EAM S. Jaishankar Met New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, Says Looking Forward to ‘Productive Talks’

New Delhi [India], March 12 : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met the Foreign Minister of New Zealand, Winston Peters on Tuesday and said that he looks forward to 'productive talks'. "Welcome to India, New Zealand Foreign Minister @winstonpeters. Looking forward to our productive talks," stated Jaishankar in his post on X. New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, who is on an official visit to India, arrived in New Delhi on Monday evening. Winston Peters is on an official visit to India from March 10 to 13 at the invitation of External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

Welcome to India, New Zealand Foreign Minister @winstonpeters.

Looking forward to our productive talks.

न्यूजीलैंड के विदेश मंत्री @winstonpeters का भारत में स्वागत है।

सार्थक वार्ता की आशा करता हूँ।@NewZealandMFApic.twitter.com/h6SbTlNmMj

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (Modi Ka Parivar) (@DrSJaishankar) March 12, 2024

New Zealand's Deputy PM is on his first visit to India after the new government in New Zealand assumed office in November 2023. He had earlier visited India in February 2020, the MEA added. Winston Peters arrived in Gujarat's Ahmedabad on Sunday night. On Monday, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel held a meeting with Winston Peters in Gandhinagar.  India and New Zealand share warm and friendly relations based on the commonalities of democratic traditions and shared values bolstered by strong people-to-people ties.

The two countries are engaging in cooperation across a wide range of areas, including trade and economy, defence and security, education and research, and environment and climate change, the MEA release concluded. Bilateral relations were established in 1952 between India and New Zealand. New Zealand has identified India as a priority country in its "Opening Doors to India" policy notified in October 2011, which was reiterated by New Zealand in 2015.