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Good morning ladies and gentlemen.
It is a great pleasure to be here this morning and I thank the Australian-Thailand Chamber of Commerce for this opportunity.
I also congratulate the Chamber for its continued work building the economic relationship between Australia and Thailand.
Free and open commerce and trade form the basis of peaceful globalisation and increased prosperity and well-being for our people.
Transport and communications is vital to achieving successful commerce and trade relationships and I am very pleased at the outcome of air services negotiations in early July, increasing the number of air services between our two countries.
These talks led to an immediate increase in capacity, equivalent to 40 B747 services per week. From March 2009 this will increase again to an equivalent of 45 B747 services per week.
These increases follow strong growth in bilateral travel between Australia and Thailand.
The Australia-Thailand aviation market is Australia's 6th largest.
The number of people travelling between our two countries in the year to May jumped almost 20 per cent on the previous twelve month period.
Thailand is increasingly important to Australia's tourism sector - and Australia remains an important segment of the Thai market, with almost 400,000 Australians coming here each year.
There were also more than 80,000 Thai visitors to Australia in 2007 and this represents a 12 per cent increase on the previous year.
It is expected that visitor arrivals from Thailand will continue to perform well, with an average annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent forecast through to 2016.
It is important that our tourism and aviation industries continue to work together to take advantage of the new opportunities presented and maximise the potential for growth in the Australia-Thailand tourism markets.
We appreciate in Australia that we have to work hard to maintain and grow this market - and the work's already begun.
As Minister for Tourism I recently announced the development of a National Long-Term Tourism Strategy.
This strategy will focus on building the supply side of the tourism industry to ensure it has the productive capacity to meet future challenges and visitors' expectations.
The Strategy will consider issues such as tourism investment, infrastructure, labour, skills and productivity, the quality of tourism products and services, and trade barriers.
The Strategy will be underpinned by a rigorous economic framework which will assist in maximising the net economic benefit of the Australian tourism industry.
This will make the overall tourism industry in Australia more able to adapt to changing demands and circumstances.
On the marketing front, Tourism Australia continues to focus upon Asia's traditional leisure travel market, while also seeking to develop both the business incentive and events markets.
Australia's capacity to meet the needs of the business incentive market was evident in April when Australia won the right to host more then 7,000 of Amway Greater China's top sales people.
Research suggests the incentive travel market is growing and as Thailand continues to grow as an important regional player, Australia's capacity to welcome large numbers of group business travellers should be of interest.
Increased air services will make Australia a more convenient travel destination, be it for pleasure or business, which I expect to increase as our countries take advantage of the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
That Australia and Thailand successfully negotiated a free trade agreement shows the level of trust between our countries, which I hope will lead to greater interaction between our resource and energy sectors.
The Free Trade Agreement between Australia and Thailand entered into force on 1 January 2005.
The Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement is a major market opening agreement, which will result in Thai tariffs on virtually all goods imported from Australia being eliminated by 1 January 2010.
It will also substantially improve the environment for bilateral services trade and investment, meaning Australian companies can make greater investments here in Thailand - benefiting both countries.
Australia also welcomes the progress towards greater trade liberalisation through the East Asia Summit.
I was pleased to attend the meeting of East Asia Summit Energy Ministers here in Bangkok yesterday.
The East Asia Summit is making good progress under the work streams of energy efficiency and conservation and biofuels; areas in which the Australian Government is making considerable investment.
Thailand is resource rich and under-explored, while Australian mining and resource companies are world leaders in exploration and mine development, along with mine rehabilitation and mine safety.
I would also like to assure our hosts today that Australian mining companies share Thailand's desire for socially responsible mining, where the benefits far outweigh any costs.
Both my Department and the wider industry take mine safety very seriously - my Department is even working to improve mine safety in China where many Australian companies have Chinese partners.
Through direct investment, Australia's mining partners benefit from skills transfer and training, in addition to the traditional economic benefits of royalty and taxation revenue.
I know the Australian companies here today are eager to share their knowledge with their Thai partners and help develop Thai resources to their full social and economic potential.
Thailand is an important market for Australian aluminium and copper, and Australia is a significant supplier of coal to Thailand.
In 2007 Australia supplied:
- 50 per cent of Thailand's aluminium imports
- 25 per cent of refined lead imports
- 70 per cent of zinc, ores and concentrates imports
- 41 per cent of refined zinc imports, and
- 22 per cent of thermal coal imports.
As Australia is such an important supplier, I will take this opportunity to reflect on developments in Australia which may have a flow-on effect to our friends in Thailand.
As Minister for Resources and Energy I am overseeing the formation of a National Low Emissions Coal Initiative.
The Initiative aims to accelerate the use of low emissions coal technologies in Australia, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and secure the economic future of the Australian coal industry; an export industry worth $55 billion a year.
The National Low Emissions Coal Initiative will deliver a coordinated, national approach to low emissions coal technology research, development and demonstration to support the accelerated deployment of these technologies.
The National Low Emissions Coal Initiative will also underpin Australia's international efforts to promote the deployment of low emission coal technologies in developing countries and ensure the sustainability of their continued economic growth and use of coal to provide energy security.
Australian companies are also making enormous investments in the LNG sector.
In a carbon-constrained world LNG is becoming a more important energy source, a fact which has not escaped the Thai Government.
Thailand's first LNG terminal will be up and running in Rayong in 2011 and I know that suppliers are being sought.
It is investments like this which help meet the twin goals of energy security and environmental sustainability.
I hope that Australian projects will be competitive bidders in the supply of LNG to Thailand.
We have a long-established history as a reliable and competitive LNG supplier to Japan, and more recently, Korea and China.
We would also like to be successful as a major LNG trading partner to Thailand.
There are many other areas where our two countries can work together on resources and energy security and the development of Thailand's own resources and energy sector and I look forward to a long and prosperous bilateral relationship in these areas, as well as tourism.
Thank you.