Published: Oct 27, 2016, 10:28 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 27, 2016, 10:28 PM (IST)
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is in India and in an event organized to promote New Zealand tourism, he was referred to as “Prime Minister McCullum” by Minister of Culture Mahesh Sharma. Sharma began his speech introducing New Zealand PM as “His Excellency Prime Minister McCullum,” referring to former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum, who was also present at this event. Moments after this blunder, Bollywood actor Sidharth Malothra, who is the ambassador New Zealand tourism in India, failed to recall the minister’s name and after finding to find the right words said, “It’s payback time”. Ignoring this mistake by the Indian minister, PM Key said that he is looking forward to having Indian more tourists visiting his country soon.
Malhotra, who was in New Zealand last year to shoot promotional videos, was also presented with All Blacks jersey and in return received a handmade lion, depicting confidence and power, as reported by indianexpress.com. The actor will visit New Zealand for 10 days to shoot more promotional videos. Upon his arrival to India, Key had also met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Wednesday. Key also went to Rajghat, the resting place of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi to pay his respects.
Before his arrival in India PM Key had said,” As a free-trade agreement [FTA] between the two countries is in the pipeline, New Zealand would be looking to further cement their relationship with India. “We’re very keen to progress a free-trade agreement — we’re both members of RCEP [Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership] so that’s one way home, but maybe a quicker and easier way might be a bilateral deal,” stuff.co.nz quoted the New Zealand Prime Minister as saying. READ: Brendon McCullum: MS Dhoni is a terrific leader
“It’s a discussion point that we’ve got. It’s a little less about whether there could be an FTA and a little more about what the quality of the FTA would look like,” he added. In New Delhi, Prime Minister Key will meet with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee. READ: Brendon McCullum: Ross Taylor did not say anything during team meetings
“India is a key partner for New Zealand. It is a leading source of skilled migrants, international students and tourists, and in the five years since I last visited our two-way trade has grown by 41 per cent to USD 2.4 billion,” Key said. “The India-New Zealand relationship will only continue to grow, and this visit will help drive New Zealand’s political and commercial partnership with the world’s third-largest economy,” he added.
