Speech: Peters - Welcome for the Speaker of India
Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First
Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
18 SEPTEMBER
2016
Welcome speech for
the Speaker of the Indian Parliament Mrs Sumitra Mahajan and
her parliamentary colleagues.
Langham
Hotel,
Crystal
Room,
Auckland,
6.35pm,
September 18, 2016
It is a delight to
welcome the Speaker of the Indian Parliament Sumitra Mahajan
to New Zealand.
Welcome Mrs Mahajan to you and your
parliamentary colleagues.
“Aap sub ka swagat hai”
Long relationship
New Zealand’s ties with India have been in
existence for a long time.
For example, the New Zealand
Indian Central Association was formed here in New Zealand in
1926 by those who had come from India to live in New
Zealand.
People of Indian-origin have made, and continue
to make, an important contribution to the business, cultural
and sporting life of New Zealand.
In fact, the 19th
Governor-General of New Zealand and present Chair of the
Commonwealth Foundation, Sir Anand Satyanand, was our first
Governor-General of Indian descent.
Our long relationship
is due to several factors:
We have a shared relationship
in the Commonwealth.
We also share certain values.
Our
societies are built firmly on the bedrock of
democracy.
And India is the largest democracy in the
world and as a fellow Commonwealth country we take a certain
quiet pride in that fact.
As your great leader Mahatma
Ghandi said:
Democracy must in essence mean the art
and science of mobilising the entire physical, economic and
spiritual resources of all the various sections of the
people in the service of the common good of all.
Ties strengthening
As time moves
on our relationship is becoming closer.
New Zealand, for
example, supports India’s aspirations for permanent
membership of the UN Security Council.
In April this year
The Hindu newspaper in Chennai reported security
systems in your parliament, and the Indian Space Research
Organisation, were developed and installed by a New Zealand
company.
And earlier this year the President of India,
Shri Pranab Mukherjee also visited our country in what was
the first visit here by a President of India.
During the
visit he expressed his hope that the friendship between
India and New Zealand would continue to strengthen.
In
his speech he commended New Zealand’s tremendous progress
in dairy development, food processing, communications and
information technology, clean energy and water, disaster
management, biotechnology, healthcare and services, to
mention a few.
He added:
“We would very much like to
enhance our bilateral co-operation in these areas, learn
from the successful experience and practices of New Zealand
and collaborate with you in creating new and innovative
products and technology.”
During his visit Mr Mukherjee
signed a deal opening the door for direct flights between
our two countries with the aim of boosting trade and
tourism.
Brexit/CCER?
As to the
future, more exciting possibilities exist.
With Brexit
and Britain’s imminent departure from the EU, our
political party, New Zealand First, sees this as an
opportunity for the Commonwealth nations to draw much closer
together economically.
The Commonwealth is already a
dynamic powerhouse.
It crosses every time zone and
trading session in the world.
It covers almost a quarter
of the World’s land area.
Together, we have a
population of over 2.3 billion, nearly a third of the
world’s population, of which we in NZ are a small
part.
In 2014 the Commonwealth produced GDP of $10.45
trillion, a massive 17% of gross world product.
The
combined gross domestic product of Commonwealth countries is
predicted to hit US$14 trillion by 2020.
We already have
a model for what could happen with our Closer Economic
Relations with Australia.
We believe we should now have
“Closer Commonwealth Economic Relations”, or CCER.
A
CCER that is about free trade.
It could be the means to
bring in other Commonwealth states, alongside your country,
which is an emerging economic giant.
Indeed – it could
make the Commonwealth an economic colossus.
Thank you Mrs
Mahajan, and your colleagues for coming to our
country.
Once again welcome to New Zealand.
We hope
you enjoy your time among us, and that you will return to
India with happy, profitable and progressive memories.
ENDS