Page 1904 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 14 May 2013
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and for educational institutions to reaffirm their relationships with existing clients and to explore and generate new activity.
Australia and Indonesia are major players in the region and have growing political, security, commercial, environmental, cultural and people-to-people connections. As respective national capitals, the cities of Jakarta and Canberra are well placed to nurture both the country-to-country relationship and also the people-to-people connections.
The ACT business community has for some time been a strong proponent of sending a delegation to Indonesia, so it was particularly pleasing to have the support and direct involvement of the international business task force of the Canberra Business Council, the ACT branch of the Australia Indonesian Business Council and the ACT Exporters Network. All of these organisations played an important role in preparing our companies and in sharing and establishing contacts for delegates. At this point I would also like to acknowledge the Indonesian embassy in Canberra, and particularly Ambassador Kesoema, for hosting a pre-departure briefing for the delegation and for the enthusiasm and support the embassy showed for the mission.
The Australian Trade Commission, through Austrade, was engaged as a mission partner to provide in-market support and a business-matching program for mission participants. The Australian embassy in Jakarta provided support and facilitation to my program, which consisted of briefings and various meetings with government of Jakarta officials in support of specific business objectives.
The feedback from the business delegates certainly suggests that the outcomes of this mission will be strong. However, it is early days and missions are more about carefully managed introductions and road testing “to market” strategies rather than doing on-the-spot deals. Nevertheless, I am confident that some deals will emerge quite quickly. A formal debrief of mission participants will be conducted by the Economic Development Directorate and Austrade later this month and further advice on outcomes will be provided to the Assembly in due course.
International engagement through trade missions and investment outreach is an important component of the government’s strategy to grow and diversify the territory economy. The evidence is clear that companies that export strategically also grow faster, they create jobs more quickly, they pay higher wages and they embrace and embody innovation. Missions and international engagement will also be an important plank of the ACT government’s response to the issues and opportunities identified in the Asian century white paper released by the Prime Minister last year.
Madam Speaker, I now turn to the Singapore leg of the mission. Singapore is, of course, a potentially important development partner for Canberra, and it is important that we establish relationships in this part of the region and also create greater visibility of the opportunities for investors in Canberra.
The Gallagher government has committed to two major projects that will transform our city and enhance its status as a model for best practice urban development in the Asia-Pacific region. These two projects—capital metro and city to the lake—have the
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