India, New Zealand announce various initiatives to bolster ties
19 Mar 2025
India and New Zealand on Monday announced a series of initiatives, including negotiations on an arrangement facilitating the mobility of professionals and skilled workers, to give a further momentum to the relaunched free-trade negotiations.
New Zealand joined the Indo-Pacific Oceans’ Initiative (IPOI) and also became a member of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
The two countries entered into a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between their respective ministries of defence.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs of India (CBIC) and the New Zealand Customs Service signed an Authorised Economic Operator - Mutual Recognition Agreement (AEO-MRA) for facilitating bilateral trade.
New Zealand’s ministry for primary industries signed a memorandum of cooperation on horticulture with India’s ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare besides signing a letter of intent on forestry with India’s ministry of environment, forest, and climate change.
The two countries also signed agreements on cooperation in the fields of education and sports.
The agreements were signed on the sidelines of an ongoing visit of New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon from 16 to 20 March 2025, at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During their meeting the two prime ministers reaffirmed their shared desire to further strengthen bilateral relations between India and New Zealand so as to reap the full potential for cooperation in diverse areas of mutual interest.
They exchanged views on regional and global developments and agreed to strengthen multilateral cooperation at a time when countries around the world face an uncertain future. They emphasised the need for rule-based, open, inclusive, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
The two leaders reaffirmed the right of freedom of navigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the seas in accordance with international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The prime ministers noted the strong people-to-people connections between the two countries, with Indian-origin people making up almost six per cent of New Zealand’s population. Both leaders agreed on the need to ensure the safety and security of the Indian community, including students, in New Zealand, and of New Zealanders in India.
The leaders noted the sustained trade and investment flows between India and New Zealand and called for further exploring the potential to expand bilateral trade. Towards this, both sides agreed to encourage businesses to cultivate links and explore investment opportunities to build upon the complementarities of the two economies.
Within the FTA negotiations, the leaders agreed on discussions between both sides on early implementation of cooperation in the digital payments sector.
They welcomed the growing bilateral tourist flows while noting that the updated India-New Zealand Air Services Agreement will help carriers to start direct flights between the two countries.
The prime ministers underscored the significance of political, defence and security cooperation and welcomed sustained progress in defence engagements, including through participation in military exercises, staff college exchanges, regular port calls by naval ships, and exchange of high-level defence delegations.
The signing of the India-New Zealand memorandum of understanding for defence cooperation will lead to regular bilateral defence engagement, they noted.
The two leaders emphasised the importance of research, scientific connections, technology partnerships and innovation in bolstering bilateral partnership and called for exploring such opportunities in mutual interest.
The prime ministers emphasised the need for sharing information on traditional medicine in India and New Zealand, and welcomed research and expert discussions to understand and explore possible areas of cooperation.
They also noted the growing interest among New Zealanders in Yoga and Indian music and dance, as well as the free observance of Indian festivals and expressed desire to further promotion of bilateral ties through music, dance, theatre, films, and festivals etc.
Prime Minister Luxon is visiting New Delhi and Mumbai, accompanied by tourism minister Louise Upston, minister for ethnic communities and sport and recreation Mark Mitchell, and minister for trade and investment, agriculture, and forestry Todd McClay, and a high-level delegation comprising officials, and representatives of businesses, community diaspora, media and cultural groups.
