Minister CAI Wei, Charge d’Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Australia, hosted a reception for the participants of the ACBC Canberra Networking Day on 25 March, 2015. Some 200 guests attended the event in the Chinese Embassy. Minister Cai, Mr. John Brumby, National President of the Australia China Business Council (ACBC), Ms. Jan Adams, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Dr. Andrew Leigh (MP), Co-Chair of the Australia China Parliamentary Group, made the address. The reception was presided over by Mr. HUANG Rengang, Minister Counsellor for Economic and Commercial Affairs of the Chinese Embassy.
Minister Cai highlighted the progress of the bilateral relationship in 2014 and the significance of the just concluded sessions of the NPC and the CPPCC for mapping out the direction of China’s economic development in the new normal phase. Last year, Chinese President XI Jinping paid a successful state visit to Australia. At present, Australian Governor-General Peter Cosgrove is paying a state visit to China, including attending the Boao Forum for Asia. High level exchanges have provided great momentum to the robust growth of China-Australia business ties in various forms. The upcoming signing of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) would generate many new opportunities for building the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between China and Australia.
The Australian speakers shared Minister Cai’s views on the bright prospects for economic cooperation and trade between China and Australia, and thanked the Chinese Embassy for its long-term support to the ACBC. They looked forward to the official signing of the ChAFTA, and expressed the confidence that the ChAFTA would further boost the dynamic growth of the bilateral business relationship to the benefit of both countries. Earlier on the same day, the ACBC issued its Australia China Trade Report 2014 in the Commonwealth Parliament.
