E&OE...........
Your Excellency the Australian Ambassador to China and Your Excellency the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, Mr Luo Bingsheng, Mr Lewis, ladies and gentlemen.
I';m delighted to be associated with this ceremony which marks in a formal, and I know a very warm way, a very important strategic partnership between our two countries. For those who are committed to the further deepening of the already close relationship between Australia and China the HiSmelt project has everything. It brings two very strong, competent, proven performing companies together, it has the support of the Australian Government and the support of the Chinese Government, and very importantly it is underpinned by a superb new technology which if it becomes fully effective will revolutionise steel making.
It also has two other great qualities. It';s environmentally friendly. It gets a green tick. And it also unites commercially companies from Australia, from Japan, from the United States, and from China and that is a very good commercial as well as political metaphor. This strategic partnership builds on many commercial links between Australian and Chinese companies over a long number of years which has seen for example the growth of Australian exports to China, over the last five years, almost double.
There is great commitment in Australia to further developing the relationship between our two countries. I come here not only to mark the 30th anniversary of that extension of diplomatic relations, but also very importantly to talk about a new and expanded era of economic partnership and cooperation between our two countries.
I thank the two companies for their strategic partnership. I congratulate them on their technological skills and their commitment to a high-tech future in the new process that they are developing. I know that they will use the $125 million Australian taxpayer dollars extremely well. They know how difficult it is to extract even $10 million let alone $125 million from the Australian Government. I congratulate them on doing that as well.
It is a great demonstration of partnership between our two countries. It is an investment in the economic future of the bilateral relationship between Australia and China. There will I hope be many other investments in that bilateral future in the years to come and I hope it will properly be seen as another symbol of the growing and deepening friendship between the people of Australia and the people of China.
And I would now like to propose a toast to the friendship of the people of Australia and the people of China. May I also thank my interpreter. He did it without a text.
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