SHANGHAI, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Australia's trade minister has called on Aussie companies to use the opportunity presented by the ongoing China International Import Expo (CIIE) to promote their products.
Speaking on Tuesday afternoon at the opening of the Australian national pavilion at the CIIE, Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham also said stakeholders should acknowledge China's efforts in reform and opening up over the past four decades, in which China has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and created "a growing middle-class and huge business opportunities."
According to the newly released 2018 Doing Business in China Report compiled by the University of Melbourne and auditing giant KPMG, two-thirds of Australian businesses operating in China plan to increase their investments in the country and 60 percent are expecting to increase their headcount in the near term.
The Australian minister hailed China's achievements as presented in the report and said Australia and China "share in particular a commitment to a rules-based multilateral trading system that allows for the effective flow of goods and services."
Deb Kerr, general manager of marketing company Australian Pork Limited (APL), told Xinhua that they are positive about the access to the Chinese market and are working to establish relations with Chinese partners at the expo.
Michael Finucan, marketing manager of the Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) which specializes in beef and lamp export, said his company started doing business in China 20 years ago. He said his firm has signed some agreements with Chinese online retailers at the expo, which runs from Nov. 5 to 10.
"We are targeting ... consumers such as young Chinese families," he said while demonstrating a program for promoting Australian beef in Chinese on WeChat, the most popular social media platform in China.
Birmingham welcomed China's commitment to further opening up its economy. Australian businessmen are very "enthusiastic and positive about the engagement that we have already and the opportunities that it presents," he said, referring to the inaugural import expo.
