Page 2694 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 16 September 2014
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amend the committee’s resolution for its inquiry into sentencing by removing the words “in the first sitting week after 1 November 2014” and replacing them with the words “by the last sitting day of April 2015”.
Trade mission—Singapore and Hong Kong
Ministerial statement
MR BARR (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Housing and Minister for Tourism and Events), by leave: I would like to report to the Assembly on the ministerial delegation that I led to Singapore and Hong Kong from 18 to 25 June this year.
This delegation was perhaps the largest and most diverse group led by the ACT government on a trade mission, with a wide range of organisations pursuing multiple business development objectives. In total 35 people took part in the delegation across 28 separate organisations.
Before I report on the mission itself, it is worth recalling that we were honoured with a visit to Canberra by the President of Singapore and several ministers just a few days before we departed on this mission. The Chief Minister had a private meeting with the President of Singapore during his time in Canberra and I met with the Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Transport, Associate Professor Ibrahim.
These meetings were an opportunity to enrich the relationship between Canberra and Singapore by talking about the things we have in common—our business links, our shared histories, our community bonds. It was an opportunity to forecast the great future opportunities and to discuss the agenda of the trade mission that we were about to embark on. The President of Singapore went on to mark his visit and the relationship between our cities by planting a tree at the National Arboretum.
For the trade mission itself, the key objectives of the delegation were to: encourage investment in Canberra by Singaporean and Hong Kong organisations and financial institutions and in particular highlighting opportunities that will arise around the city to the lake and capital metro projects; support Canberra businesses in their push into the Singapore market with a focus on IT sector businesses specifically, facilitated by their presence at CommunicAsia 2014, one of the world’s largest IT trade shows and conferences; advance the case for direct flights between Canberra and Singapore or Hong Kong; support the tourism industry through developing relationships between Canberra and Singapore; release the Canberra branding internationally; and study relevant Singaporean infrastructure projects such as their recently completed sports hub precinct and international stadium and the Singapore mass rapid transit system.
Significant progress was made on all of these objectives. In my view, and indeed the view of those who attended the trade mission, it was a resounding success. I would like to take the time now to briefly review some of the highlights.
To progress direct international flights between Singapore and Canberra, Stephen Byron and I met with the vice president of Singapore Airlines, Ms Lee Wen Fen. I also took the opportunity when in Hong Kong to meet with James Barrington,
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