US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Thursday described India as a “great partner” and said the United States wants to expand energy ties with New Delhi, ahead of his maiden visit to India later this week.Interacting with reporters in Miami before departing for Sweden and India, Rubio said the US was ready to sell more energy to India as Washington continues to increase production and exports.“Well, we want to sell them as much energy as they’ll buy. And obviously, you’ve seen I think we’re at historic levels of US production, and US export,” Rubio told reporters.“We want to be able to do more. We were already in talks with them to do more. We want them to be a bigger part of their portfolio. We also think there are opportunities with Venezuelan oil,” Rubio said.He was responding to a question on India being affected by high energy prices due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.Rubio, who will visit India from May 23 to 26, said the trip would be important for strengthening cooperation between the two countries and would also include meetings with ministers from Quad nations.“They are a great ally, a great partner. We do a lot of good work with them. And so it is an important trip. I’m glad we’re able to do it because I think there’ll be a lot for us to talk about,” Rubio said.“We’ll also meet with Quad there, which is important. I think my first meeting as Secretary of State was with the Quad. I’m glad we are able to do it now in India and we’re going to do one later in the year as well,” he added.The Quad meeting is scheduled for May 26 and is expected to be attended by Rubio, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.Rubio will travel to Kolkata, Agra, Jaipur and New Delhi during his visit.He also said Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez was expected to travel to India next week.“In fact, it’s my understanding that the interim president of Venezuela will be travelling to India next week as well. So, there’s opportunities. There’s a lot to work on with India,” Rubio said.Rubio’s visit to Kolkata will be the first by a US Secretary of State in nearly 14 years. Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had visited the city in 2012.
