11th India-New Zealand Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting held in New Zealand.

A delegation led by Shri Sunil Barthwal, Secretary, Commerce held a number of constructive and outcome oriented meetings in New Zealand from April 26 to 27, 2024 and worked towards strengthening the existing bilateral relations. The meeting was held at the meeting of Hon’ble Todd McClay, Minister of Commerce, New Zealand, Mr. Brooke Berrington, Acting Chief Executive and Secretary, Foreign Affairs and Commerce, New Zealand, India-New Zealand Business Council (INZBC) and the 11th India-New Zealand Joint Trade Committee (JTC).

Both sides recognized that the present has enormous potential in both the economy and mutual trade complementarities, with considerable potential to enhance trade and people-to-people contacts. The meeting discussed a number of key areas aimed at boosting bilateral trade and cooperation, which was an important moment in the direction of strengthening economic ties and promoting cooperation between the two countries.
The meeting reviewed market access issues, progress of economic cooperation projects and sought opportunities for new initiatives. The two sides discussed the establishment of a strong bilateral economic dialogue framework and the formation of working groups in areas such as agriculture; food processing, storage and transportation; Forestry and Pharmaceuticals to facilitate ongoing cooperation on key trade and economic issues. Cooperation in the field of horticulture, including in the field of Kiwi fruit sector (quality and productivity, proper storage in pack houses and its proper transportation) as well as in the field of milk were also discussed. After the formation of the Working Group, India and New Zealand will review the progress of those working groups and its recommendations at regular intervals.

The meeting discussed bilateral trade issues of mutual interest, including issues related to market access, non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and sanitary and phytosanits.

The discussions held at various levels focused on increasing its breadth for the services sector and bilateral trade, with a lot of interest from both sides in enhancing business-to-business and people-to-people contacts and working on the skill gap and how to strengthen it through skill development and improving ease of mobility. It touched upon areas such as adventure tourism, nursing, telemedicine, education, air connectivity, joint R&D (where possible), start-ups, etc.

There were detailed discussions on cooperation in the field of drugs and medical devices, which included adopting rapid tracking of regulatory processes and evaluating the quality of manufacturing facilities using appropriately comparable foreign regulators’ inspection reports. Procurement of more medicines from India and cooperation in the field of medical devices were also discussed.

Both teams briefly explored the opportunities for the collab.