Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (July 10, 2026) arrived in New Zealand on the final leg of his three-nation visit.

He will hold talks with his counterpart Christopher Luxon and address the Indian diaspora in New Zealand.

Mr. Modi was received by Mr. Luxon at the airport, where the two leaders exchanged a warm hug. “Reached Auckland a short while ago. Thankful to Prime Minister Luxon for the welcome at the airport,” Mr. Modi said in a post on X.

‘Historic visit’

“This visit is historic, being the first Prime Ministerial visit to New Zealand in four decades. I look forward to holding talks with Prime Minister Luxon and discussing the complete range of the India-NZ friendship. I will also be addressing a community programme tomorrow in Auckland,” he said.

In a post on X, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said: “This historic visit is set to strengthen bilateral ties and unlock new avenues of cooperation across several areas especially trade, defence, sports, culture, education, and people-to-people exchanges.”

Calling it as a “special welcome in Auckland!”, the MEA in another post on X said the iconic Sky Tower was illuminated to mark Mr. Modi’s visit to New Zealand, “symbolising the friendship between our two countries”.

In his departure statement in New Delhi, the Prime Minister had said that his visit would “meaningfully build” upon the strong momentum in India-New Zealand ties pursuant to Mr. Luxon’s visit to India in March 2025.

Mr. Modi said his visit to Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand will further strengthen India’s Act East Policy, MAHASAGAR Vision, as well as its outlook towards a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Boosting trade ties

During his two-day visit to New Zealand, he will hold talks with Mr. Luxon on ways to further enhance economic, trade and commercial engagements.

Mr. Modi arrived in New Zealand after concluding a three-day visit to Australia, where he held summit talks with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Both leaders reinforced the vital role of the bilateral partnership in ensuring a peaceful Indo-Pacific. A major highlight of the summit talks between the two leaders was their focus on significantly ramping up defence ties, especially in the maritime domain.

An agreement on civil nuclear energy to facilitate the commercial supply of uranium from Australia to India to fuel New Delhi’s nuclear power projects was sealed after over two years of negotiations.

Mr. Modi also met Australian’s Leader of Opposition Angus Taylor on Friday and discussed bilateral ties.

“They held productive discussions on the growing India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The warm and cordial meeting reflected the strong bipartisan support in Australia for deepening ties with India,” MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on X.

Mr. Modi was in Indonesia before that, where 14 agreements were inked to boost cooperation in critical minerals, maritime security and other key sectors.

A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to the country, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced that 57% of Wellington’s exports to New Delhi would be “tariff-free from day one”.

In a post on social media, Mr. Luxon welcomed the proposed India-New Zealand trade pact. “New Zealand businesses are set to boom with the India trade deal,” he wrote on X.

Mr. Modi will arrive ⁠in Auckland on ⁠July 10, departing a ‌day later, in the last leg of his three-nation tour. “Prime Minister Modi’s ⁠visit is historic, with this ‌being the first to New Zealand by an Indian Prime Minister in ‌40 years,” Mr. Luxon had said, announcing the visit.

In April this year, the two nations signed a free ​trade ‌agreement that will eliminate 95% of tariffs ‌on goods from ​New Zealand. The bilateral merchandise trade between the two countries stood at $1.3 billion in 2024-25, while total trade in goods and services reached about $2.4 billion in 2024, with services trade alone reaching $1.24 billion, led by travel, IT, and business services.

Mr. Modi’s upcoming visit reflects the growing momentum in the New Zealand-India relationship, a statement from Wellington said. The discussions between the leaders are expected to include trade and investment, maritime security, education, technology, tourism, sport, and global issues.

Ahead of his departure from Delhi, Mr. Modi said his visit to Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand will further strengthen India’s Act East Policy, MAHASAGAR Vision as well as “our outlook towards a free and open Indo-Pacific.” MAHASAGAR, or Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security Across the Regions, is India’s vision of security and growth for all regions.