Wellington/New Delhi, Mar 10 (UNI) New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has said that trade will play a central role in his discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his upcoming India trip, including talks on securing a free trade deal.
PM Luxon had promised ahead of the 2023 election that he would secure a free-trade deal with India in his first term.
He will be arriving in India on March 16 with one of the largest ever prime ministerial delegations in a concerted effort designed to boost trade and security ties with India.
The delegation will be made up of New Zealand business leaders; prominent Kiwi-Indians in the community; and representatives from across Parliament. the Prime Minister’s Office said. Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston, Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay, and Ethnic Communities Minister Mark Mitchell will also be in attendance.
Luxon said strengthening Aotearoa’s (New Zealand) ties with India “is a key priority for my Government”, according to local New Zealand dailies.
“We’ve already made incredible progress over the last year as we invest in building a broad-based, sustainable relationship with India – the world’s fastest-growing major economy, and the place from which 6% of New Zealand’s population claim their heritage. I hope my visit will further strengthen the close links between us.”
The last formal negotiations on an FTA between the two sides were last held nearly a decade ago. Dairy was a key point of contention, described as a “sensitive area” by Luxon, given it was New Zealand’s major export and part of India’s strong agricultural sector.
Asked whether he stood by his promise, Luxon said the “real commitment” had been to deepen trade relationships.
“We’re going to do everything we can to push trade really, really hard,” Luxon said in a joint media interview on Sunday.
“What I’m looking for is just a much more comprehensive economic partnership and how we’d move that forward, so yeah, you’ll have to wait and see.”
“I am determined that we are going to change the trading relationships with India big time.”
He cited the higher tariffs New Zealand wine and apple exporters faced in comparison to their Australian counterparts, while arguing concerns about dairy shouldn’t discourage trade-deal efforts.
Luxon’s comments about Indian trade were laced with criticism of the previous Labour-led governments, which he claimed had “given up” on securing a deal.
Luxon said the relationship had been broadly “non-existent” prior to the coalition taking power: “we have had to start from scratch”.
Referring to the roughly $2 billion two-way trade he lamented how only 1.5% of New Zealand exports went to India.
“India’s got a rapidly rising middle class, which creates huge trade opportunities… sadly, only 1.5 percent of our exports are actually going into India, as it currently stands today.”
PM Luxon, who has visited India several times in his former role with Unilever, said he saw trade opportunities improving as Indian communities have become wealthier amid a widespread transition from low-income to middle-income wages.
“Those citizens now don’t have worries about where their house is or what they’re going to be eating tonight, they’re actually saving for their retirement, they’re sending their kids off on education, they want to travel more and that’s a huge opportunity for us.”
Luxon’s position on defence and geopolitics would take centre stage at the Raisina Dialogue, to be held in New Delhi next week.
Regional security within the Pacific had been a prominent issue in recent weeks amid China’s warships travelling in the Tasman Sea and the recently inked deal between China and the Cook Islands, which shocked New Zealand.
The Government was also set to unveil its Defence Capability Plan in the coming weeks, which would outline New Zealand’s defence spending for the next 15 years.
Luxon described India as “one of the big guys” with the fourth-largest military spend globally. He believes India is “very aligned” with New Zealand concerning Indo-Pacific security and suggested the two countries could conduct more joint defence exercises together.
China caused some alarm last month when it sent three navy vessels into the Tasman Sea to conduct live-fire exercises.
“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,” Luxon said.
“There’s a lot more that we can do in a defence joint exercises, visits, a whole bunch of different things that we can do in that space.”
India is the fifth largest economy in the world and is expected to become the third largest.
“The large and growing Indian diaspora make significant contributions to New Zealand. I am pleased to be travelling with a first-of-its-kind community delegation, to highlight the importance of the people -to-people links we share, and to profile the best and brightest among Kiwi-Indians,” Luxon said.
