: Monday, December 22, 2025 12:42 PM
New Delhi . The free trade agreement between India and New Zealand has been approved. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Lascan had a telephonic conversation in this regard and both the leaders together announced an important India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA). There will be an investment of $20 million between the two countries. Let us tell you, this is India’s 7th FTA in the last few years after Oman, Britain, EFTA countries, UAE, Australia and Mauritius. The leaders of both the countries agreed that the FTA will act as a catalyst for greater trade, investment, innovation and collaborative opportunities between the two countries. The two countries also welcomed developments in other areas of the bilateral sector, including defence, sports, education and people-to-people ties. During the talks, the two leaders expressed confidence in doubling mutual trade in the next five years and investment of $20 billion from New Zealand to India in the next 15 years.
A statement in this regard has also been issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). According to the statement, negotiations began in March this year and the two leaders completed the FTA in a record time of nine months. This reflects the shared ambition and political will to further deepen relations between the two countries.
The PMO statement said, “The FTA will deepen economic engagement between the two countries, increase market access, increase investment flows, strengthen strategic cooperation between the two countries and will also open up new opportunities in different sectors for innovators, entrepreneurs, farmers, MSMEs, students and youth of both the countries.”
The Prime Ministers of the two countries also welcomed the progress made in other areas of mutual cooperation between India and New Zealand such as sports, education and people-to-people ties, and reiterated their commitment to further strengthen this partnership.
This historic free trade agreement either eliminates or significantly reduces tariffs on 95 percent of New Zealand’s exports. This is considered to be the largest tariff concession in any Indian FTA so far.
Under this, about 57 percent of the products will get duty-free access on the very first day, which will increase to 82 percent once the agreement is fully implemented. Apart from this, there will be huge reduction in tariff on the remaining 13 percent products also.
According to an official statement issued by New Zealand, this puts New Zealand exporters in a position equal to or better than our competitors in many areas. Along with this, it opens doors of opportunities for India’s rapidly growing middle class.
It further said, “The Indian economy is projected to grow to NZ$12 trillion by 2030. The India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement creates huge opportunities for our exporters in the world’s largest country and will significantly accelerate New Zealand’s ambition of doubling the value of exports in 10 years.”
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