MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India and New Zealand have decided to start detailed negotiations on a mutually beneficial free trade agreement, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday after talks with his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon.
The agreement is expected by the end of 2025, an Indian foreign ministry official told reporters.
India’s exports to New Zealand totalled $682 million in 2023, while New Zealand’s shipments to India aggregated to $369 million in the same year, figures from data visualisation platform Observatory of Economic Complexity showed.
“Free trade agreement is a process which has been initiated, in a timebound manner. Perhaps by the end of this year we hope to conclude (the) free trade agreement,” said Jaideep Mazumdar, secretary east at the Indian foreign ministry.
($1 = 1.7295 New Zealand dollars)
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai and Shivam Patel in New Delhi; writing by Hritam Mukherjee, Editing by YP Rajesh)
