Page 1646 - Week 05 - Thursday, 11 May 2017
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global innovation that is shaping cities and economies and to see and help shape the innovation in services that our citizens also want.
It is also clear that the ACT government’s commitment to Singapore is strongly supported by the business community in Canberra. On this delegation, 15 Canberra companies were part of the delegations. In addition, the higher education sector was well represented through the participation of the Australian National University, the University of Canberra, the Canberra Institute of Technology and the University of New South Wales Canberra, as well as the Canberra Innovation Network, Screen ACT, the Academy of Interactive Entertainment and the ACT Brumbies. It certainly was a team Canberra approach.
Team Canberra was ably supported by the new Australian High Commissioner to Singapore, Mr Bruce Gosper. Mr Gosper is a former CEO of Austrade and, I am pleased to say, a Canberran at heart who started his posting in Singapore in January of this year. Austrade and DFAT have been great allies in our engagement with Singapore and I think have appreciated the committed, professional and, dare I say, persistent way that we have approached our Singapore objectives.
My meeting with Mr Gosper was an important opportunity to progress how the ACT can also support the Australian government’s agenda in Singapore, particularly as the process to review and update the Singapore-Australia free trade agreement commences. Mr Gosper is a friend of Canberra and a great advocate for our interests in the country. He travelled with me to our next engagement with the Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry, Minister Iswaran.
I have previously met with the minister prior to commencement of direct international flights between our two cities, and he has a keen interest in developing closer trade ties. He was also interested in understanding more about the ACT government’s defence sector development agenda and the relationship of our higher education institutions with Singapore.
The work that we are doing in these areas, such as the appointment of a defence industry advocate and the defence industry advisory board, is being noticed by our key trading partners. There is a great opportunity for Canberra to forge strong links with Singapore in these and many other areas where we have a competitive advantage.
The growth of Canberra’s aviation sector is a key priority for the government, and here we have a strong partner in Singapore Airlines. It was timely, therefore, to meet with Singapore Airlines Chief Executive Officer Mr Goh Choon Phong. Mr Goh was, of course, in Canberra at the launch of the capital express service in January 2016. Our meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the Singapore Airlines service that commenced in September last year, connecting Singapore, Canberra and Wellington.
I reaffirmed the ACT government’s support of the service through key cooperative marketing campaigns for Singapore Airlines in our key destinations, and we discussed opportunities for broader cooperative partnerships to drive traffic in both directions along the route. I also took the opportunity to speak to Mr Goh about growing the
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