Auckland: New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon Saturday hailed India’s “incredible” economic transformation and urged businesses in both countries to deepen engagement to open up new markets and trade opportunities.
Luxon made the remarks at an interaction themed “India-New Zealand: A Winning Partnership”, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was on a two-day visit to the country.
Addressing the gathering, the Kiwi Prime Minister said he has been a “great fan” of India for a long period of time.
“I first went to India in my mid-20s. And that’s because I worked for a company called Unilever, which, of course, owns Hindustan Unilever, which was a top 10 company in India,” he told the gathering of a select group of CEOs and business leaders.
Luxon said he went to India in the mid-to-late 90s, when he said people were paid their daily wages in coins.
“It’s interesting to me that under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, he has lifted 250 million people out of poverty. There are now 440 million people in the middle class, and about to be 750 million by the end of the decade,” he said, calling it an “incredible transformation”.
“As someone who has been to India many times and to see the move from low income to middle income to high income, it is just so inspiring and so exciting to see the transformation that has taken place, and as the 1.4 billion Indian community in India gets wealthier,” he said.
Stressing that there are many areas for India and New Zealand to collaborate, Luxon named food and produce, tourism experiences, educational institutions, and technology as sectors for possible collaboration.
Referring to a book by Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist Victor Frankl, which says that the government, business leaders and community leaders are the three big actors in a society, he urged all three to come together to realise the huge opportunities that India and New Zealand have together.
“So I just encourage all of you…responsibility for this relationship also sits with you, and we wish you all the very best as you open up new markets and new opportunities by working together,” Luxon told the business leaders.
He encouraged New Zealand businesses to travel to India and learn about its consumers, describing them as “the most discerning” in the world.
“Learn about the markets, find the right partners, understand how to tailor your product and service in order to be able to create opportunities both in India and here in New Zealand as well,” he said.
Modi also addressed the event and invited New Zealand’s business leaders to invest in diverse sectors of the Indian economy.
He emphasised that the two nations’ shared democratic values, diversity, and commitment to sustainable development provide a robust foundation for an ambitious, forward-looking economic partnership.
He also talked about the India-New Zealand free trade agreement, which was signed in April this year, saying that it would add depth and dynamism to the bilateral economic ties and open new opportunities for market access, investment and talent mobility.
Modi also held wide-ranging talks with Luxon that produced 18 key outcomes, including the elevation of bilateral relations to the level of strategic partnership.
