Jaishankar proposes India-NZ mobility agreement

India has proposed to ink a mobility partnership agreement with New Zealand, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said.

He also nudged Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government to take a sympathetic approach towards students from India already in New Zealand or travelling to that country either after taking fresh admission in the academic institutions of that country or to restart studies disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Mobility partnership is the most important way of promoting business and is the foundation of our relationship in the next stage,” Jaishankar said, after inaugurating the new chancery of the High Commission of India in Wellington. “We are ready to move forward and I have discussed the issue during my meeting with (New Zealand’s) Foreign Minister (Nanaia Mahuta),” he said.

A mobility partnership agreement is likely to result in liberal visa regimes, allowing hassle-free travel of skilled professionals between India and New Zealand.

Jaishankar was on a tour to Auckland and Wellington this week.

He also took up the issues related to students from India studying or seeking to study in New Zealand. “Students coming to New Zealand for higher education look for lifetime possibilities. There is a need for a better understanding of their aspirations and their contributions. We hope to see progress in this area. There is a larger world out there,” he said on Sunday.

Earlier, during his meetings with Ardern and Mahuta, External Affairs Minister requested them to ensure fairer and more sympathetic treatment for the students from India as some of them had left New Zealand after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 and some of them had not been able to get their visas renewed.