4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 9, 2026 05:13 AM IST
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he is confident of the strength and potential of ties between his country and India, as Narendra Modi arrives in Auckland Friday for the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to New Zealand in four decades.
In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, outlining economic, defence, security, and people-to-people ties as the three pillars of India and New Zealand ties, Luxon set this against the “inflection point” in global geopolitics where the world has moved from “a rules-based system to a power-based system, a multilateral system to a multipolar system”.
“We see an America that is talking America first with a fixation on the Western Hemisphere. We see China wanting to have influence in our Indo-Pacific region. We also see Russia illegally invading a sovereign nation in Ukraine and wanting to dominate in Europe, and so it’s natural that there is a real inflection point,” Luxon said.
“The benefit for a country like New Zealand,” he added, “is that as a free trader, as a small country, since World War II, we have been a huge beneficiary of the rules-based system, because small countries are treated the same as large countries, and big ones don’t bully little ones.”
This is where the relationship with Delhi comes in, Luxon said. “New Zealand, working with India and other like-minded friends, needs to remake the case for a rules-based system.” He also backed the demand for reform in this, agreeing with the Indian view. “In many cases, the Global South countries of India and Brazil haven’t really been part of that system that was created after World War II, and so we need to remake that case,” Luxon said.
About the bilateral ties between India and New Zealand, he said: “We’ve been friends for over 100 years, we actually are at different ends of the Indo-Pacific region and haven’t really had a lot that actually binds us together to drive a future agenda. Prime Minister Modi and I have talked about these two countries that actually have a very similar view and a very similar set of values and actually should be doing more together and should have a much broader and deeper relationship.”
On immigration opportunities for Indians in New Zealand, especially given the changed environment in the US, Luxon said: “We see it as a huge opportunity. All around the world you’re seeing countries and democracies in the West react with an anti-immigrant bias and sentiments. That creates opportunity for New Zealand because it means that talented folk who may have headed to the US can now reappraise our educational institutions. We are an English-speaking country, we have an advanced economy, we are a very safe country, and importantly, we have very good educational institutions. We have been very welcoming of Indians to New Zealand on a number of levels.”
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On why New Zealand is not seeing anti-immigrant sentiments, the PM said: “First and foremost, New Zealand has legal immigration, not illegal. Secondly, we have smart, fair, and targeted principles by which we manage it, anchoring our immigration settings in our economic settings, where we have skill shortages, and in infrastructure. We have the capacity to make sure people are set up for success when they come to this country, that there is sufficient housing, schooling, roads, hospitals.”
Luxon has been the New Zealand PM since 2023 and visited India in March last year. He also visited the country back in the 1990s while working with Unilever.
Modi will be in New Zealand on July 10 and 11.