Building A Strategic Partnership: Future Directions For Singapore And Australian Business Speech by the Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, The Hon Tim Fischer to the Singapore Australia Business Alliance Forum, Hotel Sofitel, Melbourne 15 June 1998 Facing the business challenges of the new millennium Minister Lee, SABAB co-Chairmen (Peter Seah and Malcolm Kinnaird), SABAF members, ladies and gentlemen. Given the challenges facing the East Asian region, I believe it is doubly important that businesses and government from Australia and Singapore are meeting today to further our partnership in the region. And I think business foresight in establishing the Singapore Australian Business Alliance Forum three years ago is to be congratulated. Because it is not just important to work together in the good times. It is equally important to work together in today's challenging regional and global environment. Australia and Singapore are well placed to weather the economic instability in the region because of our shared commitment to sound economic management, and to pursuing the development of a free and fair trading system. Regional developments, and currency fluctuations in particular, illustrate clearly that no economy in today's world functions in isolation. Businesses and economies have to be able to measure up against global competition in international markets. Technological change is a potent force driving the way we do business. Developments in information technology and communications impact on our decisions and activities in ways previously unthought of. The Internet is but a decade old, yet access to it is now almost an essential requirement for any competitive business. Electronic commerce is similarly revolutionising the way financial transactions take place. The opportunities for the development of new business - and new types of business - are limitless. I know that business and government in Australia and Singapore are well plugged into these challenges and opportunities. The task for SABAF is to find productive and creative ways in which business in our two countries can work together to maximise opportunities in this increasingly integrated world. Australia and Singapore - strategic partnerships in business Australia and Singapore have much to offer one another in building strategic business partnerships. Our two countries have long been natural partners. We share a great many interests in the area of trade - in expanding opportunities and lowering barriers for trade and investment, and in promoting multilateral and regional economic cooperation. We also have common interests in regional security issues, and a close and ever-strengthening defence relationship. The strength of our ties is reflected in the diversity of our bilateral trade and investment links. Singapore is Australia's sixth largest trading partner, with two-way trade exceeding A$6 billion last financial year. It is interesting to note that in the ten months to the end of April 1998, Australia's trade with Singapore increased by over 9 percent compared to the same period last year. Singapore and Australia share perspectives on the importance of trade liberalisation through APEC and the WTO, and we have worked together productively in these forums for many years. Further liberalisation can only assist both our economies, particularly as we both have very few remaining barriers to trade and I noted with interest Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's recent speech on the importance of trade liberalisation. But in the future - and particularly in business - our countries need to continue to build this natural partnership into a more strategic one. This was in part the rationale for establishing SABAF in 1995. SABAF is fundamentally about matching Singapore and Australian capabilities in order to establish a competitive business edge. It is about building strategic connections across companies, across industries and across the region. With SABAF now three years old, this seminar is an opportunity to further this activity. I believe that there are clear complementarities between Singaporean and Australian businesses. Australian skills in applied technology and management dovetail with Singaporean entrepreneurship. The combination of these capabilities makes for a business team with formidable strengths indeed. Key sectors for collaboration The potential for collaboration between Singaporean and Australian business extends across a whole range of sectors. Today, however, I would like to touch briefly on two areas. The first of these is in the information technology sector - with particular regard to electronic commerce. The second is in the area of infrastructure development, which is, of course, a key area of focus for SABAF. Information Technology and Electronic Commerce Australia and Singapore are both committed to the development of our information technology service industries. Our businesses understand how technological advances fundamentally change the way we all do business. Greater willingness by companies to trade on-line has seen an almost exponential growth in electronic commerce. Singapore and Australia are cooperating in APEC, as Co-Chairs of the Electronic Commerce Task Force, to push ahead with work on identifying key electronic commerce issues for a range of developed and developing economies in the Asia Pacific. Together the APEC economies produce over 45% of the world's value of traded goods. In the near future many of these goods will no doubt be traded electronically. And in our region, there is plenty of potential for businesses in Australia and Singapore to work together to take advantage of the opportunities provided by this new form of commerce. Infrastructure Development Infrastructure development is a key area of activity in our region, and one that is becoming increasingly diversified. It is one that will continue despite the recent events in Asia. And it is an opportune time for business to position itself. Australian and Singaporean companies have a wealth of experience in the planning, implementation and construction of major infrastructure projects. Opportunities continue to exist in energy, power and water projects essential for the economic development of any country, and also in transportation and communication. But infrastructure development is not just limited to the movement across the region of goods, but also of information and services. There are clear trends towards regionalisation in all these activities. Companies are increasingly looking to establish hubs from which to run their operations across a number of countries. I understand that this has been one of the topics for discussion in this morning's program. We are also dealing with the processes of privatising many government activities in this field. The challenge now is to draw upon our expertise in order to exploit together the significant opportunities in infrastructure development in the region. Finding opportunity amidst regional troubles Despite the economic difficulties in our region, the logic that led to the formation of SABAF is unchanged. In so many areas, the gains to be made in working together are greater than those we can win if we act alone. Now is the time to further consolidate the linkages. The economic strengths which made Asia highly attractive to global investors over the last two decades have not vanished - high savings rates, an increasingly skilled and educated workforce and a dynamic business environment are still integral parts of the economic framework. I am confident that these strengths will contribute to further growth once the current storms are behind us. I therefore wish you well in your work. By all means keep
a clear head about developments in our region. Approach your
markets in a rational and business-like manner but, just as importantly,
don't be spooked by the doom sayers into missing good opportunities
that still exist. ends |
