Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is hoping he could visit New Delhi after the 2024 general elections in India in the first half of next year.
“I am really looking forward to [it],” said Luxon when asked about the prospects of him meeting his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi.
The prime minister was speaking at the 10th edition of The Indian Weekender’s Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame Awards 2023 on December 8.
“Well, as I said, I'm really looking forward to meeting Prime Minister Modi, and certainly wanting to build a stronger relationship with India.
“It's a big, big focus and a big priority for my government and the foreign minister, the trade minister and myself. We want to get to India as quickly as we can.”
John Key was the last New Zealand prime minister to visit India, in 2016. Luxon said Trade Minister Todd McClay is trying to be in India before Christmas, “which will be fantastic”. “And then I want to go probably as soon as the elections are over in India next year. But it's one of my major priorities and so I really want to go as fast as I possibly can,” he said.
In his 2023 election campaign, Luxon promised to visit India in his first year in office, a trip he believes will lay the foundations for reviving robust trade and diplomatic relations with the South Asian giant.
Just last week, McClay reiterated locking in a trade deal with India within three years was possible. “We’re going to put every single effort into it that we can,” he said.
“We just can’t afford to let New Zealand be left behind when it comes to…access and fair access to a market of 1.4 billion people whose…economy is growing so very, very quickly.”
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