Prime Minister Narendra Modi is participating in an event of the Indian Community in Auckland on Saturday.

PM Modi, who is currently on a visit to New Zealand, also met with his Kiwi counterpart, Christopher Luxon, on Saturday and elevated the ties between the two nations to a strategic partnership. They set a five-year target to double their annual bilateral trade in goods and services to Rs 35,000 crore by 2030. A joint statement noted that Modi and Luxon exchanged views on the Indo-Pacific, reaffirming their shared commitment to a free, open, and prosperous region. They also emphasised the importance of safeguarding sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the rules-based international order.

The two prime ministers called for freedom of navigation and overflight, and other lawful uses of the seas, in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it said.