SYDNEY, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Over 400 global business leaders and senior officials from 36 countries convened in Sydney on Monday for a three-day forum promoting opportunities in foreign investment.
Sydney is a first time host of the 16th World Forum for Foreign Direct Investment, an event which lets participants discover new opportunities in foreign investment and discuss challenges facing companies and individuals when establishing a presence in a new country.
Delegates will be given the chance to tour key investment precincts across Sydney, promoting opportunities in defence, aerospace, startup and tech, health and medtech, manufacturing, agribusiness, and education.
"Sydney is the ideal host for this important forum as Australia's business capital," New South Wales Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said.
"New South Wales has the lowest unemployment rate of any state and a flourishing economy that has seen 28 years of consecutive growth," Ayres said.
Ayres said that the forum will also champion investment opportunities in the more rural parts of Australia such as Parkes and Wagga Wagga.
Lyn Lewis-Smith, CEO of BESydney, which secured the World Forum for Sydney, said the gathering will provide "long tail benefits" for the city.
"Forums like these help deliver on economic development goals, attract investment and talent, creating a focused time and place to form vital relationships for cross-border investment," Lewis-Smith said.
The forum will run from June 17 to 19.
