Giving a new height to their relations, India and New Zealand have officially given the status of ‘Strategic Partnership’ to the bilateral relations. Both countries have also approved ‘India-New Zealand Strategic Partnership: Roadmap 2030’. Under this, cooperation will be increased in many areas like trade, agriculture, security, innovation and people-to-people contacts in the next four years. This big decision was taken during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to New Zealand. The special thing is that this is the first official visit of an Indian Prime Minister to New Zealand after 40 years.

India-New Zealand relations get status of strategic partnership

According to a joint statement issued by India and New Zealand, both the Prime Ministers agreed to elevate bilateral relations to ‘Strategic Partnership’. Along with this, ‘India-New Zealand Strategic Partnership: Roadmap 2030’ was approved, which will become the basis of joint cooperation between the two countries in the next four years. Both leaders said that the objective of this partnership is to further strengthen existing cooperation, work together in new areas and increase cooperation in bilateral as well as multilateral fora.

Indian Prime Minister’s visit to New Zealand after 40 years

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on an official visit to New Zealand on July 10 and 11 at the invitation of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. This is the first official visit of an Indian Prime Minister to New Zealand in the last 40 years, which is being considered historic in the relations between the two countries.

Target to double trade by 2030

Under ‘Roadmap 2030’, India and New Zealand have set a target of increasing bilateral trade in goods and services between the two countries to 7 billion New Zealand dollars (about Rs 35 thousand crore) by the year 2030. For this, both the countries will work together on reducing trade barriers, increasing investment and strengthening economic cooperation.

Agreed on implementing free trade agreement soon

Both Prime Ministers welcomed the signing of the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and agreed to implement it soon. The joint statement said that this agreement will reduce trade barriers, strengthen economic partnership and will play an important role in increasing investment from New Zealand to India.

New Zealand will cooperate in ‘Developed India 2047’

New Zealand said that it will cooperate in achieving India’s ‘Developed India 2047’ goal. Under this, both the countries will work together in trade, agriculture, skill development, innovation, clean energy, sports and other areas.

Custom and trade process will be easier

Both countries also agreed to implement the Authorized Economic Operators Mutual Recognition Arrangement (AEO-MRA) by 2025 to simplify customs procedures. It will work under the Customs Cooperation Arrangement of 2024 and promote reliable trade.

Direct flights and tourism will get a boost

India and New Zealand also signed a Memorandum of Arrangement regarding tourism cooperation. Both the leaders urged airlines to take steps towards starting direct non-stop flights between India and New Zealand. Both the countries agreed to increase cooperation in areas like horticulture, forestry, animal husbandry and dairy. Under this, New Zealand will work on productivity schemes to increase the production of kiwi, apple and honey in India. Apart from this, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoC) was also agreed to establish Kiwi Center of Excellence in India and cooperation in animal husbandry and dairy sector.

Cooperation will be strengthened in maritime sector also

The two leaders also agreed to continue dialogue between India’s Directorate General of Shipping and Maritime New Zealand to strengthen mutual recognition of seafarers’ skill certificates. Both countries believe that this will ease the movement of sailors and will give new strength to cooperation in the maritime sector.

India-New Zealand Free Trade Deal: The free-trade deal (FTA) between India and New Zealand was finalized on Monday. This Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries was signed in the presence of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and New Zealand’s Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay.

This agreement will take the economic relations between the two countries to a new level. Its objective is to increase trade between the two, to provide duty free access to the New Zealand market to Indian exporters and to attract investment of $ 20 billion in the next 15 years.

What is FTA?

A free trade agreement or free-trade agreement is an agreement or a deal between two or more countries, under which the custom duty on various types of traded goods is to be eliminated or greatly reduced. Due to this, goods become cheaper, which increases the demand for local goods in foreign markets and exporters and companies benefit from this.

FTA is not limited to just goods, but also aims to make it easier for professionals like doctors and engineers to move from one place to another. Under this, investment rules are also made easier.

Its benefits for India

• 100% duty-free access- New Zealand has abolished the custom duty on 100% of Indian products or 8284 items. According to PIB, textile, leather, pharmaceutical and engineering products will directly benefit from this.
• Investment of 20 billion dollars- New Zealand is going to invest 20 billion dollars in India’s manufacturing, infrastructure and agri-tech industry in the next 15 years. It is obvious that this will increase employment opportunities in the country and India will move towards reaching new heights.
• Trade will double – Both the countries are aiming to increase mutual trade from the current 2.4 billion dollars to 5 billion dollars in the next 5 years.
• Visa and employment opportunities- New Zealand will issue 5000 special visas every year for Indian engineers, doctors, healthcare professionals. In this, for the first time, priority has also been given to AYUSH doctors, yoga trainers and Indian chefs.

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India New Zealand Free Trade Agreement: Amidst the pressure of American high tariffs, India has started trying to melt the frozen ice with China and rebalance the trade relations, so that dependence on the American market can be reduced and the markets of China, Russia and other countries can be shifted towards. However, recent reports indicate that despite this initiative, India’s trade deficit with China has already increased, as India’s imports from China are increasing rapidly while India’s exports remain relatively weak.

How will China’s concern increase?

Meanwhile, an important report by the economic research institute Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) has made it clear that India has a big opportunity to raise China’s concerns and challenge its global hold, especially in a market like New Zealand. According to the report, in the year 2024-25, New Zealand imported more than US $ 10 billion from China, while only US $ 711 million worth of goods were purchased from India, while New Zealand’s total imports were about US $ 50 billion.

