Sydney
**Check against delivery
Introduction
His Excellency, Minister Mansoori, Deputy Premier Stoner, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
It is my very great pleasure to welcome this delegation on behalf of the Australian Government.
We value our relationship with the UAE very highly and I hope that this visit will be a very useful one in terms of further strengthening the ties between our two nations.
Tonight I would just like to say a few brief words about that relationship and in particular the three areas of my portfolio responsibility - resources, energy and tourism.
Next month, on the 5th and 6th of May, the Inaugural Australia Arab Business Forum will be held in Melbourne.
It is something I am looking forward to and something I would encourage you to attend as yet another important means through which we can establish mutually beneficial partnerships.
My own recent visit to the UAE was preceded by a visit from our Foreign Minister during which he announced that we were commencing a process that could open the door to Australia exporting uranium to the UAE.
Possessing as we do the world’s largest uranium reserves, this represents an important potential new market for Australia.
The UAE’s civil nuclear power program would likewise benefit from Australia’s trusted and reliable supply credentials.
Clean Energy
The focus of my time in Abu Dhabi very much centred around clean energy.
I had the opportunity to attend the second Clean Energy Ministerial meeting and participate in a meeting of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Australia welcomes the support the UAE has shown in hosting IRENA’s headquarters.
Australia, as I announced during my visit, has joined the UAE as a member of the IRENA Executive Council.
Together with other member nations this gives us the opportunity to play a leading role in international efforts to increase the deployment of renewable energy technologies.
Carbon capture and Storage is another critical area of research and development that will benefit from a collaborative approach.
Foreign Investment
As work continues on the clean energy front we also continue to see impressive growth in our resources sector.
Much of this growth is being driven by foreign investment in large scale resources and energy projects.
Australia has always been open and welcoming for investment.
The Treasurer’s recent decision regarding the proposed takeover of the ASX does nothing to change this.
As the Treasurer noted this was the first and only business proposal to be formally rejected in the last ten years.
He rightly made the point that Australia has, and I quote:
“always been a capital-hungry nation that relies heavily on funds from overseas to help develop our industries, and to take advantage of our vast endowment of natural resources, all of which creates new jobs for Australians.”
This remains the case today.
We have a longstanding, transparent mechanism for assessing investment through the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Part of that assessment is of course a national interest test but this should not be seen as a barrier to new foreign investment because as the numbers show, in 99 per cent of cases under this Labor Government, it has not been.
Resources and energy
This is also clear when we look at Australia’s investment pipeline.
Over 70 mining projects are at an advanced stage of development, with record capital expenditure of over $130 billion.
A further $150 billion in potential new capital expenditure is on the table next financial year.
Australia is a prime investment destination.
We combine expertise, natural resources and a proven reputation as a reliable supplier ideally positioned geographically to some of the world’s biggest markets.
Tourism
And we are equally attractive as a destination for investment in Tourism.
What many of you may not realise is that while tourism declined globally during the financial crisis, Australia held steady.
And since that time we have seen encouraging signs of growth, despite the many natural disasters that have challenged the industry in recent times.
Already Australia receives around 50,000 short term visitor arrivals from the UAE each year – a figure that has grown annually at a rate of 18.5 per cent since 2006.
This is very promising and a trend that we would very much like to see continue.
Conclusion
Ladies and Gentlemen, my message to you this evening is one of growth, one of partnership and one of possibility.
Two-way trade between our two countries is currently worth over $4.25 billion.
We all have an interest in growing this figure further and forums such as this are the building blocks on which new partnerships and new investments can be made.
Thank you