Describing India as a “geopolitical giant” and an “indispensable security actor”, New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters pitched for a greater defence and security relationship with India.
Peters prioritised establishing direct air connectivity between India and New Zealand, explored the possibility of New Zealand universities setting up campuses in India, and said that the country will continue to work towards the conclusion of a trade agreement.
Peters, who met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Thursday, also met Congress leader on Friday.
On Thursday, Jaishankar thanked New Zealand for its support and solidarity on the Pahalgam terror attack and the two ministers reviewed the progress made in partnership following the recent visit of New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Luxon.
Jaishankar said on X, “Following up from the recent visit of PM @chrisluxonmp, took stock of the progress made by our partnership. Agreed that in a more volatile & uncertain world, it’s important that India & New Zealand collaborate closely for a rules-based, peaceful, stable & prosperous Indo-Pacific region.”
At an event on Friday, Peters said the ties on “defence and security” is a priority for New Zealand in the Indo-Pacific. “In an emerging multipolar world, India is evolving into a geopolitical giant, an indispensable security actor in both regional and global affairs… during a time when there has been great uncertainty, instability and disorder,” he said.
He said, “We have taken steps to work more closely on matters of defence and security with India.” Peters was speaking at an event organised by the Ananta Aspen Centre in where he was in conversation with India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant.
He said that a recently signed defence cooperation arrangement will facilitate closer links between militaries of both countries.
Articulating New Zealand’s foreign policy, he said that “realism” informs the government’s foreign policy. He underlined the “crucial role that diplomacy needs to play in our troubled world”.
“It has never been more apparent just how much diplomacy and the tools of statecraft matter in our troubled world since war… and instability is everyone’s calamity. Diplomacy is the business of all of us. We’ve observed that at this moment in time, the ability to talk with, rather than at each other, has never been more needed. Those who share our values and those even those who do not share our values, gain from understanding each others’ position, even when we cannot agree,” Peters said.
He said that the desire for a rules-based order that protects small states against aggression and unjustified exercise of power by certain great powers have only grown over the last eight decades. “Yet small states matter now as much as they ever did. New Zealand holds the foundational belief that all states are equal and that our voices matter as much as more powerful states.”
