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- By Prime Minister Christopher Luxon
National is focused on getting New Zealand out onto the world stage and securing more trade deals, because when New Zealand sells more to the world, Kiwi families are better off.
Every new market we open means more room for Kiwi businesses to grow and hire. Think about a kiwifruit exporter landing another overseas customer. That can mean more shifts for orchard workers here – and when those workers have more in their pockets, they spend it at the local cafe, the supermarket, and the shops down the road.
Those businesses grow and hire too. That’s how trade reaches into a community like ours.
The New Zealand-India Free Trade Agreement is delivering before it’s even come into force, because businesses and customers can see the quality of what we produce. Apple exports to India are up 63 per cent on last season, and in just two years India has climbed from our seventh-largest apple market to our fourth.
And the biggest gains are still ahead. From day one, 57 per cent of our exports to India will be tariff-free, with more to follow. Our kiwifruit growers alone expect around $125 million in tariff savings over five years.
This is what an ambitious, outward-looking New Zealand looks like – backing our exporters, opening doors in fast-growing markets, and making sure the benefits are felt in communities right across the country, including ours.
Prime Minister Modi’s visit to New Zealand over the weekend – the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 40 years – is a real sign of the momentum in this relationship.
National has set a clear goal to reach our next billion customers by opening doors for exporters around the world, and a re-elected National Government will do this by pursuing trade deals with seven new economies in the next five years.
This is all part of National’s plan to build New Zealand’s future – where our exporters succeed on the world stage, creating jobs and lifting incomes at home
