Australia’s strong trade and investment relations with the Kingdom is expected to be boosted further with the arrival of a high-level business delegation this week.
The Australia Gulf Council (AGC), a nonprofit organization that aims to strengthen relationship between Australia and the Gulf states, will be arriving in the Kingdom on Nov. 30 for a five-day visit, focused on building greater trade ties in key sectors.
The delegation of 12 business leaders from some of Australia’s top companies will then visit Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Australian Ambassador Neil Hawkins told Arab News: “The AGC’s mission will have the opportunity to appreciate the sheer scale of significant business opportunities available to Australian companies in Saudi Arabia, which is the largest economy in the Gulf.”
“As other Australian companies operating in Saudi Arabia have found, personal contacts are an essential ingredient of doing business in this region. So a visit such as this is very important.”
The business mission will be led by Mark Vaile, former deputy prime minister of Australia and former minister for trade. Anna Bligh, former Queensland premier, and Ahmed Fahour, the Australian special envoy to the Organization of The Islamic Cooperation (OIC), are other prominent members of the delegation.
Australia’s two-way merchandise trade with Saudi Arabia has risen to 2.15 billion Australian dollars with major exports in 2011-12 including passenger motor vehicles, barley, wheat and meat. Major Australian imports from the Kingdom in 2011-12 included fertilizers and crude oil.
This visit marks the third time the AGC has been in the region and this week’s visit follows other successful delegations, which have been in the region to strengthen trade and bilateral relations since 2010.
“Our goal is to continue to develop stronger and sustained relationships across the business and government communities in Australia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” said Jonathan Herps, chief executive officer of the AGC.
“Over the past two years we have worked hard to nurture mutually beneficial relationships between the Gulf states and Australia through our corporate partners and other commercial, government, nongovernment and diplomatic stakeholders. Our mission is to build on this further with the GCC countries and facilitate increased two-way trade and investment in these key markets for Australia,” he added.
The AGC works closely with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) and Austrade, which will help the traveling delegation to explore economic and political partnerships and areas for further collaboration across business and government entities.
Sectors represented on the business mission by chief and senior executives include automotive, agriculture, construction and engineering, education, financial services, food and beverage, transport, telecommunications and tourism.
“Once again it is going to be a packed program that will include senior-level government to business and business to business engagements,” said Herps.
“We are all looking forward to building on the successes and opportunities of the previous missions and creating new partnerships that will continue to foster our connections with this region.”
Etihad Airways is the AGC’s principal corporate partner and former delegation leaders have included former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Peter Costello, former treasurer to the Australian government.