New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Auckland on Friday on the first visit by an Indian prime minister to New Zealand in four decades, with a focus on strengthening trade ties and deepening people-to-people links.
Modi was received by New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at Auckland Airport on the final leg of his three-nation tour. “Thankful to the Prime Minister for the welcome at the airport. This visit is historic, being the first Prime Ministerial visit to New Zealand in four decades,” Modi said in a post on X.
Modi and Luxon will hold talks on Saturday on ways to further strengthen economic, trade and commercial engagement. Modi will also address the Indian community in New Zealand.
New Zealand is home to about 300,000 people of Indian origin, including an estimated 35,000 of Fijian-Indian descent. Hindi is the country’s fifth most-spoken language after English, Maori, Samoan and Mandarin.
Ahead of Modi’s arrival, Luxon highlighted the economic benefits of the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA), saying 57% of New Zealand’s exports to India will become tariff-free from the day the agreement comes into force. Writing on X on Thursday, Luxon said the trade agreement would provide a major boost to New Zealand businesses by expanding access to the Indian market. “New Zealand businesses are set to boom with our India Trade Deal. Fifty-seven per cent of everything we export to India will be tariff-free from day one,” he wrote.