High level engagement in crucial region

To deepen relationships within our region Minster Joe Szakacs has met with ASEAN Secretary-General His Excellency Dr Kao Kim Hourn while in Jakarta this week.

The meeting centred around mutually beneficial opportunities for South Australia and the growing ASEAN bloc, which is on track to be the world’s fourth largest economy by 2040.

Energy, the blue economy, digital economy, South Australian exports and investment, as well as aviation connectivity were key matters discussed.

Recently released ABS trade stats show South Australian exports to the 11 member nations are on par with China, now worth $3.5 billion to our state’s economy and accounting for 21 per cent of our total exports.

The same statistics show ASEAN is comparatively more important to the South Australian economy than the national economy.

Our state’s share of national exports to ASEAN (5.9 per cent) is nearly double what it is to the rest of the world (3.2 per cent, 84 per cent higher).

The growing economic relationship is reinforced by deep people-to-people ties, with 8,429 international students from ASEAN countries enrolled at South Australian institutions as of August this year, while nearly 60,000 people from the region visited our state during the previous financial year.

Over the past decade, foreign direct investment (FDI) from ASEAN countries has created 878 local jobs in our state with capital expenditure exceeding $1.5 billion in that period.

The Malinauskas Government identified the Southeast Asian region as a priority market in its recently released trade and investment strategy given its projected growth over the next decades.

In August Adelaide hosted the ASEAN Business Forum, with the region’s largest corporate event taking place in South Australia for the first time in more than a decade.

Minister Szakacs’ ongoing trade mission has visited ASEAN’s economic and political powerhouses of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The 11-nation association is home to more than 600 million people.

Quotes

Attributable to Joe Szakacs

The ASEAN region is right on our doorstep and is going to be increasingly important to the South Australian economy into the future as it continues to grow.

It was an honour to meet with His Excellency Dr Kao Kim Hourn and discuss opportunities that will benefit both South Australia and ASEAN.

We are already deeply connected with the ASEAN region, but our government has a clear message to the association’s political leaders and that is: we are open for business.