PM Modi reaches Auckland on a two-day visit to New Zealand

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday reached Auckland in the third and last leg of his three-nation tour. He was received by his New Zealand counterpart, Christopher Luxon. The two leaders greeted each other with a warm embrace. Prime Minister Modi is visiting New Zealand at the invitation of PM Luxon. This marks the first official visit by an Indian Prime Minister to New Zealand in four decades.
According to MEA Spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, this historic visit is set to strengthen bilateral ties and unlock new avenues of cooperation across several areas especially trade, defence, sports, culture, education, and people-to-people exchanges. During his stay in Auckland, PM Modi will hold bilateral talks with PM Luxon and review the entire gamut of bilateral relations, which have seen significant progress over the past two years, particularly in the areas of trade, commerce and defence, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

According to MEA, New Zealand is home to around 3 lakh Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs), including nearly 70,000 Indian passport holders, while about 35,000 are of Fijian-Indian descent. Hindi has also emerged as the country’s fifth most spoken language, after English, Maori, Samoan and Mandarin.A vibrant Indian diaspora, growing educational cooperation and expanding academic partnerships have emerged as key pillars of the India-New Zealand relationship, MEA said.