India, New Zealand to Increase Cooperation for Facilitation of UPI System

India and New Zealand on Thursday decided to increase cooperation in areas such as facilitation of UPI system, timely resolution of trade issues, work visa, and improving the banking relations.

Looking at the present quantum of bilateral trade between the two countries, both sides acknowledged the huge potential and the need for bringing in synergy for enhanced economic relations in areas of mutual interest.

These issues were discussed during a joint meeting between India and New Zealand with the industry and industry associations of both the countries here.

The discussions also focused on taking forward the objectives of the Joint Trade Committee (JTC), formed under the Bilateral Trade Agreement of 1986.

The meeting was co-chaired by the Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Rajesh Agarwal, and High Commissioner of New Zealand in India David Pine.

The additional secretary "appreciated the positivity in discussion leading to tentative identification of various areas of cooperation including the facilitation of UPI system, carbon credit, package proposal on Kiwi fruits, trans-shipment hub, prioritization of bilateral trade issues for their timely resolution, collaboration on technology issues, cooperation in services such as work visa related issues, improving the banking relations further," the commerce ministry said.

It said that some of the areas explored by the New Zealand High Commissioner included promotion of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) system, carbon credit co-operation, and working together on specific issues like the comprehensive proposal made by Zespri and prioritization of requests on non-tariff measures for bilateral gains.

He also emphasized on increasing the air connectivity links between the countries.