Good morning.
It’s great to be here in Vientiane to mark just over 12 months since I launched Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040.
To reflect on the progress we have made – and to renew our ambition for the future.
I’m pleased to welcome the Australian investment mission which is here in conjunction with the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.
Since the launch, Australia has supported more than 220 businesses to visit seven Southeast Asian countries with a focus on green energy transition, transnational education and digital transformation.
I want to acknowledge Prime Minister Chinh as well as representatives from the Australian business community and from businesses across Southeast Asia.
Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia. It is a focus for Australia’s trade and investment plans.
I’m also pleased to be joined this morning by the author and architect of our investment strategy and the Australian Government’s Special Envoy for Southeast Asia, Nicholas Moore.
Also joining us is Chick Olsson, our Business Champion for Laos.
The blueprint we launched in Jakarta last year recognised a fundamental truth: Southeast Asia is where Australia’s economic destiny lies.
Nearly half a million jobs in Australia are currently linked to trade with ASEAN. Taken together, Southeast Asia is Australia’s second largest two-way trading partner.
In the next five years, the economies of this region will account for 10 per cent of global growth.
By 2040 this will be the world’s fourth largest economy.
Yet up until now, less than 4 per cent of Australia’s international investment has gone to Southeast Asia.
Invested is about changing that.
It presented us with 75 different recommendations but they all drove to a common goal: elevating our ambition to match the scale of opportunity before us.
Rising to meet the moment – with optimism, determination and co-operation.
That’s the work we are engaged in now – government, business, civil society.
Investing in the relationships, skills, services and business connections that will turn shared potential into shared prosperity.
We see it right here in Laos, where Australian businesses are breaking new ground.
Chick’s company AgCoTech led the introduction of technology which has increased cattle productivity while reducing methane emissions.
And last month Linfox announced it would expand logistics in Laos with a further investment.
Australia is competitive in key sectors that are driving regional growth – agriculture and food, resources, green energy transition, infrastructure, education and skills and digital economy.
Our strategy was much more than a survey of opportunities – it was an action plan to seize them.
This is the encouraging story of the past year.
Mobilising our people, maximising our opportunities and making good on new initiatives.
Our Trade and Investment Commission has achieved their best ever client results in Southeast Asia – with over $1 billion of commercial outcomes since the beginning of 2024.
The new Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility we announced in Melbourne in March is already developing a pipeline of new projects.
We’ve deployed Deal Teams across the region to facilitate Australian investment in commercial projects, and we’ve opened Landing Pads in Singapore, Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City to help our tech companies scale up.
We’re also making it easier for our partners in Southeast Asia to do business in Australia.
We have extended the validity of the Business Visitor Visa from up to three to five years, as well as rolling out the new 10-year Frequent Traveller Scheme.
All these new initiatives are driven by an enduring principle of ASEAN and of Australia’s relationships with the countries of Southeast Asia – and that is mutual benefit.
Because when Australian businesses go out into the region, the benefits come home.
New jobs, new ideas, new technology and new markets for our products.
And when Australia invests in Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia grows and gains too.
Like this forum itself, these partnerships and people to people links add up to more than the sum of their parts.
And all this fits together with our Government’s Future Made in Australia Agenda, an economic plan to broaden our industrial base and maximise the economic benefits of the global shift to net zero.
Because diversifying our economy at home is about deepening and diversifying our trade in the region too.
And making it easier for our neighbours and trusted partners to back job-creating projects in Australia.
That’s why we are working to establish a new front door for international investment, a streamlined, single point of entry that will support firms looking to invest in Australia.
The publication you can read today – Advancing Implementation – is an exercise in accountability.
It shows what we have achieved in the last 12 months. And it proves we are in this for the long term.
Not just the low-hanging fruit, not just the quick wins – we are building the foundations of our future prosperity.
For the next generation of economic opportunity – that will benefit our businesses, our citizens, our nations and our region as a whole.
