Page 2448 - Week 07 - Thursday, 3 August 2017
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Consistent with our efforts to establish partnerships across a range of sectors, I was also delighted to participate in a memorandum of understanding signing between our own National Arboretum and the Singapore Botanic Gardens to encourage the exchange of academic information and research and education collaboration.
A key element of this mission was promoting tangible investment opportunities to significant investors. This took the form of promoting a range of premium opportunities due to open across the city in the medium term.
In Singapore, the Australian High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr Bruce Gosper, hosted an investment promotion event attended by 15 of Singapore’s leading investors. I also met personally with Ms Koh Kah Sek, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of the Far East Group, one of the largest property development firms in Asia, that has invested approximately $2 billion just in the past two years in our country.
As I clearly stated in my recent state of the territory address, a city growing by more than 6,000 people a year needs significant new infrastructure to support growth. In facilitating this growth, Canberra needs to be a shining example of contemporary urban renewal. Competition, vision, creativity and new ideas extending from a global investment community will help shape the future character of our city.
Canberra, particularly our main avenues, should contain buildings that people are talking about well after all of us in this place are gone. The newly created City Renewal Authority will lead the way in delivering this aspiration and Canberra’s profile as a place to invest will continue to be promoted on future missions.
From Singapore, I travelled to Hong Kong, a city that supports the world’s 34th largest economy, with a population of 7.3 million, yet occupies an area smaller than the Australian Capital Territory. Similar to Canberra, Hong Kong is home to a highly educated workforce. It is, of course, known as a globally significant financial, commercial, trade and transport hub.
My visit to Hong Kong provided another opportunity to meet with debt investors and further build relationships to support the government’s future finance needs. It also provided the opportunity to learn about the value of planned development that supports the growth of the arts and cultural community. Arts and culture is a critical pillar for creating a vibrant city centre. In turn, attracting and retaining talented people is influenced by the ability to create vibrant places that attract knowledge, workers and entrepreneurs.
A tour of the West Kowloon cultural district was invaluable in gaining an insight into how major urban renewal approaches and commercial relationships can support arts and cultural developments. While still under construction, the West Kowloon cultural district will cover 40 hectares of land and include 17 core arts and cultural venues, as well as space for arts education. This includes a flagship museum of contemporary visual culture.
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