Congress MP Jairam Ramesh
| Photo Credit: PTI
Seeking to place the latest upgrade in India-New Zealand ties in historical context, the Congress on Saturday recalled New Zealand’s role in helping develop India’s dairy sector and establish the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), while crediting former New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange with resetting bilateral relations in the 1980s.
This came on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon announced a strategic partnership between the two nations.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Mr. Modi’s visit “brings back memories of a remarkable man who was key to transforming India-New Zealand relations”.
‘Instant rapport’
In a post on X, Mr. Ramesh said Mr. Lange, who served as New Zealand Prime Minister from 1984 to 1989, chose India for his first overseas visit after assuming office and “struck an instant rapport with Indira Gandhi” before developing a “warm and close personal relationship” with Rajiv Gandhi.
“It was David Lange who revived the bilateral relationship that had been productive in the 1950s, with New Zealand assisting in developing India’s dairy industry and also in establishing AIIMS in New Delhi,” Mr. Ramesh said.
Dairy impact
He recalled that Verghese Kurien, the architect of India’s White Revolution, had visited New Zealand on a government fellowship in 1952-53, a trip that profoundly influenced his work. Bilateral ties, however, cooled during the 1960s and 1970s before Mr. Lange sought to rebuild them after taking office in 1984, he said.
Mr. Ramesh also noted that Mr. Lange appointed mountaineer Edmund Hillary as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India, adding that roads in New Delhi’s diplomatic enclave honour both Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
Strategic partnership
Earlier in the day, Mr. Modi and Mr. Luxon announced the elevation of ties to a strategic partnership, agreed on a roadmap for expanding cooperation, and set a target of doubling bilateral trade in goods and services to ₹35,000 crore by 2030.
The two sides also unveiled a framework for Indo-Pacific maritime cooperation, a reciprocal logistics support pact between their armed forces, and agreed to institute a maritime security dialogue.
Published – July 12, 2026 05:03 am IST
