Vikas Pandey and Nikhil Inamdar Delhi and Mumbai
(BBC) – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi as part of a four-day visit to the country.
Rubio arrived in the eastern city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) on Saturday morning before travelling to the capital. He is also due to visit Jaipur and Agra.
He extended an invitation to visit the White House to Modi during their meeting, US officials said. The Indian premier, meanwhile, said the pair had discussed “issues related to regional and global peace and security”.
The visit comes as the two nations seek to reshape their economic relationship, and amid a global energy crisis triggered by the Iran war that has acutely affected India.
Energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz – a narrow waterway that has become a flashpoint since Israel and the US attacked Iran – have virtually ground to a halt.
Iran has used the effective closure of the strait, through which around 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas flows, as a pressure tactic in the fragile peace negotiations with the US.
