Looking to the North: Carr talks Asia: New South Wales' trade future lies in Asia, with exports to the region now worth $13 billion — 58 per cent of the State's total exports. Business Asia asked NSW Premier Bob Carr to talk about his trade vision - New South Wales In Focus - Brief Article

Business Asia, April, 2002

Q: What's your Government's trade focus for 2002?

Exports are the life blood of the Australian economy. As a country of 19 million people, with a relatively small domestic market, we must look outwards, especially to the Asia Pacific region. While 20 per cent of Australian jobs depend on exports, only four per cent of our businesses are active in export. The key to the State's continued economic success depends on getting more firms to export, to build a stronger export culture. My Government has three key roles in boosting exports:

* First, to ensure we have the infrastructure such as IT, roads, ports, rail, education and training that supports a hi-tech, high skill economy;

* Second, that we restrain public sector costs and regulations to make it easier to do business -- to this end my Government has, for example, cut utility costs by 19 per cent over the past six years;

* Third, we must help businesses gain the knowledge, skills and capacity they need to participate fully and successfully in the international economy -- with a particular focus on small and medium enterprises and regional firms.

Q: What's being done to increase trade business for New South Wales?

My Government, through our Department of State and Regional Development (DSRD), provides a wide range of support strategies such as export skills development, re-engineering of business processes, market research, identifying new export opportunities and quickly and efficiently making contact with potential new customers.

Take some examples. We have specialist Export Advisers located in major regional centres such as Bathurst, Coffs Harbour, Nowra, Tamworth, Wagga Wagga and the Central Coast. These advisers work with local businesses on developing their export plans as well as helping firms access the full range of the NSW Government's export assistance programs.

Another example is the Hunter Export Centre in Newcastle, which performs a similar function for firms in the Hunter region, home to much of the State's wine and coal industry, as well as a strongly emerging centre for new technologies such as sustainable energy.

We also have an outstanding program of trade missions and market visits that help companies identify and tap into new market opportunities and help reduce the time, cost and risk involved. These visits have my very strong personal support. Indeed, I have just returned from a trade visit to China, and visited Singapore in February 2002.

In 2001, 92 companies took part in trade missions and market visits organised or supported by my Government. As a direct result, these companies identified new export opportunities worth nearly $90 million in the short term.

During 2002, we are planning seven general trade missions, visiting China, the UAE, New Zealand, the UK, the USA, Thailand and Taiwan. DSRD and the NSW Film and Television Office are also collaborating on a further mission to China to promote services available from New South Wales for the film and television industry at the Shanghai Film Festival in June, 2002.

In addition, 12 sector-specific market visits are offered for firms involved in building and construction (visiting Singapore and Hong Kong), defence (Malaysia), environmental technology (Thailand), food and food services (Japan, Singapore and Thailand), health care (Malaysia and Singapore), and information technology (Singapore).

The New South Wales Government also pursues bilateral business opportunities through its network of international sister state relationships and memoranda of understanding (MOU) with foreign governments and agencies in Guangdong Province (China), Tokyo, Seoul, Jakarta, California, North Rhine-Westphalia, Colorado, Wales, Lebanon and Kelantan (Malaysia).

Finally, it is often not realised that the NSW Government itself is an exporter of services in a number of fields, including public administration and governance, infrastructure, community development and environment and natural resources.

A specialist unit within DSRD helps promote the services available from the public sector, with particular attention to multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and major aid agencies. Under certain conditions, the unit can assist the private sector access specialist government expertise to support bids for overseas contracts and consulting assignments.

Q: How important is Asia to New South Wales?

Every market, no matter how small, is important. But Asia is the State's largest export region -- it's where our future lies. In 2000-2001, NSW exports to Asia reached $13 billion -- 58 per cent of this State's total exports. Seven of our top 10 export destinations are in Asia.

Japan remains the number one export destination for NSW goods. In 2000/01, Japan alone accounted for over 21 per cent of NSW exports, valued at nearly $5 billion.

Other key export markets for NSW in Asia include: South Korea ($1396 million); Taiwan ($1277 million); China ($949 million); Indonesia ($894 million); Hong Kong ($868 million); and Thailand ($725 million). Thailand and India are emerging as increasingly important markets for NSW in Asia, with NSW exports to these two markets growing at an average rate of 16 per cent per annum over the last five years.