India will host a meeting of the "Quad" group, which includes Australia, Japan and the United States, the US embassy in New Delhi said on Tuesday without specifying a date.The embassy said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would attend and that it looked forward to welcoming him "for his first visit to India, ministerial Quad meetings, high level engagements, and celebrating 250 years of America".US Ambassador Sergio Gor said earlier that Rubio would be in New Delhi at the weekend.The so-called Quad security alliance is seen as a counterweight to Beijing's presence in the Indian Ocean and wider Asia-Pacific region.The four-way partnership was first conceived by late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who foresaw an alliance of democracies surrounding China -- which has repeatedly alleged that the Quad is a way to contain it.Rubio hosted Quad counterparts in July 2025, when they established a Quad "Critical Minerals Initiative" aimed at securing and diversifying supply chains, as worries grow over China's dominance in resources vital to new technologies.China holds major reserves of several key minerals including the vast majority of the world's graphite, which is crucial for electric vehicles.Despite common ground on China, the members have differed on other hotspots, including the Russia-Ukraine war and the attacks in Iran.India hosted foreign ministers of BRICS nations last week, with those attending including Iran's Abbas Araghchi and Russia's Sergei Lavrov.