Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker met today with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to discuss ways to strengthen ties between New Zealand and India.

“India is a priority relationship for New Zealand. We share common democratic traditions, growing two-way trade, extensive people-to-people links, and a common strategic interest in the Indo-Pacific region,” Peters said.

“New Zealand has high aspirations for the relationship, which are set out in the Government’s recently released India strategy.”

“We agreed to work together to meet these aspirations, including through sustained future political engagement from both sides and by advancing initiatives of mutual interest.”

Mr Peters expressed New Zealand’s support for India‘s leadership on the Indo-Pacific Ocean’s Initiative, which seeks to promote maritime security cooperation; and the International Solar Alliance, an India-led organisation working to strengthen cooperation on solar energy.

“We discussed the importance of the Pacific to New Zealand, and agreed to identify opportunities to work together in ways in keeping with the region’s terms,” Peters said.

“We also discussed the importance of respect for international law, sovereignty, and open markets in order to advance the causes of peace, security and economic development in the Indo-Pacific region.”

Both sides agreed to work together to achieve mutually beneficial prosperity, and welcomed New Zealand’s business delegation visiting India.

“We discussed our respective views on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, our broad trade relationship, and the importance of the rules based system,” said Parker. – TIN Bureau