Trade minister Todd McClay Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Trade minister Todd McClay has confirmed he will visit New Delhi in August following a meeting with his counterpart on the sidelines of Group of Seven trade ministers' talks earlier this month.
Piyush Goyal, India's minister of commerce and industry, met McClay on 16 July to discuss trade in Italy's southern Puglia region.
"Minister Goyal invited me to visit India again for agriculture and trade-related meetings, which I will do in August," McClay said.
McClay said he travelled to Italy to deepen the trade relationship between New Zealand and India.
His trip to India may raise hopes that some progress has been made on free-trade negotiations with New Delhi.
"This was my fourth meeting with Minister Goyal since becoming trade minister and second in less than a month. It follows closely on from a high-level visit by Indian trade officials to New Zealand two months ago," McClay said.
"We have developed a strong friendship and have committed to working closely together on behalf of our respective countries.
"We discussed ways to increase trade ... through reducing barriers and making it easier for Indian and Kiwi business to forge relations. We also discussed progress towards formalising trade rules between our two countries.
"We discussed areas for greater cooperation ... in agriculture and food production, where New Zealand has offered to work with Indian producers and farmers to increase productivity and profits through innovation and Indian support of our growing IT sector."
In other news, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Saturday congratulated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his recent election victory.
"I told the Prime Minister how much I value the immense contribution that Indian-Kiwis make to New Zealand," Luxon wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "We both agreed there is so much more our countries can do together!"
In turn, the Indian leader pledged to expand India-New Zealand ties.
"Reiterated our firm commitment to take forward India-New Zealand ties, which are rooted in shared democratic values and people-to-people ties," Modi wrote. "Appreciate his efforts towards the security and well-being of the Indian diaspora in New Zealand."
Luxon had pledged to clinch a free-trade deal with India on the campaign trail in the run-up to the 2023 election, promising to visit the South Asian nation within a year of taking office.