Page 2449 - Week 07 - Thursday, 3 August 2017
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A meeting with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority regarding financial technology provided the opportunity to share information on ways to grow the fintech sector locally. In addition I met with the MTR Corporation regarding their methodologies of value capture, and I participated in further activity to promote property investment opportunities in Canberra. This included meeting with the hotel development firm Ovolo and engaging with the membership of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
I then travelled to Japan to continue the work of enhancing relationships with our sister city Nara. I participated in further debt investor meetings, as well as other strategic investment focused engagements in Tokyo.
Japan and Australia enjoy a close bilateral relationship and have strong commercial ties. Japan is Australia’s ninth largest export market for services and it is the sixth largest foreign supplier of services. Foreign direct investment in Australia by Japan totalled just under $86 billion in 2015.
Canberra, of course, has a sister city relationship with the city of Nara that has driven educational, sporting and cultural activities for more than two decades. In Nara, I met again with the recently re-elected mayor, Gen Nakagawa. The meeting enabled discussion about future actions and priorities for the Canberra-Nara sister city relationship. We discussed activities to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our sister city relationship that will take place in 2018.
Japanese companies have made, and continue to make, important investments in Canberra. For example, the Mitsubishi Corporation has recently made a long-term commitment to our city’s light rail project. In Tokyo, a meeting with Mitsubishi Corporation provided an opportunity to speak with senior representatives of the company about the light rail project, its progress and the value of the partnership in place, as well as plans for future stages.
During a meeting with Eurus Energy we discussed their previous investment in one of our city’s renewable energy projects, as well as the potential for future collaboration on research and development in renewable energy technologies.
A city that promotes itself effectively internationally will succeed locally. My government is proactively seeking to raise the profile of Canberra in these key international markets to create opportunity, to support our effort to generate wealth and jobs for our city, to diversify our economy and to ensure that Canberra continues on the path to become a globally recognised, knowledge-based economy that is supported by a vibrant community.
The visit to Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan clearly aligned with this intent, and we will continue to undertake activities of this nature that raise the profile of Canberra on the global stage, support local businesses and drive economic growth.
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