Hong Kong-Australia Business Association Keynote address

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you Ernest for your introduction.

I am delighted to be here this evening to launch the 2008 Hong-Kong Australia New South Wales Business Association Business Awards.

I understand that the award’s previous winners have not only included some of our best-known companies, but also many creative small-to-medium enterprises and NSW universities.

Regardless of who wins this year’s awards - which will be announced in October - I would like to congratulate all the businesses represented here tonight. You are all doing great work to promote the important links between the people of Hong Kong and Australia and the economies of Hong Kong and Australia.

I would also like to thank the Hong Kong Australia Business Association which - over the past 21 years - has worked so hard to promote closer economic ties between our two regions.

Australia and Hong Kong share a special relationshipin Asia. It is a relationship driven by close interpersonal and trade links.

Some 55,000 Australians live in Hong Kong – it’s now our second largest expatriate community. In turn, around 90,000 people of Hong Kong origin live in Australia.

While we have always shared strong social links, it is our trade and investment relationship that is going from strength to strength.

Around 1,700 Australians businesses are represented in Hong Kong. For many, Hong Kong is the gateway to China – it is the place they choose to test the Chinese market.

Hong Kong is Australia’s 5th largest market in terms of exporter numbers with more than 5,100 Australian businesses exporting goods to the value of over $3 billion.

Our two-way trade is worth $A4.2 billion. Our bilateral trade in services continues to grow.

Hong Kong is Australia’s fourth largest source of foreign investment – with $38.5 billion invested across a range of sectors. Australian investment in Hong Kong totalled $16 billion at the end of the 2006.

Perhaps most importantly, the strength of our relationship is also reflected in our close cooperation in multilateral forums – such as in the World Trade Organisation and in APEC. Our cooperation during WTO negotiations has never been more important than it is now.

The Australian Government is committed to doing all it can to get an outcome to the Doha round of trade negotiations. There is no doubt that this cannot be done without the support and cooperation of open economies – such as Hong Kong.

The Rudd government is very keen to see Hong Kong continue to use its influence to push forward with negotiations. During my conversations with the Minister for Trade, the Honourable Simon Crean, he has indicated his enthusiasm for working with Hong Kong and China to achieve high quality trading outcomes.

Both our economies have benefited enormously from global trade liberalisation and we are well placed to take advantage of the further opportunities presented by the Doha round.

While an active multilateral trade agenda is high on the new government’s list of priorities, Kevin Rudd and Simon Crean are also very focussed on improving productivity and competitiveness in Australia to boost our export performance.

There is no point opening up markets internationally - through multilateral negotiations - if Australian companies are in no position to take advantage of the new opportunities presented. That is why the Prime Minister has tilted the recent budget so heavily towards investments in infrastructure, skills, innovation, and education.

The Government has also commissioned a review into all of Australia’s export policies and programs under the stewardship of Mr David Mortimer. We encourage businesses, such as yours, to tell the Mortimer Review how you think the government can do things better.

Before concluding, I would like to briefly discuss Australia’s Free Trade Agreement negotiations with China.

There can be no doubt that progress, to date, has been slow. However, when they met last month, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Premier Wen Jiabao agreed to unfreeze the negotiations. Further progress was also made with Trade Minister Crean’s discussions with Chinese Commerce Minister Chen shortly after.

We hope to use the momentum gained from these high-level visits to progress the 11^th round negotiations with China – which are due to be held next month.

There is no doubt that negotiations will continue to be challenging. This is China’s first free trade agreement with a country that has extensive trade interests - covering services, agriculture, resources and manufactures. As with all of the Rudd government’s free trade agreements, our goal remains a comprehensive, high-quality FTA that delivers real benefits to Australia.

Our Government appreciates the effort that business associations, such as the Hong Kong-Australia Business Association, have put into identifying market access opportunities and limitations on the mainland. You can be assured that we will continue to consult closely as the negotiations progress.

In concluding, I emphasise that Australia and Hong Kong’s shared interests will ensure that we maintain, and improve, ties with each other well into the future. This relationship is not one that is sustained by government alone.

I thank the businesses here this evening, as well as the association, for working constructively with the government as we strive to form even closer ties between our two regions well into the future.

Thank you.