PTI New Delhi

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Tuesday said he looks forward to signing a free trade agreement with India in 60 days, a move which is expected to increase bilateral trade by 10 times over ten years.

After a gap of about ten years, India and New Zealand on Sunday announced resumption of negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement to boost economic ties. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said it will be a "full fledged Comprehensive Economic Partnership" agreement between India and New Zealand. The New Zealand prime minister is here on a four-day visit from March 16.

"Let's drive this relationship forward, and I look forward to Prime Minister Modi signing that agreement in 60 days time," Luxon said while addressing the India-New Zealand Economic Summit organised by industry body FICCI. According to trade experts, the tricky point in the talks would be duty concessions on agri products like apple, kiwi, dairy, and wine. "I can tell you that together, there's every possibility of achieving that 10x growth in the next 10 years," Goyal said.

"...if we work in the spirit of complimentary economies ... there is hardly anything on which we compete with each other, and those few areas of sensitivity we can very easily navigate or respect each other given the different levels of development and different levels of prosperity that each country has today," Goyal said.