India, New Zealand elevate ties to Strategic Partnership: PM Luxon

Auckland, July 11 (IANS) New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Saturday announced that India and New Zealand agreed to elevate the ties to a strategic partnership aimed at deepening bilateral cooperation and providing a broader framework for expanding engagement in the years ahead.

He described Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit as a significant milestone in ties between the two countries, noting that it marked the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to New Zealand in 40 years.

Addressing delegation-level talks with PM Modi in Auckland, Luxon said, “It’s a truly historic event, as you and I have talked about last night, marking the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to New Zealand in 40 years. This visit is also a significant milestone in the New Zealand-India relationship. When I visited India last year, you welcomed me and my delegation with great warmth and tremendous generosity. I am therefore delighted to welcome you here.”

Expressing gratitude to PM Modi for his personal commitment to advancing bilateral ties, Luxon said that discussions would extend beyond the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and focus on broadening the overall partnership between the two countries.

“Thank you for the relationship, and thank you for what you have put into it personally. I think we have made tremendous progress in a very short period of time on the trade agenda. But today’s focus is about more than just the FTA. It’s about where we go to next in this relationship and how we broaden that out..and I know we have. I am very proud to announce that we will be forming a strategic partnership which will give the relationship more, framework and breadth for us to continue to expand as we go forward from here,” he added.

In a post shared on X, Luxon said New Zealand and India may be at opposite ends of the Indo-Pacific, but geographical distance has not stood in the way of expanding economic ties through a free trade agreement.

“New Zealand and India bookend the Indo-Pacific, but distance is no barrier to us working together to grow our economies. That’s what we’re doing through our free trade agreement, which will eliminate tariffs on 57 per cent of everything we sell to India on day one,” said Luxon.

Following the talks in Auckland, the two leaders also witnessed the exchange of several key MoUs to expand cooperation across multiple sectors.

Prime Minister Modi arrived in New Zealand on Friday, on the final leg of his three-nation visit.

–IANS

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