By Xinhua,
Wellington : India is asking for a free trade agreement with New Zealand so it can secure a reliable supply of quality food, New Zealand Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton said on Wednesday.
Anderton is leading New Zealand’s delegation at a world food crisis conference in Rome, organized by the United Nations (UN).
“Right now India has turned to New Zealand and is asking for a free trade agreement with a country that is a reliable and high quality food supplier — that wouldn’t have happened 18 months ago,” the New Zealand Press Association quoted Anderton as saying.
Trade Minister Phil Goff has been engaged in preliminary talks with Indian officials about an FTA, but Anderton said the issue had become a priority because India was short of wheat and rice.
Anderton said he would focus on the need for third world countries to increase their productivity, and for the need to transfer technology to them so they could do that.