New Delhi, May 31 -- 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 closely on defence and security 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 late Thursday. Jaishankar said in a social media post that both sides agreed to collaborate closely for a rules-based, peaceful and stable Indo-Pacific in a "more volatile and uncertain world". He also thanked New Zealand for its support on the Pahalgam terror attack. Peters' two-day visit to India is a follow-up to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's trip to New Delhi in March, when the two sides finalised an agreement to bolster defence cooperation and announced the launch of negotiations on an FTA. Participating in an interaction organised by Ananta Centre on Friday, Peters declined to set a timeline for concluding the FTA but said the "conversation is going [ahead] with real meaning" despite "certain areas of concern" like the dairy industry. He argued that New Zealand's expertise in the dairy industry could open new opportunities, especially to bolster India's food security. "I understand the concern...of the dairy industry in India. But here's the rub. You'll need 35% more food in the next 35 years and our country can be a serious help to drive up your productivity," he said. While offering New Zealand's help to boost the dairy industry's productivity in one Indian state, Peters said collaboration in this field can lead to "better breeding, better outcomes, better production"....