India, New Zealand relaunch free-trade negotiations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon at their bilateral meeting, in New Delhi on Sunday, agreed to relaunch stalled free-trade negotiations between India and New Zealand for a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CCEA).

India's commerce minister Piyush Goyal and New Zealand's minister for trade and investment Todd McClay announced the launch of negotiations for a comprehensive and mutually beneficial India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA). 

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is in India on a four-day visit from 16 March.

The two countries began negotiating the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement to boost trade in goods, services, and investment in April 2010. But, the talks had to be abandoned after nine rounds of discussions failed to get things moving.

The India-New Zealand FTA negotiations aim at enhancing supply chain integration and improving market access on the basis of a shared vision for fostering a resilient and strong economic partnership for prosperity, says a joint release.

India and New Zealand already share a longstanding partnership based on shared democratic values, strong people-to-people ties, and economic complementarities. Both countries have been working towards building their bilateral relationship to encompass trade and investment.

New Zealand’s trade with India is centred around agricultural and dairy products, education services, and technology, while India exports pharmaceuticals, textiles, and information technology services to New Zealand.

Trade negotiations between the two countries got stuck in February 2015 over disagreements on market access and trade priorities.

The key issue hindering an agreement, however, is New Zealand’s push for dairy access, which India resists. India also opposed lowering tariffs on dairy, meat, and wine, while New Zealand oppose India’s demand for market access for its professionals.