Congress recalls former NZ PM’s role in reviving ties with India in the 1980s as Modi elevates partnership

Aiming to place the latest development in India-New Zealand relations in historical context, the Congress on Saturday recalled New Zealand’s role in helping develop India’s dairy sector and establishing the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and credited former New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange with restarting bilateral relations in the 1980s.

This came on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon announced a strategic partnership between the two countries.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Mr Modi’s visit “brings back memories of an extraordinary man who played a key role in transforming India-New Zealand relations”.

‘Instant fit’

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“It was David Lange who revived the bilateral relationship, which was fruitful in the 1950s when New Zealand helped India develop its dairy industry and also helped establish AIIMS in New Delhi,” Mr. Ramesh said.

Effect of dairy products

He recalled that Verghese Kurien, the architect of the White Revolution in India, visited New Zealand on a government scholarship in 1952-53 and that this trip deeply influenced his work. But bilateral ties cooled in the 1960s and 1970s before efforts were made to rebuild them after Mr. Lange took office in 1984, he said.

Mr Ramesh also added that Mr Lange appointed mountaineer Edmund Hillary as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India, and that roads in New Delhi’s diplomatic precinct pay homage to both Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

strategic partnership

Earlier in the day, Mr Modi and Mr Luxon announced the upgrade of ties to strategic partnership, agreed on a roadmap to expand cooperation and set a target of doubling bilateral trade in goods and services to ₹35,000 crore by 2030.

The two sides also announced a framework for Indo-Pacific maritime cooperation, a mutual logistics support agreement between their armed forces, and agreed to launch a maritime security dialogue.