GTRI says that under the proposed bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA), there are huge opportunities for Indian exporters to establish their strong presence in many sectors like agricultural and processed foods, petroleum products, industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals and health services, textiles and apparel, electronic and electrical equipment, motor vehicles, transport equipment, aeronautics, high value manufacturing and furniture.

According to Ajay Srivastava, founder of GTRI, there are many sectors where Chinese competition is almost negligible, yet India’s exports are limited to only between US$100,000 and 50 million, which shows that this market is not locked by any established supplier, but has remained largely untouched till now.

How will the air come out of China?

For example, India is among the world’s largest exporters of refined petroleum products, with global exports worth US$69.2 billion, while New Zealand imports about US$6.1 billion worth of petroleum products every year, but imports only US$2.3 million from India, while China supplies US$181 million. In such a situation, experts believe that the real challenge for India is to combine FTA with targeted export promotion, standard cooperation, regulatory simplicity and better logistics support, so that it can reduce China’s dependence in markets like New Zealand and strengthen its position in global trade.

India-New Zealand FTA: Free-trade deal (India-New-Zealand FTA) has been confirmed between India and New Zealand. This will obviously boost bilateral trade between the two countries. However, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters is not liking this deal. He has called it ‘nonsense’. Criticizing the FTA between India and New Zealand, Peters said that ‘it is neither free nor fair.’ Along with this, he warned that whenever this deal goes to the Parliament, his party will oppose it.

What is the Foreign Minister regretting about?

Posting on social media platform He said the deal was bad for New Zealand because it had ‘a lot to lose’, especially on immigration. He said that New Zealand citizens are not getting anything special in return from this deal, including dairy.

Let us tell you that in this deal between the two countries, India has kept dairy products (milk, ghee, butter, cheese, cream) out of the scope of FTA, keeping the interest of the farmers at the forefront. That means the tariff on this will not be reduced. Union Minister Piyush Goyal has also said that India will never open its dairy sector for open trade because it supports the livelihood of about 70 million small farmers.

No compromise with dairy sector

New Zealand is one of the world’s largest exporters of dairy products. New Zealand has been trying to increase its reach in India’s dairy products market for a long time. There are lakhs of small dairy farmers in India. In such a situation, no compromise can be made on this sector so that there is no impact on the security of this sector and the livelihood of these farmers.

Keeping this in mind, the trade of dairy products between the two countries is limited. Dairy exports from New Zealand to India in FY2025 stood at only $1.07 million. This included milk and cream worth $0.40 million, natural honey worth $0.32 million, mozzarella cheese worth $0.18 million, butter worth $0.09 million and skimmed milk worth $0.08 million. The trade deal between India and America is also stuck on this issue. America wants India to open its dairy products market for them, but India is against it.

benefit to the common man

This free-trade deal between India and New Zealand will directly impact the pockets of the common man. With this, many things coming from New Zealand will become cheaper, including many fresh fruits like apple and kiwi, wool and its products, furniture, wood etc. Under the agreement, there will be no tax on 95 percent of the goods coming from New Zealand to India. In such a situation, this is a great opportunity for New Zealand businessmen to increase their reach in the Indian markets. Also, if foreign products become cheaper for the middle class families of our country, they will also get relief.

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There has been a sharp reaction in New Zealand politics regarding the recently concluded Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and New Zealand. The country’s Foreign Minister and leader of the New Zealand First Party, Winston Peters, has strongly opposed this agreement, calling it ‘neither free nor fair’. He warned that the agreement was a ‘bad deal’ for New Zealand, in which the country had given too many concessions but received no concrete benefits in return.

‘Bad deal for New Zealand’
In a detailed post on social media platform X, Winston Peters said his party New Zealand First “regretfully opposes” the deal. They allege that in this FTA, serious concessions have been given on the immigration and investment front, while in return New Zealand did not get the expected benefits, especially in its major export sectors.

Allegations of loss to dairy farmers
Referring specifically to the dairy sector, Peters said that this agreement is not in the interests of New Zealand farmers. ‘This is not a good deal for New Zealand farmers and it is impossible to justify to our rural communities,’ he said.

More concessions on immigration, less benefits
According to Peters, New Zealand has given excessive concessions in the provisions related to immigration in the India-New Zealand FTA. He said that New Zealanders are not getting enough benefits from this agreement, especially in important sectors like dairy.

business expected to double
Despite Peters’ criticism, the governments of India and New Zealand have described this agreement as historic. Both countries say that this FTA can help in doubling bilateral trade in the next five years. According to the New Zealand government, under this agreement, duties will be eliminated or reduced on 95 percent of New Zealand’s exports to India, of which more than half of the products will become duty-free from day one. In return, all Indian products will get duty-free access to the New Zealand market. New Zealand has also committed to invest about 20 billion dollars in India in the next 15 years, which is being considered a big step in terms of economic relations between the two countries.

Prime Minister Lakson said ‘an agreement with great benefits’
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luckson defended this FTA, saying that it would provide wide-ranging and significant benefits. He said in the statement, ‘India’s vast size and rapid economic growth creates huge opportunities for jobs, exports and economic growth for New Zealand.’ The agreement also fulfills the promise made by Laxman’s National Party in the 2022 elections to finalize an FTA with India in its first term.

Differences exposed in coalition government
Winston Peters’ sharp reaction has made it clear that there are deep differences within the ruling coalition regarding the India-New Zealand FTA. In the coming days, this issue may become more heated in the domestic politics of New Zealand.