China and India Business Mission

Ms VIRGINIA JUDGE: My question is directed to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the House about the success of the recent New South Wales business mission to China and India?

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: The New South Wales Government is focused on attracting more investment and job opportunities into this State and on strengthening our bilateral relationships with China and India. It is also focused on the booming economies of the economic superpowers China and India and the opportunities they represent. China, which is our largest trading partner, will be a strong source of future investment, tourism and students, and India is our fastest growing export market. The economies of those two countries, two great nations, offer great potential for the future prosperity of the people of New South Wales, which is why a delegation was formed to visit both China and India. A delegation comprising representatives from business, tourism and all the universities in New South Wales travelled to Guangzhou, New Delhi and Mumbai. It was the biggest delegation ever to leave our shores and larger than the recent delegation to India led by the Prime Minister.

Our visit to China was principally to strengthen our sister-state relationship with Guangdong Province, our most important bilateral trading relationship. I cannot overemphasise the importance of our sister-state relationship, a relationship of 28 years standing, with the economic driving force of China. Guangdong Province is China's economic powerhouse and a major player in the world economy. Representatives from Australian companies such as BHP Billiton and other coalmining and steelmaking companies were on the delegation. Representatives from Westpac, another major financial institution, were on the delegation, along with representatives of AMP, information technology companies, and the tourism industry. They understand the importance of strengthening the relationship with China and India.

Wine exporters such as Draytons and Windowrie Estate participated in the mission and will benefit from the commissioning of a new temperature-controlled warehouse, the first of its kind, that has been opened in Guangzhou. That great new facility will make it easier for New South Wales wine producers to export their products. Australian wines are now placed second behind French wines. With those sorts of initiatives Australian and New South Wales wines will overtake French wines in the not-too-distant future. China is also our fastest growing market for tourism. Accompanying us on the mission were representatives from Tourism NSW, Stella Travel Services and the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau. In Guangzhou, New South Wales and China UnionPay, one of China's largest financial institutions, struck an agreement to promote tourism.

Also on the delegation were senior representatives from all universities in New South Wales, a sign of the importance that our higher educational institutions place on our relationships with China and India. Whilst in Guangdong the delegation was able to establish a partnership, as a result of which the Australia-China Centre for Research in Traditional Chinese Medicines will sign a memorandum of understanding with Sun Yat-Sen University, the University of Sydney and the University of Western Sydney.

Mr Andrew Fraser: What about Southern Cross University?

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: The member for Coffs Harbour should remain calm; I will come to Southern Cross University in a moment. Sun Yat-Sen University, the University of Sydney and the University of Western Sydney will establish a joint professorial chair in traditional Chinese medicine to undertake research and translate that research into treatment for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and other chronic conditions. That represents enormous potential for learning and for breakthrough research being translated into new treatments. That multimillion-dollar arrangement is just one example of our universities establishing a research and cooperative relationship with their colleagues in China.

Whilst we were in Guangdong the tourism representatives were able to launch www.sydneyaustralia.com, an international website that uses the much-loved global phrase that Sydney is the gateway for visitors, tourism, business and information to New South Wales and Australia. That website promotes New South Wales as a great place in which to invest and to do business, but also to study and take holidays. India is now the world's fourth largest economy in purchasing power and it is our fastest growing export market. The Government has implemented a number of initiatives. Rolta, one of India's leading information and technology companies, chose Sydney as the place to establish its Asia-Pacific headquarters—a platform for expansion into our region. Wipro is another Indian multinational information technology company—

Ms Virginia Judge: An excellent company.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: As the member for Strathfield said, Wipro is an excellent company. Let me tell members how good that company is. It employs 70,000 people around the world, has a turnover of $US3 billion, and it has a presence in New South Wales.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Murray-Darling will cease interjecting.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: I am happy to announce an additional 50 jobs in information technology in Parramatta and in Western Sydney as a result of our relationship with Wipro, a significant addition of future high-paying, high-skilled jobs. New South Wales has world-class status in its delivery of services. Dickson Rothschild, one of the leading architectural firms that was represented on the delegation, won the tender to help design the new international airport at New Delhi. The Leighton group, another great company based in New South Wales, signed a $1.5 billion infrastructure and mining deal in Guangdong. Woolworth's, the nation's largest retailer and another of our great companies, established a joint venture with the Tata group.

Tata, which is India's largest company and one of the biggest companies in the world, employs 100,000 people around the world. Given this company's extraordinary growth, every year it has to recruit an additional 20,000 workers around the world. Tata has a turnover in excess of $US6 billion and is already represented in this State and this country. Strengthening our relationship with Tata and securing opportunities for it in New South Wales will mean that we can grab a share of the workforce of 20,000 that is recruited around the world. The message that we gave to Tata, Wipro and Rolta was: There is no better place to expand your business than in Sydney and in New South Wales. That is the same message we gave to the Steel Authority of India, which wants to buy our raw materials as India undergoes massive transformation and economic modernisation.

The economic miracle in India and China will present enormous opportunities for New South Wales companies to export their services, products and raw materials to those countries and for global companies to use New South Wales as a platform for global expansion. It explodes the myth that the emergence of China and India as economic superpowers is a one-way street to outsource into India and China. That is wrong. By carving out our slice of the globalisation and economic transformation of India and China means enormous opportunities for jobs and investment in New South Wales and Australia.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members of the Opposition will cease injecting.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: What is happening in India and China means jobs and investment here: it is not one-way outsourcing of jobs to those countries. The emergence of companies like Tata and global superpowers means opportunities for jobs and investment in this State. Our mission was to lay the foundation for further investment and job opportunities in New South Wales. I look forward to updating the House on further developments and initiatives following the trade mission.