Soon after he was sworn in by Vice President J D Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Penny Wong from Australia and Japan's Iwaya Takeshi for his first multilateral meeting as the top American diplomat.

This came against the backdrop of New Delhi expressing readiness to cooperate with Washington to repatriate Indian citizens residing illegally in the country.

The Quad meeting was also attended by foreign ministers, Penny Wong from Australia and Takeshi Iwaya from Japan

The meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar marks a pivotal moment in US-India relations, focusing on deepening economic ties and addressing regional security challenges.

After the Quad ministerial, Rubio had his first bilateral with Jaishankar, which lasted for more than an hour. India's Ambassador to the US, Vinay Kwatra, was also present in the meeting. Jaishankar also met National Security Advisor Mike Waltz on Tuesday.

On his first full day as secretary of state, Marco Rubio is meeting with his counterparts from a group of countries known as the Quad: the United States plus India, Japan and Australia, representing n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Quad counterparts - India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Japan's Takeshi Iwaya, and Australia's Penny Wong - at the US Department of State here on Tuesday.