John Key's tryst with India
Prime Minister John Key can safely take credit of repositioning New Zealand's bilateral relationship with India. New Zealand's bilateral relationship with India has always been underpinned on Commonwealth ties, shared democratic values, people-to-people relations and sporting links between the two countries. However, it is to the credit of PM Key to take leadership in taking this relationship to a different level. Although much remains to be achieved in this bilateral relationship, still there is a remarkable progress in the way two nations have begun to see each other since the beginning of 21st century.
Mr Key came to power in New Zealand (2008) when India's political and economic environment was maturing after a tumultuous decade of the 1990s. India in the 90s witnessed tremendous changes and its world view then can at best be described as evolving. In India, economic socialism has given way to liberalisation and globalisation and political idealism was replaced by a new found pragmatism and realism in the foreign policy. Since the beginning of the 21st century, India has begun attracting significant global attention due to its decade-long high economic growth and the hard power capabilities. Added to this, India's strategic thinking has also been undergoing some significant changes from seeing itself as a sub-continental power to a maritime power. The vast stretches of South Pacific Ocean and the island nations in that region, including New Zealand, gradually started gaining traction in India's overall strategic thinking. At home, New Zealand has just recently managed to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China under the previous Labour government, which has a potential to significantly increase bilateral trade between the two countries and bring more prosperity to New Zealand. Mr Key was looking towards the second fastest growing major economy in the world for bringing more prosperity in New Zealand and stability and world peace.
It was in these circumstances that New Zealand and India were both looking towards each other that Mr Key took the initiative to build bridges with India and launched the famous NZ-India Inc Strategy. Initiated in 2011, the stated vision of this strategy was to make India a core trade, economic, and political partner for New Zealand by 2015. Towards this goal, Mr Key visited India for the first time in 2011 on the invitation of the then Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. During this visit, Mr Key was accompanied by Trade Minister Hon Tim Groser, a high-level business delegation. Both prime ministers discussed the possibility of FTA between the two countries and agreed to create a task force to coordinate efforts towards this direction.
It will not be an exaggeration to say that post this visit, the mutual bonhomie between the political elites of the two countries was elevated to a level unseen before. The personal effect of Mr Key's charisma on Indian political elites cannot be undermined. Since then, PM Key has been regularly meeting Indian leadership on the sidelines of many global events and conferences around the world. This continued even after the change of government in India in 2014 when Narendra Modi became the new Prime Minister of India riding on a massive mandate for domestic economic reforms in India. Since then, there has been a lot of anticipation in enhancing bilateral trade between both the countries. Towards this goal, Mr Key again visited India earlier in October this year. The two main issues that attracted major attention in his second visit were FTA and India's request for New Zealand's support in gaining membership of elite Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG). Once again, this visit was not short of personal bonhomie between Mr Key and Mr Modi, although fell short of achieving mutually desired goals.
In conclusion to Mr Key's tryst with India, there are two important unfulfilled goals. First, he has invested significant emotional energy in securing an FTA with India and would have wished to leave a legacy like Helen Clark's FTA with China. His early retirement plan may have left that goal unachieved. Similarly, for India, Mr Key's departure may have an effect on India's efforts in gaining entry into the coveted NSG. He has personally taken great strides in understanding India's energy needs and commitment to global climate change that are driving its current desire to get access to NSG.
John Key will be missed by India, too.
Prime Minister John Key can safely take credit of repositioning New Zealand's bilateral relationship with India. New Zealand's bilateral relationship with India has always been underpinned on Commonwealth ties, shared democratic values, people-to-people relations and sporting links between the two...
Prime Minister John Key can safely take credit of repositioning New Zealand's bilateral relationship with India. New Zealand's bilateral relationship with India has always been underpinned on Commonwealth ties, shared democratic values, people-to-people relations and sporting links between the two countries. However, it is to the credit of PM Key to take leadership in taking this relationship to a different level. Although much remains to be achieved in this bilateral relationship, still there is a remarkable progress in the way two nations have begun to see each other since the beginning of 21st century.
Mr Key came to power in New Zealand (2008) when India's political and economic environment was maturing after a tumultuous decade of the 1990s. India in the 90s witnessed tremendous changes and its world view then can at best be described as evolving. In India, economic socialism has given way to liberalisation and globalisation and political idealism was replaced by a new found pragmatism and realism in the foreign policy. Since the beginning of the 21st century, India has begun attracting significant global attention due to its decade-long high economic growth and the hard power capabilities. Added to this, India's strategic thinking has also been undergoing some significant changes from seeing itself as a sub-continental power to a maritime power. The vast stretches of South Pacific Ocean and the island nations in that region, including New Zealand, gradually started gaining traction in India's overall strategic thinking. At home, New Zealand has just recently managed to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China under the previous Labour government, which has a potential to significantly increase bilateral trade between the two countries and bring more prosperity to New Zealand. Mr Key was looking towards the second fastest growing major economy in the world for bringing more prosperity in New Zealand and stability and world peace.
It was in these circumstances that New Zealand and India were both looking towards each other that Mr Key took the initiative to build bridges with India and launched the famous NZ-India Inc Strategy. Initiated in 2011, the stated vision of this strategy was to make India a core trade, economic, and political partner for New Zealand by 2015. Towards this goal, Mr Key visited India for the first time in 2011 on the invitation of the then Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. During this visit, Mr Key was accompanied by Trade Minister Hon Tim Groser, a high-level business delegation. Both prime ministers discussed the possibility of FTA between the two countries and agreed to create a task force to coordinate efforts towards this direction.
It will not be an exaggeration to say that post this visit, the mutual bonhomie between the political elites of the two countries was elevated to a level unseen before. The personal effect of Mr Key's charisma on Indian political elites cannot be undermined. Since then, PM Key has been regularly meeting Indian leadership on the sidelines of many global events and conferences around the world. This continued even after the change of government in India in 2014 when Narendra Modi became the new Prime Minister of India riding on a massive mandate for domestic economic reforms in India. Since then, there has been a lot of anticipation in enhancing bilateral trade between both the countries. Towards this goal, Mr Key again visited India earlier in October this year. The two main issues that attracted major attention in his second visit were FTA and India's request for New Zealand's support in gaining membership of elite Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG). Once again, this visit was not short of personal bonhomie between Mr Key and Mr Modi, although fell short of achieving mutually desired goals.
In conclusion to Mr Key's tryst with India, there are two important unfulfilled goals. First, he has invested significant emotional energy in securing an FTA with India and would have wished to leave a legacy like Helen Clark's FTA with China. His early retirement plan may have left that goal unachieved. Similarly, for India, Mr Key's departure may have an effect on India's efforts in gaining entry into the coveted NSG. He has personally taken great strides in understanding India's energy needs and commitment to global climate change that are driving its current desire to get access to NSG.
John Key will be missed by India, too.
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