Austrade media releaseMonday, 15 December 2008 G’Day USA: Australia Week, returns in January 2009 to provide even greater business and export opportunities for Australian businesses at an array of events in Los Angeles, New York and for the first time San Francisco from 13-24 January, 2009.
Entering its sixth year, G’Day USA is the largest foreign country promotion held annually in the US and the 2009 program builds on the success of previous years - having commenced as G’Day LA: Australia Week in 2004.
Austrade’s Los Angeles-based Regional Director Americas, Grame Barty, said there are more than 25 events which promote Australian expertise in diverse industries such as, food and beverages, wine, fashion, art, financial services, energy, art, entertainment, water management, tourism, film and investment opportunities.
“G’Day USA continues to provide Australia with an integrated platform to showcase Australian expertise and in addition resulted in more than $22.5 million in trade and investment across sectors as diverse as art, food, wine, fashion, tourism and business services opportunities,” Mr Barty said.
“Austrade’s continues to play a pivotal role in creating export opportunities, with its month long supermarket promotion held across Los Angeles and New York has improved access to Australian food and beverage products.
“Similarly, Austrade’s New York fashion showroom room event which has become a key fixture of the G’Day USA program has resulted in several participating designers securing deals with high end fashion department/specialty stores and entering the highly complex US market,” Mr Barty said.
Austrade’s Los Angeles-based Senior Trade Commissioner, Sally-Ann Watts, said the month long in-store promotion will showcase gourmet food and wine at leading speciality supermarket retailers Bristol Farms and, for the first time, Andronico’s on the west coast and at The Food Emporium stores on the east coast.
“Australian wine and culinary delights from more than 21 exhibitors will also be on display as part of Austrade’s Australia pavilion at 2009 Winter Fancy Food Show. This is one of the most significant specialty food trade shows, which attracts over 30,000 buyers,” Ms Watts said.
“For the first time a group of Australian fashion designers will be showcasing their collections at Los Angeles’ Fashion Market, while an Innovation Day to promote Australia's world class innovation and investment potential to the US will also be held over two days in Los Angeles and San Francisco,” Ms Watts said.
On the east coast, Austrade’s New York-based Senior Trade Commissioner, Gerard Seeber, said the events planned for New York further promote Australia’s world-class capabilities across a range of industries including design excellence, fashion and financial services.
“Building on the momentum created by the success of the events over the past two year’s, the 2009 program includes a financial services day, a wine festival, Wildlife Warriors Worldwide benefit, a two-day fashion show highlighting 10 designers and culminating with the Australia Day Black Tie Gala,” Mr Seeber said.
“The financial services seminar will be particularly important as it brings into focus issues related to the current economic crisis and Australia’s market insights on navigating forward through this uncertain period.”
The United States is Australia’s largest trade and investment partner, with annual two-way merchandise trade between the two countries now worth more than A$47.7 billion and continues to be a valuable market for Australian businesses looking to expand internationally.
Austrade has a network devoted to the US market providing extensive support for Australian exporters with representation in 18 US cities, five specialist industry teams and one team dedicated to investment opportunities within Australia.
G’Day USA: Australia Week is produced by the New York and Los Angeles offices of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Austrade, Tourism Australia and Qantas Airways.
In addition to the founding partners, Australia Week is supported by six State Governments and around 35 sponsors.
For more information on events being held, visit www.australia-week.com
Grame Barty, Austrade’s Regional Director Americas, is available for media interviews.
ENDS
Media contactSarkis Khoury
Tel: +61 9390 2118
Mob: +61 414 401 072
For further news and information from the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) visit www.austrade.gov.au//mediacentre.
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