PM officially welcomed to India

John and Bronagh Key have been welcomed to India by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur. Photo / NZPA/Amelia Romanos

The official state welcome for Prime Minister John Key's visit to India is over - but the threat of rain literally rained on the parade.

The welcome took place at the President's estate - Rashtrapati Bhavan.
It is the grand former palace where Britain handed over power to India in 1947.

However, the planned guard of honour - said to be an impressive sight - was cancelled because of the risk of rain.

Instead the Prime Ministers had a brief ceremony inside where a military band played the national anthems of both countries.

Mr Key also spoke about the deep and longstanding relationship between the two countries.

He will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon for bilateral talks.

He said he would press the case for a free trade agreement, but New Zealand would not sign up to any agreement which was not quality. He indicated that must include agriculture.

Although there were different views between the two countries on issues such as labour laws and nuclear proliferation, he said that was not unmanageable.

The experience with China had shown that sometimes those issues could be addressed more effectively with free trade agreements in place.

Mr Key also indicated the two would sign off on further initiatives in filming and education.