On July 15, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese jointly attended the 8th Australia-China CEO Roundtable Meeting held in Beijing. Ms. Jiang Anqi, Chairwoman of Tianqi Lithium Corporation, was invited to participate as a representative of Chinese enterprises.
Photo by Xinhuanet
After listening to remarks from representatives of both Chinese and Australian business communities, Premier Li Qiang noted that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA). Over the past decade, China-Australia economic and trade cooperation has demonstrated considerable resilience and vitality. Against the backdrop of the current international economic and trade landscape, deeper cooperation between China and Australia is more crucial than ever. Li said that, with concerted efforts from both sides, bilateral cooperation would not only expand in scale but also achieve qualitative breakthroughs, creating new opportunities for businesses in both countries. By working together, enterprises from both countries can accelerate cooperation in clean energy, electric vehicles, and energy storage, ultimately building a world-class green industrial chain that is both resilient and competitive, and unleashing immense drivers for sustainable development, he added.
Source: China Media Group (CMG)
When addressing the roundtable, Albanese said that China is Australia’s largest trading partner, and that the economic structures of the two countries are highly complementary, with the outcomes of their cooperation benefiting people in both countries. He also highlighted the important role of ChAFTA has played in advancing bilateral trade and economic ties over the past decade. And the current bilateral relations are steadily developing, with enthusiasm for cooperation soaring among the business communities of both countries, Australia is willing to enhance dialogue with China, expand cooperation in various fields including trade, agriculture, industry, energy resources, and green development, address global challenges such as climate change and believe unequivocally in free and fair trade.
Ms. Jiang Anqi stated in her speech at the CEO roundtable that the sustained and stable development of China-Australia relations is the cornerstone of a sound business environment. Benefiting from the complementary nature of the two economic structures and the leveraging of their respective strengths, bilateral economic and trade cooperation is extending into more areas. Deepening collaboration between Chinese and Australian enterprises under stable bilateral relations will help them seize development opportunities.
She specifically talked about the prospects of China-Australia cooperation in addressing climate change. The joint efforts of both sides in the fields of climate change response, low-carbon economy and green development have laid a solid foundation for cooperation in the development of green energy industries between the two countries. Tianqi Lithium has put into operation the world’s first fully automated lithium hydroxide plant with an annual output of 24,000 tons in Kwinana, Western Australia. This has achieved a “from zero to one” breakthrough in lithium material processing in Australia and promoted the local value-added of Australia’s mining resources. She firmly believes that Chinese and Australian enterprises will join hands to establish cooperation mechanisms and achieve greater win-win outcomes.
The China-Australia CEO Roundtable is an economic and trade exchange mechanism established in accordance with the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding between the two governments on the Establishment of a China-Australia Joint CEO Roundtable. Nearly 30 heads of Chinese and Australian chambers of commerce and enterprises attended this roundtable meeting.
