Country’s biggest business names to promote Australia’s interests in southeast Asia
Some of Australia’s biggest business names have been tapped to help companies increase their reach into southeast the region as the Government looks for opportunities to diversify trade and reduce reliance on China.
Each of the ASEAN countries, excepting Myanmar, will have a dedicated representative helping government and business to work in tandem to deepen engagement.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said they would be “key advocates for Australia’s trade and investment ties with the countries of southeast Asia”.
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Macquarie Bank chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake, Aurecon chief operating officer Louise Adams, Lendlease boss Tony Lombardo, AgCoTech chairman Charles Olsson, MGA Insurance Brokers chairman John George, East Timor Trading Group founder Sakib Awan, and Pristing Pacific Australia executive director Nur Rahman make up the rest of the cohort.
The appointment of the champions comes as the Government also sets up a $2 billion investment fund offering loans, guarantees and equities for companies looking to expand operations or trade into the region, expands its “landing pads” to Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City and gives a $140 million boost to an infrastructure program.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black was confident the actions – recommended by businessman Nicholas Moore last year in his blueprint for how to expand two-way investment in the region – would have tangible results.
“It’s so important to focus on what’s practical. Somebody once said to me that vision without delivery is just a hallucination,” he said.
“I think that what we’re seeing with this strategy is an opportunity to turn the vision into something very real.”
His hope was that the sum of all the parts of what was being done in response to Mr Moore’s report would turn out to be more helpful than any individual program.
Mr Moore has repeatedly highlighted the enormous potential for Australian businesses to expand into southeast Asia, which is the world’s fastest-growing region.
It will need an extra 454 gigawatts of power by 2050, mainly renewables, while its consumer base would grow tenfold.
