New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key said on Tuesday that India is a priority relationship. He was welcoming Rahul Gandhi, great-grandson of his country's first prime minister, Jawaharlal

Nehru.

Gandhi is visiting New Zealand as the inaugural Sir Edmund Hillary Fellow, a fund set up to recognize the special contribution the conqueror of Mount Everest made to relations between the

two countries and Nepal.

Key further added that the aim of the fellowship is to build a constituency for New Zealand among the emerging leaders of India and Nepal.

He said that India's leading regional and international status and its economic significance made it strategically important to New Zealand.

Key areas of the relationship, including the prospect of negotiating a bilateral free trade pact will be discussed with Gandhi, said Key.

Gandhi, making his first visit to New Zealand, would see innovations in the high-tech dairy and livestock industries, visit adventure tourism operations and be shown special

features of New Zealand's educational, science and research institutions during his stay. (With Input from Agencies)