Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Canning for the question and recognise the particularly close links between his state of Western Australia and his keen interest in the economic ties and the development between Western Australia and South Africa. Australia is developing a robust trade and investment relationship with South Africa and it is set to grow and become even stronger.

We are honoured to have in the gallery today Mr Mandisi Mpahlwa, who is South Africa’s Minister for Trade and Industry. We cordially welcome him and his delegation to Australia. He and I are currently chairing the fourth meeting of the Australia-South Africa Joint Ministerial Committee to look at ways in which we can further advance our trading and investment relationship. Our delegations are accompanied by large numbers of business leaders from both countries and we are talking through new opportunities.

Perhaps Australians, in particular, may not be so aware of the growth in our trading relationship with South Africa over recent years. South Africa is our 19th largest trading partner and Australia is South Africa’s seventh largest trading partner with a two-way merchandise trade approaching $4 billion. Australia’s merchandise exports to South Africa last year grew by 34 per cent; South Africa’s to Australia grew by 22 per cent. Whilst there may have been, in previous times, some concern that our economies were similar and our seasonal conditions did not have the complementarities that we have with those in the Northern Hemisphere, it is quite clear that both countries have benefited from this trading relationship. A good example is the billion dollars worth of trade in cars between our countries. We import BMWs, Mercedes and VWs from South Africa and export to South Africa Camrys and Ford Territorys. That is an excellent example of the way in which our economies can work together. There is no better example of the strength of our unity than the great Australian BHP with the great South African company Billiton, which make up the world’s biggest mining consortium.

We watched with interest as South Africa was honoured to become the first African country ever to host the World Cup. In 2010 all eyes will be on South Africa and I hope that Australia will be one of the teams that will be participating in that big event in South Africa. But, even if it is not, there will be Australians there—our engineers and our event organisers are already starting to play a role in winning contracts and being a part of South Africa’s preparation for that big event.

I welcome today this opportunity to meet with my South African counterpart. The business delegations are working very constructively together to look at new ways where we can work together. I have confidence that this trading relationship between our countries will grow and expand rapidly over the years ahead.

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