Treasurer, the Hon. Scott Morrison and Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Hon. Steven Ciobo will take part in the third Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) in Beijing tomorrow to strengthen Australia's economic and trade relationship with China.
The SED is one of our premier bilateral economic meetings with China and will be hosted by Chairman He Lifeng of China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
Discussions with Chairman He will focus on growing trade and investment with China and opportunities for Australian and Chinese businesses to cooperate.
Australia and China share an interest in open global trade and investment. We will use the discussions at the SED to reaffirm these commitments.
An integral part of the SED is the opportunity to meet with large Chinese investors. We will emphasise that Australia welcomes foreign investment and brief them on the Critical Infrastructure Centre that is designed to provide greater clarity and certainty on the assessment of applications consistent with the national interest.
Trade between Australia and China continues to grow strongly, with total two-way trade valued at more than $155 billion. The landmark China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) is helping drive this growth.
Further increasing trade and investment with China will drive economic growth and create more Australian jobs.
We look forward to productive discussions and further building on the Australia-China economic relationship.