US top diplomat Rubio departs this weekend for Central Asia, India

Marco Rubio will lead a US commercial delegation comprised of over 200 business leaders. (EPA Images pic) WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will this week lead a large business delegation to Uzbekistan and join a ministerial meeting with five Central Asian nations, before traveling to India, the State Department said Tuesday.

Traveling between Oct 17 and 22, Rubio will first go to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for a "C5+1 Ministerial" and bilateral meetings with Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

"On this historic visit, Secretary Rubio will lead a US commercial delegation comprised of over 200 business leaders, ushering in a new era of strengthened commercial cooperation for the US and Central Asia," a State Department statement said.

US President Donald Trump hosted the leaders of the five resource-rich Central Asian nations at the White House last November.

Rubio will then make his second official visit of the year to India, spending Oct 17-22 in the cities of Mumbai and Jamnagar and meeting with senior government officials "to strengthen the US-India strategic partnership, exchange views on regional and global dynamics, and discuss prospects for enhanced energy cooperation."

He will also meet business leaders "to promote opportunities for commercial investment and economic cooperation," the statement said.

Rubio last visited India in May, traveling to four cities over four days in a country that successive US administrations saw as a like-minded partner in a world dominated by China's rise.

Trump has shaken up that approach, temporarily imposing high tariffs and warming to both China and India's historic adversary Pakistan.