India, Jan. 23 -- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in his first bilateral engagement since taking charge on Tuesday, met external affairs minister S Jaishankar, with both reaffirming their commitment to stronger US-India ties especially in the areas of technology, defence, and energy, with the US also raising the issue of illegal Indian immigrants in the US and India agreeing to take back legal immigrants after they were identified as Indians.

The two met right after participating in a Quad foreign ministers meeting with their Australian and Japanese counterparts, a meeting at which they agreed to work for a free and open Indo-Pacific, a goal reiterated in bilateral discussions.

Jaishankar said that he was "delighted" to meet Rubio fo...