13 February 2014
ABC News
The Australia China Business Council, local shires and business lobbies in the Pilbara have joined forces in an effort to attract more foreign investment to the region.
The groups have signed a memorandum of understanding which is designed to build relationships between Australia and China, outside the mining sector.
The Pilbara Regional Council’s Tony Friday says the arrangement will benefit secondary industries such as hospitality, tourism, property development and community services.
He says he hopes the agreement will allow local businesses to communicate directly with China.
“It’s all very well for a Pilbara organisation to say, ‘gee, we’d love to attract x-million dollars of foreign investment’ but what are the mechanics of actually doing that, building those relationships and those contacts in order to attract foreign investment?” he said.
“So that’s the intent of this agreement in part, to have that brokerage that can sit between the two and to facilitate these transactions.”
Courtesy of ABC News