New Zealand PM visits India to fast-track FTA

NEW DELHI: New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is in India with a high powered official and business delegation to speed up the on-going free trade agreement or FTA talks between the two countries that promises opportunities for Indian service providers and the island nation’s thriving dairy industry.

"These things are always delicate and, as we know from the negotiations with Korea, you can hit speed bumps along the way, but I'm confident they want to do a deal," Key told reporters on Monday, the first day of his three-days long visit.

Key will meet his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh and foreign minister S M Krishna on Tuesday and will also address a meeting of industrialists from both countries.

India-New Zealand bilateral trade is just $ 1 billion while the country’s total trade with China has crossed $10 billion, thanks to the free trade agreement implemented in October 2008.

The two countries hope to conclude their proposed FTA in 2012.

New Zealand is willing to offer more access to Indian professionals, but the stress is on the level of skills that they possess. "We cannot allow unqualified people knocking our front doors and doing a poor job," New Zealand trade minister Tim Groser told ET in a recent interview.

Professionals who could benefit include teachers, healthcare providers, technicians, IT experts, architects and hospitality providers, among others.

New Zealand seeks access for its dairy industry as part of the FTA, as India has kept the sector largely closed.