The Prime Minister, John Key, is visiting three cities in India this week, New Delhi, Agra and Mumbai. Yesterday he and his wife had a private visit to the Taj Mahal and today he met the Indian Prime Minister, Monmohan Singh.
The main purpose of the visit is for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India. New Zealand wants India to remove import taxes on New Zealand agricultural products like dairy products, and horticultural products like kiwi fruit. India has a population of more than 1 billion people. Many of them are middle class and want some of our food in their supermarkets. The Minister of Trade, Tim Groser, and 25 New Zealand business leaders accompanied Mr Key.
New Zealand would also like Bollywood to make some of their movies in our country. John Key is the Minister of Tourism as well as the Prime Minister. He would like more tourists from India and more students coming to study in New Zealand.
New Zealand and India are both countries which enjoy cricket. Stephen Fleming was a captain of the Black Caps (the New Zealand cricket team). He is now a coach in India. He and John Key had a little fun on the cricket grounds in New Delhi. Local people were delighted. New Zealand is offering sports scholarships for students to come to our country to study for a sports qualification like coaching cricket.
Vocabulary
agriculture – farming animals
horticulture – growing fruit, vegetables and other plants
delighted – very pleased
Questions
1. Trade has to be two-way. What can India sell to New Zealand?
2. How can we encourage Indian people to come to New Zealand? One problem is the distance. At the moment, tourists have to take two planes. What are some of the other problems and how can they be overcome?
yes! really Mr. john key has done very good visiting in India.