India-NZ PM Talks: Deepening 'Special Relationship' & Trade Deal - PTI

Mumbai, Mar 19 (PTI) Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Wednesday said New Zealand and India have expressed a desire to deepen and broaden their "special relationship".

Speaking at a Tourism New Zealand event late in the evening, the visiting leader said the desire features in his talks with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

"Prime Minister Modi and I have talked in the last few days about wanting to deepen and broaden the special relationship between India and New Zealand. These are two countries that should be doing much more together, that should be much closer and we have every reason to work incredibly hard to make sure that that is the case," he said.

Luxon said there is a need to have better connectivity between the two countries which can drive more tourism and more international education, pointing out that for every student who goes to his country for studies, 2-3 visitors come to the country.

He said New Zealand's tourism sector is an "absolutely wonderful sector" of people, small business owners, large companies working together to make sure that when visitors come, they have an outstanding time.

The number of Indian tourists visiting NZ is over 130 per cent of the pre-COVID levels, he said.

It can be noted that during Luxon's visit, the two countries have resolved to ink a free trade agreement in the next two months.

He also visited Tata Consultancy Services' facility in suburban Andheri, where a formal signing of an agreement between the largest Indian IT services company and Air Newzealand took place for digital transformation services.