Australia to diversify trade and foreign investment, PM says

Sydney: Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday (March 7) his government wants to diversify trade and foreign investment partners and will lead a business delegation to India, which he said shares Australia’s democratic values.

Australia wanted “greater diversity in who we trade with – and greater diversity in what we trade, which means our economy is more resilient and secure,” he said in a speech at the AFT Business Summit here.

China is by far Australia’s largest trading partner, although a diplomatic row has resulted in “trade blockades” being imposed on a number of Australian exports. Canberra has asked Beijing to remove those deadlocks as the two nations resume talks after a years-long diplomatic freeze.

Business leaders from the transport, resources, finance, higher education, architecture and energy sectors will accompany Albanese to India, Australia’s sixth largest trading partner, on Wednesday.

India and Australia are security partners through the Quad Group, which also includes the United States and Japan.

Australia would supply important minerals to India and would also manufacture electric vehicle components such as batteries and other green energy products in Australia, Albanese said in the speech.

“We can do all of these things while remaining a trusted and reliable energy supplier for key trading partners like Japan and the Republic of Korea,” he added.

Albanese said Australia will “deepen and diversify our international investment and trade ties”.

Australia is the largest supplier of iron ore to China but is trying to diversify its customers for critical minerals and last month blocked a Chinese investment in a rare earth miner on national interest grounds

Responding to questions about China, Albanese said the relationship was “more stable” and his government had tried to return to diplomacy while acknowledging differences in values ​​and political systems.

“We want a more stable, safer region,” he said. – Reuters