Punjab, Oct. 15 -- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives in India on 17 October for a five-day trip that also takes in Uzbekistan, with energy cooperation named as the focus. He arrives at an awkward moment: the India-US trade agreement has reportedly stalled again.
The itinerary
The State Department says Rubio departs on Saturday for India and Uzbekistan, and that energy will be the subject in India. In Samarkand he will join a C5+1 ministerial - the format that brings the five Central Asian states together with Washington.
Pairing Delhi with Samarkand on one trip is itself the message. C5+1 exists to give Central Asian states an alternative to Russian and Chinese dependence, and routing through India on the same swing frames India ...