for
04:42both the leaders both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of State Minister Dr. Jai Shankar to review to
04:47talk about including the you know the visa issues including you know the defense collaboration defense partnership between India and
04:55United States and you know India and United States share global strategic
05:00partnership and also take forward the conversation and also take forward the conversation which was a telephonic conversation between Prime
05:14Minister Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump to take forward the U.S. strategic partnership and prepare the ground
05:22for their forthcoming meeting in December 2026 in Florida when Prime Minister Nirmala Titaraman will be traveling to United States.
05:30to participate in the G20 summit.
05:33Absolutely all eyes would be on that meeting that also happens with external affairs Jai Shankar.
05:38An important part of Rubio's itinerary Prane is also the visit to Jamnagar in Gujarat.
05:45Well before we go to that let's quickly listen in to Marco Rubio and his reaction coming in now.
05:55We've had to waive sanctions over the past few months as you know because of if you're looking at the
06:01global supplies looking at global prices and the impact that was having on other countries.
06:05I mean I know diesel prices are high in the United States but they're really really high in a bunch
06:08of other countries around the world and then we have to manage all these things.
06:11We're trying to finalize a trade deal with India right now we're very close to doing that.
06:16So you don't so that's one of the things we take into consideration when the president makes a decision about
06:20national security waivers and things of that nature.
06:22Every country has a complex set of factors that they have to take into account.
06:26Geography is real for some countries it's very difficult to acquire energy from alternative sources.
06:31That's not an excuse but all that has to be balanced when you make foreign policy aren't the foreign policy
06:36of the United States of course takes into account what's happening with the war between Russia and Ukraine.
06:40But it is not solely dominated by that it has to take into account a variety of other factors including
06:45our bilateral relationships with other countries and what they realistically are capable of being able to do in terms of
06:50their own energy supplies.
06:51You also can't unravel the economy of other countries because of one central issue.
06:58So that's the complex part of having to balance all of this.
07:01We've had to waive sanctions over the past few months as you know because of if you're looking at the
07:06global supplies looking at global prices and the impact it was having on other countries.
07:10I mean I know diesel prices are high in the United States but they're really really high in a bunch
07:14of other countries around the world.
07:15And then we have to manage all of these things we were trying to finalize a trade deal with India
07:19right now we're very close to doing that.
07:21So you don't so that's one of the things we take into consideration when the president makes a decision about
07:26national security waivers and things of that nature.
07:28Every country has a complex set of factors that they have to take into account geography is real for some
07:33countries it's very difficult to acquire energy from alternative sources.
07:37That's not an excuse but all that has to be balanced when you make foreign policy aren't the foreign policy
07:41of the United States of course takes into account what's happening with the war between Russia and Ukraine.
07:45But it is not solely dominated by that it has to take into account a variety of other factors including
07:50our bilateral relationships with other countries and what they realistically are capable of being able to do in terms of
07:56their own energy supplies.
07:57You also can't unravel the economy of other countries because of one central issue.
08:03So that's the complex part of having to balance all of this.
