Auckland [New Zealand], July 11 (ANI): Following the formal elevation of bilateral ties to a Strategic Partnership, India and New Zealand on Saturday unveiled the comprehensive “India-New Zealand Strategic Partnership: Roadmap to 2030,” establishing a blueprint to significantly deepen defense and security cooperation over the next four years.
The landmark roadmap, endorsed during a high-level meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his New Zealand counterpart, Christopher Luxon, in Auckland, places a strong emphasis on maritime security, counterterrorism, and cyber defense under its Pillar II framework.
Under the Roadmap to 2030, the two countries agreed to “continue to pursue military interaction via exercises, visits of units (maritime, air, land), short-term personnel exchanges, sporting visits, defense staff college exchanges, and high-level defense dialogues,” and to “continue to enhance dialogue on defense-related matters, including at the ministerial level.”
The roadmap also commits both sides to “continue to implement the 2025 India-New Zealand Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation and maintain regular, structured defense engagement at Defense Ministry and Service levels.”
In addition, the roadmap calls for efforts to formalize cooperation in combating narcotics trafficking and to strengthen law enforcement collaboration, including between India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the New Zealand Police.
Echoing these commitments, the joint statement welcomed progress in defense ties, including “the implementation of the 2025 India-New Zealand Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation,” and said the two prime ministers agreed to “maintain regular structured engagement at Defense Ministry and Service levels.”
The joint statement also highlighted cooperation under Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) in 2025, with “New Zealand in command and India as Deputy Commander,” supporting efforts to deter “narcotics smuggling, terrorism, and illicit maritime activity in the Middle East and the Western Indian Ocean.”
As part of the expanded security cooperation, both nations agreed to establish an annual Maritime Security Dialogue led by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).
The two countries also agreed to “establish an annual Maritime Security Dialogue” and “operationalize the Memorandum of Arrangement establishing a Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter-Terrorism,” while enhancing cooperation through the India-New Zealand Cyber Dialogue.
The joint statement further said India welcomed New Zealand’s nomination of Maritime Security as its priority pillar under the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative. Both countries also agreed to establish the annual Maritime Security Dialogue to strengthen cooperation, coordination, and information sharing.
The two sides will also implement the recently agreed Maritime Cooperation Arrangement, an Implementing Arrangement on Cooperation in Matters of Hydrography and Nautical Cartography, and a Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement focused on the maritime domain. Under this framework, the two countries will conduct regular naval activities, including bilateral naval exercises.
Maritime cooperation remains a key pillar of the roadmap. India and New Zealand agreed to implement the Maritime Cooperation Arrangement, the hydrography and nautical cartography agreement, and the Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement, while conducting bilateral naval exercises as part of the broader maritime partnership.
The two leaders also welcomed the newly concluded Maritime Cooperation Arrangement and reaffirmed their commitment to expanding maritime collaboration through joint naval activities and other practical initiatives.
To institutionalize counterterrorism cooperation, the roadmap mandates the operationalization of the newly signed Memorandum of Arrangement establishing a Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, with its inaugural meeting expected to be held soon.
The two prime ministers also reaffirmed their shared commitment to strengthening cooperation on counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and related security challenges. They agreed to enhance practical law enforcement cooperation to combat transnational and organized crime, including illicit drug trafficking, financial crime, cyber-enabled crime, terrorism-related offenses, people smuggling, and human trafficking.
To further strengthen law enforcement and intelligence cooperation, India and New Zealand agreed to work toward formalizing a Memorandum of Arrangement between India’s National Investigation Agency and the New Zealand Police. (ANI)
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