Many ways to trade well with India
I’m writing this column from New Delhi, where I am part of a delegation accompanying Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker.
Let’s be honest – travelling in a business delegation isn’t exactly a normal way to see India. Getting around is easy, and doors open everywhere we go. But we know that this isn’t always the case for many New Zealanders trying to make a go of it here.
The New Zealand contingent’s visit came the same week as the first ever visit by US President Donald Trump. Trump was able to return home with a few signed agreements (for instance, around military equipment, counterterrorism, energy, and 5G technology) – but he had also hoped to agree a free trade deal after years of negotiations.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Trade Minister, Simon Birmingham, has also been in India, leading a major business delegation. Australia is an example of a country finding ways to grow the relationship in the absence of a free trade agreement (FTA).
As an advocate for trade liberalisation, New Zealand tends to measure some of its international engagement success in terms of FTAs. India, on the other hand, tends to see itself as coming off second-best in trade deals, and is far more domestically focused.
Our ministerial visit isn’t going to deliver a trade deal for New Zealand but it may lead to new avenues for growing the relationship.
To coincide with the visit, our Government released its refreshed India Strategy, which sets out a framework for engagement over the next five years. It notes India is the world’s fifth-largest economy and that it will have the world’s largest population by 2025. And the New Zealand-India economic relationship is of growing importance, with two-way trade in goods and services reaching $2.6 billion in the year to September 2019.
The fact the relationship is as fruitful as it is owes a great deal to the role played by people-topeople links. Just ahead of the ministers’ visit, the Asia New Zealand Foundation published a report that highlights the contributions New Zealand’s growing Indian diaspora, and community and business representatives, have made to our economy and bilateral relations – and to our cultural engagement.
The foundation commissioned that report – India and New Zealand: Our story, our future – from former New Zealand High Commissioner Graeme Waters. In fact, it’s an update of a report Waters wrote for us a few years back – and it was so popular we had to reprint it. The updated report highlights the breadth and depth of the India-New Zealand relationship beyond the usual headlines. Waters identifies some of the ways we should continue to work together – for instance, in areas such as agribusiness, tourism, higher education and fashion. It also includes plenty of case studies highlighting partnerships and joint ventures.
As just one example – New Delhi’s ubiquitous yellow and green auto-rickshaws, often referred to as ‘‘tuk tuks’’, have a little-known connection to New Zealand. More than a decade ago, New Delhi banned two-stroke engines in a bid to help clean up the city’s air. Auckland’s Compac Industries – a specialist in gas meters and other fuel dispensing products – entered the picture and became integral to the compressed natural gas-powered auto rickshaw industry in the city.
Compac is an example of a niche New Zealand-India cooperation that flies under the radar but is actually very emblematic of the types of cooperation that New Zealand could pursue with India. There are plenty more opportunities out there.
The Asia New Zealand Foundation has been lucky enough to have several interactions with Indian superstars over the past few weeks – and not just with cricketer Virat Kohli.We took a small group to India’s global conference, the Raisina Dialogue, in January, and have enjoyed conversations with Indian foreign policy expert Professor C Raja Mohan in Wellington in recent weeks.
It has been clear from these interactions that an FTA with New Zealand is very far down the priority list for India. India is under domestic pressure in relation to slow economic growth, and it faces criticism of its decisions in Kashmir and citizenship law changes.
Across India, millions of people have taken part in protests against the citizenship law change over the past couple of months. Further unrest has taken place this week, with reports of Muslim homes and shops being targeted by mobs in northeast Delhi, and multiple deaths.
As India works through these complex domestic issues, New Zealand needs to stay engaged. Close relationships require honest conversations, but also investment in time and people.
The India and New Zealand: Our story, our future report highlights that we are tightly connected, and we have a shared interest in our region’s stability, security and prosperity.As Professor C Raja Mohan has put it, ‘‘New Zealand’s trick needs to be to find a new way to work with India. You should always be looking for new ways to work, and not just in commerce.’’