India and New Zealand have formally elevated their bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership, signing a broad package of agreements covering defence cooperation, maritime security, and trade during a landmark visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Auckland on Saturday. It was the first visit to New Zealand by an Indian prime minister in 40 years, and came as the final leg of a three-nation tour that also took Modi to Indonesia and Australia.
The meeting between Modi and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at Government House produced 18 concrete outcomes, including 10 formal agreements. Among the most significant are a reciprocal logistics support pact between the Indian Navy and the New Zealand Defence Force, a framework for Indo-Pacific maritime cooperation, and a joint working group on counter-terrorism. The two leaders also unveiled the "India-New Zealand Strategic Partnership: Roadmap to 2030," a four-year blueprint placing particular emphasis on maritime security, cyber defence, and military exercises including naval visits and personnel exchanges. On trade, they set an aspirational target of doubling bilateral goods and services trade to NZ$7 billion — roughly ₹35,000 crore — by 2030, building on a free trade agreement signed in April that is still awaiting parliamentary approval.
The partnership takes shape against a backdrop of growing unease over China's assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. Modi's tour was framed around deepening regional cooperation, and both leaders said they "quickly canvassed" a Chinese ballistic missile test fired into the Pacific Ocean earlier in the week. Luxon declined to say directly whether closer India-New Zealand ties were intended to counter Beijing, framing the relationship instead in broader terms. "We are a small trading nation. We are a maritime nation. We need to have as many relationships as we possibly can with partners around the world that are like-minded," he said. The joint statement reaffirmed both countries' commitment to freedom of navigation under international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and called for reform of the United Nations Security Council.
The visit was not without domestic controversy. Shane Jones, a minister from the New Zealand First party, sparked anger in the Indian diaspora community with comments opposing easier immigration provisions in the free trade deal — remarks an Indian community leader described as "outright racism." A prominent evangelical preacher separately called for the expulsion of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims from New Zealand, comments New Zealand's race relations commissioner condemned as "utterly appalling." Despite the controversy, Luxon remained a vocal champion of the partnership, describing India's economic trajectory as a generational opportunity for New Zealand. Modi, for his part, addressed an estimated 10,000-strong crowd of the Indian diaspora at Auckland's Spark Arena, calling the new strategic partnership a "milestone" that would inspire "greater energy and confidence" between the two nations.