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New Delhi: A Free Trade Agreement （FTA） with India will add more employment, exports, and raise incomes, said New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Saturday. He said this as India and New Zealand concluded a comprehensive and long-awaited FTA, marking a major economic and strategic milestone. “We said we’d secure a Free Trade Agreement with India in our first term, and we’ve delivered,” Luxon said in a post on social media platform X. “This landmark deal means more jobs, higher incomes, and more exports by opening the door to 1.4 billion Indian consumers,” he added. The negotiations were formally launched on March 16. “Fixing the Basics. Building the Future,” Luxon said, while welcoming the deal that was concluded in nine months. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hailed the India-New Zealand FTA as a historic milestone. “An important moment for India-New Zealand relations, with a strong push to bilateral trade and investment! My friend PM Christopher Luxon and I had a very good conversation a short while ago following the conclusion of the landmark India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement,” he wrote on X. The FTA eliminates duty on 100 per cent of Indian exports, along with a $20 billion investment commitment over 15 years to strengthen long-term economic and strategic cooperation. It enhances market access to India’s labour-intensive sectors, including textiles, apparel, leather, footwear, marine products, gems and jewellery, handicrafts, engineering goods, and automobiles, directly supporting Indian workers, artisans, women, youth, and MSMEs and integrating them deeper into global value chains, according to the commerce ministry. Meanwhile, India has secured commitments across a wide range of high-value sectors, including IT and IT-enabled services, professional services, education, financial services, tourism, construction, and other business services, opening up substantial new opportunities for Indian service suppliers and high-skill employment, according to the Commerce Ministry. IANS |
