Monday, 15 April 2024
Shangri La Sydney
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales

Bujari gamarruwa

Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

I greet you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of the land on which we gather, and pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

It is my pleasure this morning, as Governor of New South Wales, to warmly welcome all visitors to the State, and to participate in the formal opening of this Australia China Business Forum.

I am particularly delighted to welcome you Chairman REN Hongbin and the entire delegation with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

On Saturday, our nation came to a standstill as a mentally ill person rampaged through one of our largest and most popular shopping centres. This morning we were advised that the 6^th fatality was a young Chinese student here in Sydney, Ms Yixuan Cheng. Chairman Ren, we extend our sympathies to the Chinese people as we remind ourselves that friendship between peoples is always important but most important when things do not go well.

Today, of course we are meeting for a different purpose.  This Forum represents a rare opportunity to demonstrate the underlying economic bonds that connect Australia and China.

These economic bonds along with our friendly people-to-people links became very apparent to me soon after I was sworn in as Governor in 2019. It was my honour visit to the Province of Guangdong in August that year to mark 40 years of our links in trade, investment, culture and education; and to celebrate our deep and continuous connection.

This trip as an official guest of the Provincial Government was my first overseas visit as Governor of New South Wales and is one I remember with much fondness. It was a pleasure to meet Governor Ma who was a most gracious host. We also travelled to Shenzhen where we met with Shenzhen leadership and hosted a dinner with business leaders.

The warm hospitality extended to us during our visit to China remains a highlight of my time in this role.

I have been pleased to address several Joint Economic Meetings since then and to welcome many senior Chinese officials to New South Wales.

All of you here today know that the history of trade between our countries has long been important.

China has been NSW’s largest two-way trading partner for almost twenty years, since 2005. Our established Sister State relationships with both Guangdong and Beijing in 1979 and 2012 respectively, as well as the Friendship Agreement with Shanghai are formal agreements that have served us well in enabling greater connection between NSW and all areas of China.

Last year, two-way trade reached a record A$56.8bn and this relationship is critical in sectors such as agri-food, health, medtech, consumer health, education, green energy and the rapidly evolving technological revolution where even the algorithms are changing as I speak.

The great economic complementarity of the relationship is reinforced by the cultural and people-to-people ties that we share.

NSW has been home to many migrants from China over the years, and today there are over 248,000 China-born residents here in NSW, making it one of our largest multicultural communities.

Today, more than 1 in 10 people in the Greater Sydney area nominate Chinese as one of their ancestries. It is a community whose economic and cultural contribution to New South Wales is integral to our conception of who we are as a community. The Lunar New Year Celebrations and exhibitions that take place throughout our city and suburbs each year, for instance, show not only how thoroughly entwined Chinese culture is in our community, but also how warmly it is embraced and celebrated by all.

I’d like to express my gratitude to the Australia China Business Council for their commitment to the bilateral relationship and for coordinating this special event here in Sydney, and I look forward to hearing more about your discussions that take place today and into the weeks ahead.

May our relationship continue to expand constructively into all of the spaces of opportunity and cooperation which lay before us.

I officially declare this Australia China Business Forum open.