India, New Zealand resume FTA talks after 10 years

The two countries began negotiating the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) in April 2010 to boost trade

After a gap of about ten years, India and New Zealand on Sunday announced resumption of negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement to boost economic ties, moments after Kiwi Prime Minister Christopher Luxon landed in New Delhi.  Luxon on Sunday began a five-day visit to India with a focus on deepening the bilateral trade and economic ties.

India and New Zealand began negotiating the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) in April 2010 to boost trade in goods, services, and investment. However, after nine rounds of discussions, the talks stalled in 2015. “The two nations are pleased to announce the launch of negotiations for a comprehensive and mutually beneficial India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations,” the commerce ministry said.

“The India-New Zealand FTA negotiations aim to achieve balanced outcomes that enhance supply chain integration and improve market access,” it said. “With bilateral trade continuing to grow steadily, surpassing $1 billion during April-January 2025, the FTA negotiations aim to unlock new avenues for businesses and consumers, fostering mutual growth and prosperity of our nations,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said in a post on X.

New Zealand's average import tariff is just 2.3 per cent, compared to India's 17.8 per cent, it has said. The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $873.4 million (exports $538.33 million and imports $335 million) in 2023-24 as against $1.02 billion in 2022-23.

Raisina Dialogue

PM Modi will on Monday throw open the three-day Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics that will be joined by delegates from 125 countries. PM Luxon, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha are among those attending the 10th edition of the conclave.

In a first, a delegation, including a senior security official, from Taiwan is also attending the deliberations reflecting growing cooperation between the two sides in the last few years, people familiar with the matter said. The Raisina Dialogue is being hosted by the leading think-tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The theme of this edition of the Dialogue is “Kalachakra - People, Peace and Planet”. It will witness the participation of representatives from about 125 countries.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!