Rex Tillerson to arrive in India today, will call on PM Modi, Sushma Swaraj

New Delhi: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will arrive here on Tuesday on a three-day maiden official visit to India during which he will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

On Wednesday, he will hold a meeting with Sushma Swaraj before calling on Modi, according to the External Affairs Ministry.

In a major policy speech last week, Tillerson had said reassured that the US is the "reliable partner" that India needs, adding that the two countries have the responsibility to "do the needful". 

Discussing the importance of developing the Indo-Pacific region into one of peace and stability, Tillerson said that India and the US need to serve as eastern and western beacons, so that it does not become a region of disorder, conflict and predatory economics.

Tillerson is on a five-nation visit from October 20-27, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan and Switzerland, according to the US State Department.

Ahead of his visit to New Delhi, Tillerson, in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, put both China and Pakistan on notice by saying that Beijing's provocative actions in the South China Sea and Indo-Pacific regions went against international norms and rules the US and India stood for.

He categorically said that Washington expected Islamabad to take "decisive action" against terrorist groups operating within Pakistan's boundaries.

With IANS inputs