India, April 7 -- Negotiations between India and the US for a bilateral trade agreement figured in a conversation on Monday between secretary of state Marco Rubio and external affairs minister S Jaishankar, who said the two sides want the speedy conclusion of the trade deal.

The phone conversation between Jaishankar and Rubio came about a week after a visit to India by US assistant trade representative Brendan Lynch for discussions on the bilateral trade agreement. The two sides agreed to finalise the first tranche of the agreement by the fall of 2025 at a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump in February.

Jaishankar said in a social media post that the trade deal had been part of his conversation with ...