New Zealand-India Strategic Partnership
New Zealand and India agreed a Strategic Partnership on 11 July 2026.
India is a strategic priority for New Zealand. India’s political and economic influence in the world is growing. Our two countries recognise that we have shared interests and will benefit from working more closely together.
The New Zealand-India Strategic Partnership will take the bilateral relationship to a new level, across a range of areas, from security and defence to trade, sports, and education.
The New Zealand-India Strategic Partnership: Roadmap 2030 is a framework to guide joint action over this four-year period.
Why it matters
India has a population of nearly 1.5 billion people. It is on track to be the world’s 3rd largest economy in the coming years and its GDP is growing at the fastest rate of all G20 countries.
India and New Zealand share a commitment to building and maintaining a stable, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
Our people-to-people ties are key enablers of the stronger and deeper relationship that both countries are seeking. New Zealand’s growing Indian community provides a foundation for the relationship.
What it is
The New Zealand-India Strategic Partnership commits to stronger cooperation across six priority areas, with tangible outcomes.
- Political and diplomatic engagement.
- Defence and security cooperation.
- Trade and economic cooperation.
- People, culture and sport.
- Education, research, science and technology, and disaster management.
- Regional and multilateral cooperation.
Key outcomes
- Creates regular high-level political engagement: Supports more regular Prime Ministerial, Ministerial, Foreign Minister, parliamentary, and senior officials’ engagement.
- Strengthens defence and security cooperation: Advances defence engagement through exercises, exchanges, high-level dialogues, and implementation of the 2025 Defence Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding.
- Expands maritime security cooperation: Supports new maritime arrangements, a Maritime Security Dialogue, navy-to-navy cooperation, and a regular bilateral naval exercise.
- Deepens cooperation on transnational security issues: Provides for closer work on counter-terrorism, cyber security, narcotics trafficking, law enforcement cooperation, and disaster resilience.
- Sets an ambition to grow trade significantly: Includes an aspirational goal to double two-way trade to NZ$7 billion / ₹35,000 crore by 2030, alongside work on the New Zealand–India Free Trade Agreement.
- Improves trade facilitation and sector cooperation: Supports trusted trade through customs cooperation and advances cooperation in horticulture, forestry, dairying, low-emissions agriculture, and tourism.
- Strengthens people-to-people, cultural, and sporting links: Recognises the New Zealand-Indian community and supports cooperation on sport, culture, traditional medicine, maritime heritage, seafarer recognition, and sister-city links.
- Builds education, research, science, technology, and innovation links: Promotes education partnerships and cooperation in agriculture, climate, digital transformation, science, innovation, solar energy, biofuels, and emerging technologies.
- Aligns India and New Zealand more closely in regional and multilateral settings: Provides a basis for closer exchanges on Indo-Pacific regional issues, ASEAN-led forums, UNCLOS, UN reform, and international candidatures where possible.