(4th November 2003 – Australia) Australia will showcase its expertise as a financial services training and education hub in China and South Korea later this month.The delegation will be headed up by Axiss Australia, the Government agency responsible for promoting Australia as a financial services centre overseas, and include a coalition of finance education providers.
The visit to China will look to capitalise on the President Hu Jintao’s recent visit to Australia, which led to closer trade and economic ties between the two countries.
Seminars will be held in Shanghai and Beijing and the delegation will meet with government officials from the Chinese Ministry of Finance, the Shanghai Financial Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Government Financial Services Office.
Axiss executive general manager David Kent said there was considerable demand for financial skills development in China and South Korea, particularly in capital markets, corporate governance, financial supervision, and that Australia was ideally placed to meet it.
“China and Korea are two of the world’s fastest growing economies, each with an expected annual growth rate above four percent according to the IMF, and they are both in our region,” he said.
“Australia’s expertise as a provider of education is already well recognised throughout the region, particularly in China. It is our largest market for overseas students, with 34,000 Chinese studying in Australia each year.”