India and New Zealand on Friday announced the elevation of their ties to a Strategic Partnership aimed at strengthening political and diplomatic engagement, defence and security cooperation, trade and economic ties, and people-to-people exchanges.
The two countries also unveiled the Roadmap to 2030, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as a shared framework to guide joint action and deepen the Strategic Partnership over the next four years.
Modi and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon agreed on a long-term vision for the partnership to take bilateral relations to a new level, strengthen existing cooperation mechanisms and explore new avenues for collaboration, both bilaterally and multilaterally, according to a joint statement.
As part of the initiative, India and New Zealand agreed to establish a regular Foreign Ministers' Dialogue and institutionalise annual senior officials' meetings between their foreign ministries.
The two leaders also acknowledged the role of parliamentary exchanges in enhancing mutual understanding and reinforcing the democratic foundations of the bilateral relationship.
On defence and security, Modi and Luxon agreed to deepen maritime cooperation and welcomed bilateral naval exercises under the Maritime Cooperation Agreement (MCA). They also decided to establish an annual Maritime Security Dialogue to enhance cooperation, coordination and information-sharing.
The leaders further agreed to strengthen practical law enforcement cooperation to combat transnational and organised crime, including illicit drug trafficking, financial crime, cyber-enabled crime, terrorism-related offences, people smuggling and human trafficking. They also committed to expediting the formalisation of cooperation arrangements on counter-narcotics and law enforcement between the relevant agencies of both countries.
On the economic front, India and New Zealand set a target of doubling bilateral trade in goods and services to NZ$7 billion (around ₹35,000 crore) by 2030. Modi and Luxon also agreed to ensure the effective implementation of the recently concluded Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The joint statement said both prime ministers recognised the FTA's role in strengthening the bilateral economic partnership through the removal of trade barriers, greater economic cooperation and increased New Zealand investment in India.
