India, Jan. 22 -- 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 technology, defence, and energy.

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. Quad ministers agreed to deepen ties in the areas of maritime, tech and economic security in the context of "increasing threats".

Jaishankar said he was 'delighted' to meet Rubio for the latter's first bilateral engagement after as...