India, May 30 -- New Zealand is committed to finalising a free trade agreement (FTA) with India and even areas of concern such as the dairy industry can be turned into opportunities to ensure food security, New Zealand's deputy prime minister Winston Peters said on Friday.

Peters, who is also the foreign minister, said New Zealand is keen to work more closely on defence and security issues with India, which he described as a "geopolitical giant" and an "indispensable security actor" in the region.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar and Peters took stock of bilateral ties at a meeting in New Delhi late on Thursday. Jaishankar said in a social media post that both sides agreed to collaborate closely for a rules-based, peaceful and sta...