During the recent general election campaign, when National claimed the Government had been backward in not negotiating a free trade agreement with India, the Labour Government responded that India simply did not want one with New Zealand.
The facts will be revealed during Suzannah Jessep’s talk to the Wairarapa branch of the Institute of International Affairs at Rosewood in Masterton at 8pm tomorrow night.
Jessep’s talk, Cracking the India Code: Getting Beyond Astrology, Bollywood and Cricket, looks at the real India today – a regional power that presents New Zealand with significant opportunities with its thriving industry and enormous middle class.
“With major differences in population size, geography, culture and religion, one might believe that New Zealand and India share little in common,” Jessep said.
“In reality, there are many shared values and practices that draw the two countries together – their use of English, commitment to democracy, membership of the Commonwealth, administrative norms of governance and, yes, even cricket.
“There are also other shared interests, such as the two countries’ vision for the so-called Indo-Pacific and the pursuit of a stable, peaceful, open and secure region.”
India also contends it has signed plenty of free-trade agreements, but they, and the rules governing them, have not always served India’s interests.
Jessep said India believes it needs more time to strengthen its domestic manufacturing sector to trade on an equal footing with much larger economies, including China.
“India also believes its domestic agricultural sector needs protection, with many millions of rural poor depending on it and unable to compete with efficient producers like New Zealand,” she said.
Jessep is a director at the Asia New Zealand Foundation, where she runs its research and education programmes. One of New Zealand’s leading advocates for building New Zealand-India relations, she has extensive diplomatic experience in South Asia, having served as New Zealand’s Deputy High Commissioner to India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.
Institute of International Affairs at Rosewood in Masterton at 8pm tomorrow night.
