Govt defends Jaishankar-Rubio meet in Mumbai amid Oppn criticism: 'Practice for last decade or so'
As the Opposition questioned why the US envoy had announced Jaishankar's meetings, Rahul Gandhi said “Rubio has summoned his employee to Mumbai”.
The government defended External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's upcoming visit to Mumbai to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, countering opposition criticism that he was "summoned" by the US. The ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that Jaishankar will host UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Mumbai on October 19-20, followed by a meeting with Rubio.
The visit is part of a practice of hosting foreign dignitaries outside of Delhi over the past decade, with previous examples including visits to Baroda, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Goa, Kevadia, and Amritsar. Jaiswal emphasized that the visit serves to review India-UAE cooperation in various areas and discuss global and multilateral issues, as well as to strengthen bilateral ties.
The meeting will cover energy, trade, investment, defense, and technology, among other topics. Rubio's visit includes a trip to Jamnagar for a meeting with a Reliance energy facility, which has partnered on a new U.S. oil refinery project.
Written by urgent.news from Hindustan Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
