Welcome, and thank you for reading our blog byte. Your go to source for multicultural related news, updates, upcoming events and anything Gandhian we encounter. In this edition, we’ll be covering the Future Asia Business Summit for 2017, which was held early this year to collide with the Chinese New Year Celebrations in Sydney.
Events such as these are of great significance to the development of Australia-Asia relations, providing a platform through which ideas for improvement in business and trade and be shared and implemented. Over 350 industry and government leaders were brought together at Sydney’s Town Hall to work towards strengthening Asia's ties with Sydney specifically. This, as you may have guessed, is an extremely exciting prospect for us. The rapid development of a global economy also means the exchange of cultural ideas and customs, which is something we are looking to explore in all our events.
The most memorable moment of the event was undoubtedly Maggie Zhou’s keynote address that urged Sydney businesses to capitalise on new technologies that will drive international e-commerce growth. A key message that we took away was the promise that Alibaba Group’s Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, Maggie Zhou, saw in the future of Australian brands, products and services. The one condition however, was that in order to fulfill this potential Australia must invest in technological change and new digital platforms.
“In my view, there has never been a better time to be an Australian brand or retailer. Technology is a powerful enabler and has given local businesses unprecedented access to global markets. Sydney and the rest of Australia is renowned for its quality of life and through e-commerce consumers all over the world can buy the products that make this possible” Ms Zhou said.
The evening also included a panel discussion featuring Christine Holgate, Blackmores CEO and Managing Director, Tsuyoshi Kawashima, NTT Communications ICT Solutions CEO, Bill Evans, Westpac Chief Economist and David Landers, International Operations Austrade General Manager. If you can tolerate 50 minutes of hand helm cam footage, the entire panel discussion can be viewed below.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore noted that the conference was an ideal platform to discuss methods by which Australia can tap into larger businesses in Asia, noting that:
“It’s clear the digital economy presents strong opportunities for businesses looking to tap into rapidly growing markets in China and Asia”
For us, statements such as this can only mean great things. As huge consumers of technology and advocates of technological change and innovation, we hope that Australia can act on this calling and drive its economy into the future. With Australia’s increasing interests in foreign markets, we welcome the economic developments and cultural convergence that these relationships will bring with open arms.