|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related documents: Position paper on Sister State and
Sister City Relations Between Australia and China Chamber letter to Sister City News Information about cities and
provinces in China. |
MAKING SISTER CITY RELATIONS WORK FOR THE ECONOMIC 12 March 2002 Sponsoring organisations: Local Government and
Shires Associations NSW (LGSA) Australian Sister
Cities Association (ASCA) Australia China
Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New South Wales (ACCCI) |
|
|
Dear Guests, Ladies and
Gentlemen, It gives me a great honour and
pleasure to be present here today at the Sister City Forum to listen to the
views of the participants on how to make Sister City relations work to the
economic benefits of the parties concerned. I first would like to express my
thanks for the invitation and my warm congratulations to the opening of the
Forum. I particularly would like to
stress my appreciation of the effort made by the Australia-China Chamber of
Commerce and Industry of New South Wales to introduce concrete economic
dimensions to the traditionally more culture-oriented Sister City programs. China started its international
Sister City program in 1973. Based on
the principles of friendship, mutual benefit and practical effects, many
Chinese cities have, over the years, conducted a series of fruitful exchanges
and co-operation with their foreign counterparts. Up to now, over 200 Chinese cities
have joined the program and they have formed Sister City relations with over
100 countries in the world. By the
end of 2000, Chinese cities already had 1,013 foreign sisters. Australia had a total of 50 cities (two of
them are states) that have Chinese sisters.
The international Sister Cities
programs have helped countries and cities involved to increase understanding
and friendship, to develop exchanges and co-operation in the fields of
economics, science and technology, culture and education. They have helped to bring about social
progress and prosperity and, most of all, to maintain world peace. Some of you may ask the question
why the Australia-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New South Wales
is co-sponsoring such a forum which seems to cover far more area of
international exchanges than just trade and industry. To answer that question, one should first
know the government structural variations with China and Australia. Cities of China normally play an
important role of the state in looking after every aspect of people's lives
and livelihood, especially in managing the economy. But cities in Australia mainly serve a community role, leaving
real business to the business people or the Federal Government. When these two systems try to interface
there should be an adapter. I think
the Chamber plays a positive role in being that adapter, which will
facilitate the exchanges between cities of the two countries in a very robust
part of the Sister Cities program.
That is the part directly associated with of trade and the
economy. I thank the Chamber for
their brave intervention and I encourage the city councils to get more
involved too. China and Australia are two
great countries in the Asia-Pacific Region.
We have many things in common and we can be complementary in many
areas. We both have been able to
manage our economies relatively well in recent years in the whirlwind of the
Asian financial crisis. We should
have a bright future by co-operating with each other. Let me give you some boring but
also encouraging figures in world of real business: Trade between the two countries
started to gather momentum from 1991, and in 1997 the bilateral trade volume
hit a record of 5.3 billion USD.
After the setbacks from the 1998's Asia financial crisis, the
bilateral trade powerfully rebounded in 1999. According to the statistics of
tile Chinese Customs, the annual bilateral trade volume attained 6.3 billion
USD, a 25.5 per cent increase from that of 1998. Among this total trade volume, China’s exports to Australia
were 2.7 billion USD, an increment of 14.3 per cent, whilst Australia’s
exports to China were 3.6 billion USD, an increment of 34.7 per cent. Such a volume made Australia the eighth
trading partner of China. In the first six months of 2000,
the bilateral trade maintained increasing trend and attained a total volume
of 4.02 billion USD with a 50.6 per cent increment. Among this bilateral trade volume, China’s exports to Australia
were 1.55 billion USD and Australia’s exports to China were 2.47 billion USD,
and the increments were 37 per cent and. 60.6 per cent, respectively. The total annual total for 2000
was about 8.45 billion USD. According
to the 2000 figures, the two-way trade reached 8.99 billion USD, of which
Australia's export was 5.42 and while China's export was 3.57 billion USD. With regard to mutual
investment, the two countries also had a. record of good cooperation. By the end of 1999, the total number of
approved direct investment projects from Australia to China was 3,873. The investment volume in
negotiation was 5.84 billion USD and the actual completed investment volume
was 1.8 billion USD. In the first six
months of 2000, 178 investment projects were approved in China from Australian
sources and the value involved was 0.2 billion USD. Australia is becoming one of the
major foreign investment source countries for China. Meanwhile, China has established 185
investment projects here in Australia with a value of 0.4 billion USD. This is just what is registered at China
Foreign Economy and Trade Ministry, so the actual project numbers and
investment values should exceed that amount.
China and Australia have become economically more involved with each
other and more interdependent on each other. I am sure these figures
constitute a strong economic relationship between two major countries and the
relationship is getting stronger.
Opening-up and reform is China's long-standing policy. After 20 years on the road of reform,
China's economy has witnessed profound changes: v
First, China has been transformed from a. planned
economy to a socialist makett economy. v
Second, the comprehensive capabilities of China
have increased remarkably, with its GDP ranking the sixth in the world. v
Third, a multi-dimensional opening-up pattern, by
and large, has taken shape. China is now the seventh largest
in the world in terms of total foreign trade volume. For nine years in row, it has attracted
more foreign capital than any other developing counties. Among the top 500 multinationals of the
world, more than 400 have investments in China. Foreigners have good
opportunities in China. Australia has
good opportunities in China too. Act
soon and get access to these opportunities the direct route, the Sister City
relationship. To conclude these lengthy
remarks, I would like to wish the Forum a great success and I hope all of you
present will enjoy fruitful exchanges and concrete results. Thank you. |
