New Delhi (October 25, 2017): United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday night on his maiden official visit to India.
During his three-day visit, Tillerson will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and other high-level officials.
Mr Tillerson is on a five-nation visit from October 20 to 27, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan and Switzerland.
The Trump administration’s South Asia strategy is under the spotlight this week, as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson landed in New Delhi after stops in Kabul and Islamabad.
Although he isn’t visiting Beijing on this trip, China is set to be a key talking point during the Secretary of State’s visit to India. Tillerson indicated as much last week, when he contrasted India with China in a speech in Washington D.C.
“The driving force of our close relationship rests in the ties between our peoples — our citizens, business leaders, and our scientists…. We’ll never have the same relationship with China, a non democratic society, that we can have with a major democracy,” he said on October 18.
Another major issue: Afghanistan, which remains in the grip of a bloody, 16-year conflict.
In August, speaking at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia, US President Donald Trump renewed the US’ military commitment in Afghanistan, while also calling on India and other regional players for more support in bringing stability to the country.
“We appreciate India’s important contributions to stability in Afghanistan but India makes billions of dollars in trade from the United States and we want them to help us more with Afghanistan, especially in the area of economic assistance and development,” he said.
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