OMM Redaksiyası
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will depart on October 17 for a five-day visit to India and Uzbekistan. According to information released by the US State Department on October 13, energy cooperation will be discussed in India.
Rubio will travel to Samarkand in Uzbekistan and to Mumbai and Jamnagar in India.
Meetings with Indian officials will cover regional and global developments, as well as opportunities to expand cooperation in the energy sector.
Indian and US officials said earlier this month that long-running negotiations to finalize a bilateral trade agreement had once again stalled. Tensions between the two countries have also been fueled by Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, and the deaths of three Indian sailors in a US military strike on a ship near Oman.
New Delhi has also expressed concern about US legislation that would allow tariffs of up to 100% to be imposed on countries that buy energy from Russia. Washington is seeking to pressure Moscow over its war against Ukraine.
India briefly reduced its purchases of Russian energy products in early 2026, but imports later increased, particularly after supply disruptions resulting from the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Rubio’s visit comes as protests continue in India over the removal of 130 million voters’ names from electoral rolls. Washington has not commented on the demonstrations so far.
In Uzbekistan, Rubio will hold bilateral meetings with officials from that country, as well as Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. The State Department said he will lead a delegation of more than 200 businesspeople.
