It's a pleasure to welcome you here today: to a meeting of some of our most distinguished thinkers, analysts, commentators, and policy-makers. Days like this are so important – for fostering stimulating and informed debate; for sharing ideas and insights; and for taking a long view of Australia's prospects in Asia's century. These dialogues are about improving our understanding of Asia, and, let's not forget, Asia's understanding of us. To consider the implications of Asia's extraordinary rise for our own future – not just in the coming months, but in the coming years and decades. Just last week I had an opportunity to participate in a great conference on China, hosted by the Wall St Journal and The Australian. We had the chance to have a broader discussion about Australia's strengths and the relative contributions that government and the wider community can make to our national prospects.
Instead of covering all that ground again today, I want to make the point that Asia's rise should not only be viewed through the prism of the resources boom, or indeed through Chinese demand alone. Because the heavy focus on resources and commodity prices sometimes does us a disservice, for three key reasons: Firstly, we never thought record-high prices would continue forever. Secondly, we have other tremendous advantages. And thirdly, we're already seeing a broader suite of opportunities in services and beyond, built on the expansion of the middle-class across the entire region. This puts Australia in the box seat of Asia's re-emergence, so long as we properly manage this transition over the next decade or two. So while the public debate on structural change focuses almost exclusively on the negatives, it is our job to explain the vast opportunities of moving up the value-chain, collaborating with our neighbours and more fully participating in the evolution of our region. It's why the Government will shortly release the White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century – and I know many people here today have made a substantial contribution to the White Paper's development. Of course, no one conference or one government can unlock every opportunity or address every challenge that we'll face in coming years. But it's critical that we keep the national conversation focused on what will be a transformational period for our country, our region and the world.
Now I know I don't have to convince the people in this room of the enormity of Asia's rise – but it remains staggering even to the most familiar observer. Over the past decade, China has managed to double its GDP in one-fifth of the time it took the UK to double its GDP during the Industrial Revolution. And by early next decade, the economies of China and India alone are expected to be larger than all the major advanced economies combined. By this time, Asia is not only expected to account for the majority of the world's population, but the majority of the world's middle class. As it becomes the world's largest production zone, it will also evolve into the world's largest consumption zone. Now, this is not only a story about size or speed – it's a story about the shifting gears of Asian growth, and how these changes map across to our own economy. It's about the long term policy choices of countries in our region, and how they choose to shape global governance and international institutions. It's a story of demographics, the degree of domestic consumption, productivity improvement and the competitive dynamics of global markets. And it's a story of urbanisation in our region, particularly in China – something Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz described as one of the most powerful global forces shaping the course of the 21st century.
But all too often, the long term story of Asia's rise gets clouded by commentary on the latest data point out of China, or daily movements in commodity prices. I often get asked whether Australia is too dependent on China; whether we are too dependent on Asia's demand for our resources. While we should never be overly dependent on one country or one commodity, I think this question often misses the point. It often ignores the fact that the prospects in our region are underpinned by structural forces that will sustain robust growth over the medium term. So to those who mount the argument that we are too closely tied to China or too dependent on Asia's demand for our resources, I say this: it's extremely difficult to make a case that we should be doing less trade with the fastest-growing, most dynamic region in the world. It's extremely difficult to make the case that we should tie our economic fortunes more closely with the anaemic growth and bleak prospects faced in most parts of the developed world. Of course, that's not to ignore the risks or challenges on the horizon – and I'm sure there'll be a sensible discussion of these today.
Here in Australia, we need to think seriously about how we seize the opportunities and manage the challenges of structural change that are brought about by the powerful economic forces in Asia. How we manage the evolving patterns of growth across our sectors and regions – and the impact this has on our communities. But we should be quietly confident given what we've managed to achieve in the face of enormous structural change already. As we come through the largest terms of trade boom in our nation's history, we have an economy not only with low unemployment, but contained inflation – despite the very difficult adjustments faced by some sectors. In fact our economic fundamentals were endorsed last night when Standard and Poor's reaffirmed Australia's Triple-A credit rating.
Australians should be proud that we have the rolled-gold AAA-rating from all three global rating agencies – something never achieved by any previous government. We're one of only seven sovereigns to achieve this first-class honour with a stable outlook, which underpins our status as one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world. But now we have also begun to convert this price boom into something more enduring. This is seeing investments in our resources sector unrivalled in our history, with significant investment to come. And through this investment we are turning a prices boom in to a sustained increase in our economy capacity, which will see a higher level of production and exports for years to come. Our success so far, in stark contrast to past booms, hinges on our sound macroeconomic frameworks, and our openness and flexibility brought about by successive reforms.
But the resources boom itself is only the first taste of Asia's rise – and there are broader opportunities to be captured in coming years if we play our hand well. The caricature of our country is one of a quarry, but we know in fact that Australia is a services economy – sophisticated and diversified. Services account for nearly 80 per cent of our GDP. And as millions of people are added to the ranks of Asia's middle class in the next decade, the demand for Australia's services will also grow, along with demand for food and other consumer goods. There will be greater opportunities in everything from agriculture and food, to travel and tourism, to education, engineering, arts and architecture, to banking and financial services. As well as things we haven't dreamed up yet. This is a long term story, but we have already begun to see the benefits. For example, the number of students from Asia studying in Australia has doubled in the past decade. China's share of our wine exports has jumped five-fold in five years. And six of Australia's top ten most valuable inbound tourism markets are already in Asia.
While Australia starts the Asian Century in an enviable position, we'll need a concerted and coordinated push from governments, business and the entire community to lift our productivity growth and fully connect with the region. And overwhelmingly, the best way to do this is to invest in our people. There's a widespread perception that our comparative advantage lies in the ground beneath our feet: in our rich and abundant natural resources. But one of the key themes coming out of the Asian Century White Paper is that our greatest comparative advantage is the Australian people themselves. We are home to a population that's educated, highly skilled, creative and diverse. That's feted for its ingenuity as much as its endowments. The capabilities and attitudes of our people will be our most valuable asset as we deal with big structural transitions of this century. This will not only help us to take advantage of opportunities, it will broaden minds and help communities come to terms with what will be some difficult and uneven structural changes for many years to come.
That's why I've been talking as much in recent weeks about Asia-focused people as Asia-focused policies. No doubt a lot of this ground will be covered in the discussions. I'm sure they will advance the national conversation, and I'll look forward to reading more about your ideas in the coming days. So thanks, and welcome.