NEW DELHI: Strengthening the bilateral economic partnership, including securing a trade deal, and bolstering security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific will be the centrepiece of New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s visit to India next week.
Luxon, who will be accompanied by one of the largest political and business delegations to travel with a New Zealand premier, will be in India on March 16-20. Besides holding talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, he will go to Mumbai for meetings with business leaders.
He will also deliver the keynote address at the inaugural session of the Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, on March 17. This is the first time the speech will be made by a non-European leader.
Luxon, who pledged to finalise a trade deal with India in his 2023 election campaign, said on Monday his government worked hard over the past year to rebuild the relationship with New Delhi and is keen to deepen engagement with the world’s fastest growing major economy.
“Since coming into office, I have signalled that strengthening our relationship with India is a key priority for my government,” Luxon said in a statement announcing his visit. There was “incredible progress” over the past year in building a broad-based, sustainable relationship with India, from which 6% of New Zealand’s population claim their heritage.
Luxon doubled down on his promise of securing a trade deal with India, telling a news conference on Monday that his government has a plan for deepening trade ties. Luxon, whose National Party won the 2023 election, blamed previous Labour Party governments for failing to nurture trade with India.
Noting that New Zealand’s last government “wrote off doing any business with India” and two-way trade declined to a little more than NZ$2 billion, Luxon said: “When you think about a population the size of China, and our China trade is at NZ$38 billion, there’s a huge opportunity for us obviously in India.”
He acknowledged that India’s concerns about dairy products, one of New Zealand’s main exports, remains a “sensitive area” but pointed to gains reaped by Australia since it signed an interim trade deal with India in 2022.
“India understands [dairy is] an important area and sector for us but equally, today the Australians have an agreement and deeper trading relationship, which means that there’s a 30% tariff on our lamb and not on Australian lamb. The same happens with wine, the same happens with our apples,” Luxon said.
India and New Zealand entered into free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations in April 2010, but talks stopped after the 10th round in February 2015. Among the contentious issues was market access for New Zealand’s agricultural products, mainly dairy items. Two-way trade was valued at $1.75 billion in 2023-24.
Luxon said his talks with Modi will also focus on deepening political and security ties. “India is an important power in the Indo-Pacific and I will discuss with Prime Minister Modi what more we can do together to maintain peace and prosperity in our region,” he said.
“New Zealand’s relationship with India is more important than ever at this time of geopolitical uncertainty. I am confident my visit will achieve a step change in our engagement, as we continue to strengthen our mutual security and prosperity.”
