Goyal: India, NZ working on ‘mutually beneficial’ FTA

NEW DELHI : India and New Zealand are working to finalise a comprehensive and mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement (FTA), commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday, and called for targeting robust growth in bilateral trade over the next decade.

The two countries decided to relaunch negotiations for a free trade agreement on Saturday after a gap of 10 years, a move aimed at deepening economic ties against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions.

Goyal called on business leaders from both countries to contribute towards achieving this goal.

“There are hardly any areas where we compete with each other, and the few areas of sensitivity can be navigated with mutual respect. Given our different levels of development, there are limitless possibilities for cooperation in agri-tech, dairy, food processing, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, critical minerals, forestry, horticulture, tourism, and sports,” he said.

Prime minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon emphasised the need to explore new frontiers and sectors where New Zealand holds a competitive advantage.

“I feel incredibly optimistic about the future of both India and New Zealand. India for us is a game changer. As a smaller country in the world, India is a really consequential relationship for us. We all recognise that there is a lot more that these two countries should be doing together. When we look at the trading relationship today at $3 billion, there’s a huge opportunity for us here,” he added.
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