India, New Zealand fast-track FTA rollout, target NZ$7 billion bilateral trade by 2030

India and New Zealand on Saturday announced to work together on next steps for the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to ensure its early entry into force and effective implementation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon also announced to work towards doubling bilateral two-way trade in goods and services to NZ$7 billion (Rs 35,000 crore) by 2030.

The FTA, signed on April 27 this year, removes tariffs on 100 per cent of India’s exports to New Zealand, and either sharply reduces or removes tariffs on 95 per cent of the country’s imports from New Zealand.

The leaders also discussed to operationalise the 2025 Authorised Economic Operators Mutual Recognition Arrangement (AEO-MRA) under the aegis of the 2024 Customs Cooperation Arrangement (CCA) to simplify customs processes and facilitate trusted trade.

According to an official statement, both sides agreed to implement the 2025 Memorandum of Cooperation on Horticulture to advance joint research, knowledge exchange, post harvest innovation, and market development initiatives.

They also decided to implement the 2025 Letter of Intent on Forestry Cooperation through sustained policy dialogue, technical exchanges, and best practice sharing, and implement the Memorandum of Cooperation on Animal Husbandry and Dairying to advance technical and policy collaboration.

For the tourism sector, both the nations agreed to operationalise the Memorandum of Arrangement to promote two-way visitor flows and industry cooperation in the tourism sector, and promote tourism growth by encouraging airlines to commence direct (non stop) flights under the updated Air Services Agreement.

They also agreed for continued dialogue between Directorate General of Shipping, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways of India, and Maritime New Zealand on opportunities to strengthen the recognition of seafarer competency certificates to support our respective maritime industries.

Both sides decided to engage with the Global Biofuels Alliance to support sustainable energy transitions.

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