By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said that India and the US are “very, very close” to finalizing a bilateral trade pact and the same will be signed “shortly”.
Rubio arrived in Mumbai earlier today, made the remarks while speaking to media persons alongside US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor.
“As far as the trade agreement is concerned, the State Department doesn’t negotiate trade agreements, but we are very much involved in what’s happening. My counterpart, the National Security Advisor, and I care a lot about it. We’re very, very close. I would say we’re about as close as you can be without having executed the agreement. I think there’s a small number of items left to wrap up, so I think that will happen shortly,” he said.
Rubio said that he remains very optimistic that the highly anticipated bilateral trade agreement will be announced soon.
“We’re hoping, which it should, and hopefully have some good news to announce soon and sign it thereafter. So, we’re very optimistic that we will have something in place here very soon,” he added.
Rubio is scheduled to hold talks with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar, with discussions expected to cover key areas of our bilateral cooperation, including energy, trade, investment, defence, critical emerging technologies, and other areas of mutual interest.
He will be laying a wreath at the 26/11 memorial at the Taj Hotel and attend the “Freedom 250” reception in Mumbai.
Rubio is also expected to meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
