Dear Members,
On Friday 22nd of July 2011, AustCham was very proud to host a breakfast forum with Mr. Martin Ferguson, AM MP Minister for Resources Energy and Tourism as the guest speaker.
He used the phrase 'natural trading partners' to describe how Australia's strengths in raw materials and services sit well with Korea's industrial strengths. He stated that "Korea has one of the most sophisticated engineering industries in the world.
He then went on to comment of the future of the trade relationship, in which the next major step being the completion of a comprehensive, high-quality Free Trade Agreement.
The Minister commented on natural gas as a feature of our trade relationship. He mentioned many projects including; the huge Gorgon project and the Wheatstone Project. He also discussed the Gladstone LNG project in which KOGAS has become a joint venture partner, taking a 15 per cent equity stake. As a result of these and similar projects Australia is scheduled to supply 7.5 million tonnes of LNG to Korea annually by around the middle of this decade.
I personally found the Breakfast Forum a great event. The speaker spoke on major topics in a very intelligent and balanced way. The forum was also a great chance for me to meet with colleagues and friends. I highly recommend all AustCham members to attend upcoming forums.
Sam Park
CEO
BHP Billiton Korea
