Opinion: Following a year of positive engagement, the India New Zealand Business Council (INZBC) urges the government to stick to its strategy of building relationships between our two countries and supporting industry collaborations across the sectors. It’s not about walking away from any particular sector, it’s about going step by step, taking the opportunities in front of us to build partnerships which go on to build more opportunities for others.
We urge the New Zealand government to support the great work underway across industry to develop business and trade ties across sectors alongside any formal trade negotiations and to continue to build the relationship to deliver maximum value to New Zealand businesses.
INZBC was fortunate to have Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters speak at our event earlier this month and he noted that the government’s ambition to build stronger, deeper and more sustainable connections with India does not just lie with government officials.
NZ Inc has been working to build partnerships and collaboration with Indian industry in areas such as kiwifruit, education, fintech and dairy. Much of this is being driven by the hard work and efforts of industry. These efforts have gained momentum since the end of the last round of formal trade negotiations with the business community taking a strong leadership role, working alongside the government.
They’ve invested and they’re doing more business and building stronger partnerships and showing the benefits of close collaboration. They’re making New Zealand relevant to India which is giving the government a platform to take negotiations forward. Just last week, a delegation of horticulture business leaders visited India to better understand the market, the government system and make connections. This work supports NZ Inc and forms a platform for more collaboration across more
industries, building relationships and getting Kiwis ‘in the room’, showing what we can offer
to India.
Building a wider relationship focused on trade as well as cooperation in science and education and culture and sport was a key recommendation of the INZBC report India New Zealand: A relationship ready for its next phase and we believe the strategy remains the right one.
We ask that the government recognises the important role these industry agreements play in bilateral relations and supports them to run alongside any future government negotiations. There has been so much movement in such a short time and industry collaboration is key to trade success. We need to have a seat at the table in these discussions.
The INZBC has been working for more than 35 years to build long-term positive economic and trade relations between the two countries, with 400+ members across the primary sector, fintech, education and SMEs.