Australia ready for Asia: Keating

Australia ready for Asia: Keating

CANBERRA (AFP): Australia has reformed its business and popular culture and made the necessary macro-economic changes to take its place in Southeast Asia as an exporter of high-value- added goods, Prime Minister Paul Keating said yesterday.

Keating told a business seminar attended here by about 100 Australian and Singaporean executives that both countries needed to look beyond the popular stereotypes of each other.

And he appealed to Singaporean business to accept Australia was now an efficient economy, with low inflation, solid economic growth, and highly developed manufacturing and services sectors based on a highly skilled education system.

A visiting business delegation led by Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister Goh Chee Wee includes representatives of the Economic Development Board (EDB) and 12 leading Singaporean firms.

Launching a joint Singapore-Australia program aimed at easing the path for companies from both countries to establish joint ventures elsewhere in Asia, Keating said many stereotypes about Australia were now outdated.

Both countries had identified the same potential markets and it was logical for them to cooperate in developing opportunities.

The Southeast Asian and Australian markets had combined gross domestic product of about A$1,000 billion (US$700 billion), with a population of 300 million people, making it an area of "tremendous potential", he said.