GOULBURN and the Southern region of NSW will benefit from increased relations with China after a successful business forum on Monday.
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The gathering at the Veolia Arena was organised by Regional Development Australia Southern Inland (RDASI).
More than 50 key-decision makers from the Chinese delegation met up with 100 local and regional business people to set up links with Chinese businesses.
The forum also played host to a panel of presenters including Goulburn Mulwaree Mayor Geoff Kettle and Jack Archer, CEO of the Regional Australia Institute.
“When we were approached by the RDASI to host this forum, we jumped at the chance,” Cr Kettle said.
“It was a perfect opportunity to showcase Goulburn and the Southern NSW region to Chinese businesses.”
Deputy Mayor Bob Kirk echoed Cr Kettle’s comments.
“We had some good feedback from the delegates on the Veolia Arena as a venue,” he said.
CEO of the Australia International Trade Association (AITA), Michael Guo said the Chinese delegation had been able to set up some great working relationships with businesses that had not branched out into the Chinese market before.
“AITA has been focusing on the business relationships between Australia and China for the past 20 years,” Mr Guo said.
“We do cross-industry exchanges, including from business to culture and communities.
Ten years ago Chinese people would often visit the major cities such as Sydney or Melbourne, but now the times have changed.
“They are now more interested in the rural and regional areas.
Ten or 15 years ago you would barely hear of Chinese investors buyng a farm or making their investment in a regional hotel.
This forum has been a good opportunity to stimulate and deliver a signal to the Chinese investors to say ‘Hey come to regional NSW’ and to say ‘Goulburn is one of the best places to make your business investment work’.”
Mr Guo also spoke to representatives from Tourism Canberra about tailor-making programs to satisfy the need of the Chinese tourism industry and encourage their people to visit regional areas.
“Also one of our businesses from the Shanxi province is looking to import 3,000 tonnes of wheat flowers and, so, the Goulburn Mulwaree Council and the RDA are working with us to get in contact with the wheat flower manufacturers who attended this morning’s events,” he said.
“There is one saying we have in China: ‘Before you do business, you have to make friends,’ and only friendship can generate business.
The middle class in China is getting richer and is now starting to focus on the agriculture and fine food industries, and so it is now time for Australian exporters to export to China, especially with the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement which will reduce a lot of trade barriers.”
Deputy Co-Chair of Regional Development Australia Southern Inland, Cr Sue Whelan OAM from Queanbeyan City Council also highlighted the importance of the business relationships between the two countries.
“I’m hoping that the delegates got a lot out of today’s forum and were able to find out more information about the potential for investment in our region and that we can start to build some networks,” she said.
“This a very new development for us and this is the first time we have worked with a delegation from any country, let alone China. Hopefully it’s the start of a whole new relationship with China, as they are a very important trading partner to Australia and I think there’s huge potential for investment in China. There will certainly be a lot of sharing and exporting to China from here.”
