New Zealand Government Confirms Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Visit On July 10th.

Wellington; July 2026: The New Zealand Government today (Friday – 03rd July 2026) has confirmed the visit of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to New Zealand on 10th July. He will arrive on Friday 10th in Auckland, and scheduled to depart the following day (Saturday – 11th July 2026).

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said: “the visit, which is Narendra Modi’s first, and the first visit of an Indian Prime Minister to New Zealand in 40 years is ‘historic’. This visit is about celebrating a winning partnership between New Zealand and India, one that delivers for our people and supports greater prosperity and security for both our countries”, Luxon said.

“We are taking the two country’s relationship to the next level with our New Zealand-India Free Trade Agreement, signed in April, which will deliver more jobs, higher exports and stronger economic growth for New Zealand”, added Prime Minister Luxon. That followed the conclusion of negotiations in December 2025 for a free trade deal signed by Trade Minister Todd McClay in New Delhi in late April this year.

Legislation supporting the deal passed its first reading in Parliament last week with Labour’s support. It was during that debate, Foreign Minister and NZ First leader Winston Peters, who has criticised the deal within minutes of it being announced, have claimed National was ‘covertly’ approving changes to immigration settings that would discriminate against Indians.

However, McClay said Peters was spreading misinformation to get votes, and Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said Peters was breaking from usual processes in discussing changes in public before final decisions had been made. Both parties have so far refused to release the briefing Peters claimed to be reading from when he made the claims in Parliament, which followed criticism from him and deputy Shane Jones that the deal would enable too much migration from India.

Jones’ comments likening the deal to a ‘butter chicken tsunami’ drew condemnation from Indians in New Zealand, and Luxon said they were ‘alarmist’ but he stopped short of calling them racist.

FREE TRADE AGREEMENT –

On 28th April this year (2026), New Zealand’s Trade Minister Todd McClay have signed the free-trade agreement in New Delhi with Indian Commerce & Industry Minister Pijush Goyel. Immediately after signing the agreement, Todd McClay interacted with media reporters citing “It’s a great day and very exciting for New Zealand. We are taking the next step to have unprecedented access to 1.4 billion consumers”, he said.

“The very first negotiation ever between India and New Zealand was 16 years ago this month, there’s been many stops and starts, this is quite significant. We’re seeing India doing trade deals with Australia, the EU; the UK. This not only levels the playing field so New Zealand exporters can be treated fairly in this market, in some areas it gives us advantage. That would be particularly true if New Zealand’s FTA came into force faster than the EUs, because that would mean securing access to a Most Favoured Nation clause for wine and services exports”, Todd McClay asserted while adding that would be worth tens of millions of dollars in additional exports, and last week said he had not had formal advice on when the EU agreement was set to take effect.

“Generally, it takes them quite a long time on their side although they have a new procedure where they can implement it early, but we do still have time between now and when Parliament rises to get it in place. This is a very straightforward agreement”, McClay had then said.

Under the deal there was an expectation the New Zealand government would promote up to $33 billion of private sector investment in India over the next 15 years. If it fell short, India could revoke market access for some agricultural sectors.

However, while drawing a harsh criticism on the deal Labour Leader Hipkins said, “The idea that we could spend up to $34 billion in India over the next 15 years is totally unrealistic. We don’t have $34 billion to send out of the country to India. You know, if we have that kind of money, we need to be investing it here in New Zealand first and foremost”.

Team Maverick.