Marco Rubio India Visit: Marco Rubio, NSA Doval hold talks on India-US defence ties, strategic tech cooperation 

During the joint press briefing with Marco Rubio, EAM Dr S Jaishankar said, "Where defence and security cooperation is concerned, you're all aware that the 10-year major defence partnership framework agreement was recently renewed. A comprehensive underwater domain awareness roadmap was also signed."

"We discussed the importance of taking into account the Make in India approach and lessons drawn from recent conflicts while going forward in the defence domain. On the economic front, we spoke about the value of concluding at an early date the final text of the interim agreement regarding reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade.

"This will be an important step towards a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement, which was envisaged during Prime Minister Modi's visit in February 2025. We had a team recently in Washington, and our expectation is that an American team will be visiting India soon for that purpose.

"We spent some time today discussing energy issues, and again, you're all aware that our government's fundamental responsibility is to address the needs of 1.4 billion people. Ensuring the accessibility and affordability of energy for them is our prime objective. Secretary and I therefore welcome the expansion in our energy trade in recent months.

"Diversified supplies are at the heart of energy security for India. We devoted some time to nuclear energy cooperation as well. The passage of the Shanti Act has opened up new possibilities. An American delegation was recently in India. We hope to realise the potential of cooperation in the nuclear domain. I also raised with the Secretary some regulatory issues that we have on the American side."

EAM Jaishankar said that he raised the issue immigration delays and visa snags with Marco Rubio during their bilateral meeting. "I apprised Secretary Rubio of the challenges legitimate travelers face in visa issuances. While we cooperate on combating illegal migration, our expectation is that legal mobility will not be adversely impacted," the EAM said during the press briefing.

"After all, this is very relevant to our business, technology, and research cooperation. India and the United States have common interests, but they also face shared challenges. Prominent among them is terrorism. Our position in that regard is very clear.

"It is one of zero tolerance. We appreciate the strong cooperation between the concerned agencies of our two countries in this domain. I particularly recognised the extradition from the United States to India last year of a key planner of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Our two countries will intensify cooperation bilaterally, as well as in relevant international forums. We will continue to collaborate closely on countering illegal trade."

EAM Jaishankar asserted during the press briefing that India shares good ties with Iran, Russia and the US. He also noted that as the country prioritises national interest, de-risking involves multiple resourcing.

The US Secretary of State was stunned to hear about the racist comments targeting Indians on the American side of social media. Responding to the media question, he reiterated that the US is one of the most welcoming countries in the world.

"I'll take that very seriously about the comments. I'm sure that there are people who have made comments online and in other places because every country in the world has stupid people," Rubio said.

"I'm sure there are stupid people here; there are stupid people in the United States who make dumb comments all the time. The United States is a very welcoming country. Our nation has been enriched by people who come to our country from all over the world."

Marco Rubio said that he looks forward to returning to India as it was hard to travel during a packed schedule of four days.

"The list of issues that we work together with India on, the breadth and scope of them, is what highlights the fact that India is an important strategic partner of the United States, one of our most important strategic partners in the world. It begins with the fact of our shared values. We are the two largest democracies in the world. And so obviously that in and of itself begins to align our interests simply because our leaders respond directly to voters and people on a regular basis," he said during the joint press briefing.

Calling the talks with Marco Rubio "productive" so far, EAM Jaishankar said reaffirmed that India maintained a strictly "zero tolerance" stance against terrorism.

During a joint press briefing with Marco Rubio, EAM Jaishankar highlighted in his opening remarks that their soon-to-be resumed talks over lunch would go over the ongoing crisis in the Gulf and Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Indo-Pacific issues would be raised during the forthcoming May 26 QUAD meeting.