Luxon ‘Hoping’ To Meet Modi This Week, India Trip Next Year

Christopher Luxon is “hoping” to meet Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the ongoing East Asia Summit in Lao that is scheduled to conclude on October 11.

“I might catch up with him on the margins of the East Asia Summit (in Lao),” Luxon told The Indian Weekender during the Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame Awards ceremony in Auckland on October 4.

“He (Modi) and I had a very good conversation a month or so ago and we want to try and get a trip (to India) organised in the New Year.” 

The prime minister was widely expected to travel to India to meet Modi in October, but that trip is now likely to happen only next year.

“We are trying really hard to do it (the trip) but both of our schedules between now and Christmas…with our different travel engagements….it is very difficult. But we will get on to that.”

John Key was the last New Zealand prime minister to visit the South Asian giant, back in 2016. But after almost eight years of relative lull, Beehive is once again abuzz with chatter around how to sweeten relations with India.   

Riding on Luxon’s bullish approach to getting the India relationship moving, Trade Minister Christopher Luxon has got himself busy. 

He has met his Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal five times in nine months, conveying a serious intent to increase bilateral trade and warm up diplomatic channels. 

The hustle seems to have returned to Wellington nearly two years after former foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta said a free trade agreement (FTA) with India was not her government’s priority. 

During his election campaign last year, Luxon pointed out “we haven't built relationships in India as we should have”, and said New Zealand has failed to tap into the country’s huge promise and potential.

“India is a country I love a lot, and when I went to Unilever, I spent a lot of time there…I want to pursue deeper trading relationships with India, and I'll definitely be going there in my first year,” he said last year.