Friday 16 September

India Parliament Speaker visits NZ

Mrs Sumitra Mahajan, the Speaker of the Indian Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) is visiting Auckland and Wellington as a Guest of the New Zealand Parliament.

India is now New Zealand’s 10th largest trading partner with two-way trade in goods and services topping $2.5billion in the year to June 2016. The visit comes at a time when India is an increasingly important trade and economic partner for New Zealand

New Zealand’s Speaker, Rt Hon David Carter, is pleased to host this visit.

“Mrs Sumitra Mahajan’s visit to New Zealand is an excellent opportunity to further New Zealand’s engagement with India, and in particular to discuss and exchange views on issues for parliamentarians.”

Mrs Mahajan, a long-serving Member of the Lok Sabha and a former Government Minister, was elected Speaker in 2014. Her visit to New Zealand follows on from that of the historic visit by President Mukerjee earlier this year, the first ever visit to New Zealand by an Indian President.

While being a member of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party, the Indian Speaker’s delegation includes Members of Parliament from other Indian political parties and from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha (Upper House).

The Indian delegation will have some opportunities to meet with New Zealanders of Indian origin (who now number over 160,000 persons) during the visit 18-22 September. India is New Zealand’s number one source of skilled migrants and second largest source of international students.

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