Speeches
Monday, 22 April 2024
Shandong-South Australia Business Exchange
Good morning.
I am delighted to be back in Jinan.
Shandong Province and South Australia share an enduring 38‑year Sister-State Relationship, and it is an honour to visit in my capacity as Governor of South Australia.
Later today I will meet with the Honourable Mr Zhou Naixiang, Governor of Shandong. I am very much looking forward to this opportunity to discuss our many existing partnerships as well as to identify opportunities to strengthen these bonds in the years to come.
Ahead of this, it is a great pleasure to be here this morning as we bring together business leaders from South Australia and Shandong; to reconnect with old friends and look to how we might enhance our existing cooperation.
Under our Sister-State Relationship, South Australia and Shandong have shared extensive trade and investment partnerships in food, wine, education, energy, culture, arts, sports, tourism and sustainability.
I welcome senior business leaders from across Shandong representing these industries today.
We believe there is an opportunity for Shandong and South Australia to achieve net zero faster together if we can collaborate in the area of industrial decarbonisation and this is something we will discuss together at this afternoon’s round table.
International education is another sector in which South Australia is excelling.
The new Adelaide University which brings together the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia is expected to be operational by early 2026. It aims to be in the top one per cent of universities worldwide and, aligned with industry and enterprise, to deliver research of scale and focus to solve global challenges. It also aims to have every student experience entrepreneurship throughout their studies.
Additionally, South Australia also has an abundance of premium offerings in food and wine. Known as Australia’s wine state, we produce 80 per cent of the country’s premium wine.
The easing of restrictions impeding trade in grain and meat has been a very welcome advancement in our trade relations, and I am hopeful that similar progress will soon be made for seafood.
As we all know, COVID-19 and the subsequent economic uncertainty undoubtedly had an impact on the high level of engagement between South Australia and Shandong that we had grown accustomed to over the years.
The South Australian Premier, the Hon Peter Malinauskas MP’s visit in September last year, and Vice-Governor of Shandong, the Honourable Mr Fan Bo’s travel, to South Australia in December, were wonderful examples of the commitment we both hold to deepening this partnership.
Of course, the strength of the South Australia-Shandong relationship is not based on our government links alone; our trade relations play an equally important part, and today is an invaluable step toward nurturing and developing these partnerships.
I look forward to witnessing the continued cooperation between our great regions and celebrating what, in 2026, will be the 40‑year anniversary of our Sister State relationship.
Thank you.