Ministerial Trade Mission to China a Resounding Success 23 Aug 2011 The Australia—China 2.0 trade mission in early August was one of the most successful ministerial missions to China in many years. Led by Trade Minister Craig Emerson, it included more than 100 Australian business delegates and visited five major regional Chinese cities between 4—9 August. Travelling with Dr Emerson’s party was also Richard Marles, the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Peter Grey, the CEO of Austrade, the Australian Trade Commission. A new chapter is emerging in the commercial relationship between Australia and China, one based on a gradual shift in China’s economic model away from export-led development to domestic consumption. The mission’s aim was to help Australian business explore the opportunities this change presents, as well as the potential of new centres of growth in China’s western regions and major regional cities, several with a population greater than ten million. The focus was on how Australian business can benefit from growing demand in China for a range of sophisticated services in architecture, design, clean energy, education and finance. It began in Guangzhou and continued to Changsha, Wuhan, Chengdu and Chongqing before ending in Shanghai with a program focussing on financial services. Each city visit included a seminar for Australian delegates on doing business in China, as well as an official reception with a total of around 750 local Chinese business people and government officials. Dr Emerson said: “They're the sorts of cities that we visited and the reception there was very, very enthusiastic, because they just don't see quite as many foreign businesses coming there”. “So we had an incredibly warm welcome, not only from their business communities but from provincial governors and also the mayors of these very large cities,” he said. "Officials and business people in all five cities were interested in what Australia's service providers had to offer, while the Australian delegation was enthusiastic about striking deals." Several important outcomes resulted from the mission, including the signing of a joint venture agreement on wealth management between Australian company Gao Fu and the Bank of Weifang of Shandong Province. And the Insurance Australia Group (IAG) has now indicated it would buy 20 per cent of the Chinese group Bohai Property Insurance. Before the mission began, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kevin Rudd, led a road show around Australia with Dr Emerson to recruit business delegates. Mr Rudd did not attend the mission for medical reasons. |