Australia China Business Council leaders to seek change of climate in relations
Executives from a host of Australian and Chinese companies will meet in Canberra next week to discuss ways to use climate change to boost business ties with China.
Executives from ANZ, Fortescue Metals, Coles, Cochlear, Star Entertainment, Alibaba, Yancoal, Beijing Energy, and Futura EV will meet in Canberra next week to discuss ways to use climate change to boost business ties with China.
Cochlear chief executive Dig Howitt will speak at a dinner for an Australia China Business Council Canberra networking event on Tuesday. That will be followed by an all-day conference on Wednesday – the first gathering since the election of the Albanese government in May.
After years of increasing political tension between Australia and China that has affected trade in areas such as wine, coal, barley and seafood, the ACBC is looking to climate change and green energy to provide potential areas of more co-operation between Australia and its major trading partner.
ACBC chairman David Olsson said the networking event would see the release of a report outlining six key industry areas of opportunities for Australian companies in doing business with China.
He said he hoped the report would “provide a foundation for conversations we need to have around the way in which Australia can engage with China to support the green transformation that the world is embarking on”.
“Given the need to accelerate efforts, it makes sense that two nations that already enjoy strong economic and trade complementarities should expand the scope of their bilateral commercial activities to address the challenges of decarbonisation and climate change,” he said.
“The scale of the opportunities is immense.
“We want to flip the narrative from one of daunting prospects to one of immense possibilities.”
The meeting will be the first chance for a high-level dialogue between the Albanese government and Australian companies doing business with China.
“Our program provides the first major opportunity for our members to exchange views at senior ministerial and department levels on this important bilateral relationship since the election,” Mr Olsson said.
The event will see a closed door round table between senior business and government leaders to discuss ways to improve business ties with China.
Australia’s Trade Minister, Don Farrell and assistant minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts will attend, along with China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, and Australia’s ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher.
The event comes as Australia and China are set to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations in December this year.
China remains Australia’s biggest trading partner, buying more than $180bn worth of exports annually, including iron ore, coal, gas and agricultural products.
However, Australian exporters are still suffering Chinese restrictions on coal, as well as wine and barley.
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