Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and their UAE counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, met in Mumbai on Tuesday in a trilateral meeting to discuss regional energy security and advance shared economic priorities.
While Al Nahyan began his two-day visit to India on Monday evening, Rubio arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon. Rubio and Jaishankar held wide-ranging talks, focusing largely on cooperation in the energy and defence sectors, against the backdrop of ongoing friction in bilateral ties.
“It was great to meet with Indian External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar and UAE Foreign Minister @ABZayed to discuss regional energy security and advance our shared economic priorities,” Rubio posted on X.
It is learnt that the three foreign ministers also discussed the overall security situation in West Asia and the economic fallout from the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The US Secretary of State, accompanied by a large business delegation, focused largely on boosting India-US economic engagement.
Before his talks with Jaishankar, Rubio visited the Taj memorial and laid a wreath in honour of the victims of the horrific 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks that included six American citizens. It is unclear whether the proposed trade deal between India and the US was discussed in the Rubio-Jaishankar talks.
“In Mumbai, Indian External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar and I discussed energy security and defence cooperation while reaffirming the importance of advancing the US-India strategic partnership,” the US Secretary of State posted on X.
Rubio also answered media questions on India-US energy ties and his trip to Reliance Industries Ltd’s refinery in Jamnagar on Wednesday. “In order for energy to become usable, you have to refine it. You have a company with a massive amount of refining capability. I think I should go talk to them, especially when it involves nation-States,” he said.
“We’re going to go see a company that has a tremendous amount of refining capability. It makes all the sense in the world to talk to them about it. It’s very difficult to understand something or see what the possibilities are if you’re not going to speak to them,” he noted.
The US Secretary of State also responded to a query on India’s procurement of Russian crude oil. “India has expressed repeatedly its desire to diversify its energy portfolio, which is a smart thing to do. It is not easy to do that from one day to the next,” he said.
“I think they have made some substantial progress in that regard, and we are happy to see that. But in the end, it is not just about Russian oil; it is about India’s desire to diversify, and we think we can be a source of some of its energy inputs. We have discussed Venezuela and other countries, and I think it is in our interest to have strong allies with diverse energy portfolios,” he noted.
Global oil supplies have suffered severe disruptions following Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, considered the world’s most critical energy chokepoint, through which roughly 20 per cent of global petroleum flows pass. There has also been a sudden escalation in tensions in West Asia, especially after the Houthis carried out several strikes on Saudi Arabia.
India has been voicing serious concern over the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia’s civilian infrastructure and economic assets, cautioning that such strikes undermine regional stability and threaten freedom of navigation through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.
Ever since the conflict involving Iran disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the East-West pipeline has served as a critical bypass for Saudi Arabia’s oil exports. Houthi attacks have also raised concerns about the safety of the Bab-el-Mandeb shipping lane. The Bab-el-Mandeb is among the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints, located between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.