Friends of Queensland Welcome Reception in Guangzhou

Dr Timothy Kendall, Consul-General of Australia in Guangzhou; Mr Daniel Gschwind, Board Chair of Trade and Investment Queensland; Mr Rhett Miller, Queensland Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner; Ladies and gentlemen; friends of Queensland.

Wan shang hǎo.

I am delighted to be here amongst you all tonight.

The connections between the people of Queensland and Guangdong Province are longstanding and it gives me great pleasure to see them reflected in our Friendship Agreement.

I understand the 15^th anniversary of this Agreement was celebrated here in Guangdong last year with the Queensland Festival.

The series of events showcased the very best of Queensland food, agriculture and consumer products and promoted Queensland as an education and tourism destination. 

Events like these highlight the business, education and tourism ties which in so many ways underpin our people-to-people links.

Indeed, our relationship is not just formalised at the state-level.

There are connections between Queensland and Guangdong embodied in the sister city relationships between cities in our two jurisdictions.

These include Brisbane and Shenzhen, the Gold Coast and Zhuhai , Cairns and Zhanjiang, and Townsville and Foshan. 

And Rockhampton and Huizhou also have a friendship city relationship.   

Some of the deepest ties between Queensland and Guangdong are found in the education sector. 

And we are honoured to have representatives from both Queensland’s and China’s education sectors here tonight.

When Chinese students choose to study in Queensland, they receive a warm welcome, a high-quality education and a life experience they’ll never forget.

They become our alumni and ‘Friends of Queensland’.

They become part of an international network of friends that help each other as their careers progress.

And this community is strong and growing.

In Queensland, we host more students from China than any other country.

And Guangdong is home to one of the largest groups of Queensland alumni here in China.  

So, to all the alumni here tonight, I want to say a big thank you for choosing Queensland as your study destination.

You are great ambassadors of our state and your knowledge of both Australia and China helps to build understanding between our two countries.  

Queensland and China also share a passion for research – something I know from my past experience as Queensland’s Chief Health Officer.

Queensland is a proud partner of Chinese genomics and life sciences organisation BGI Genomics, headquartered in Shenzhen. 

BGI has established a presence at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane – one of my patronage organisations- where they have also set up their Asia Pacific Headquarters and a BGI lab. 

I look forward to visiting BGI’s global headquarters in Shenzhen tomorrow to learn more about their work.

Looking to the future, Queensland and China are also cooperating in new areas, such as electric vehicle manufacturing and decarbonisation, as we both seek to meet the profound challenges presented by climate change.

I will watch with interest as cooperation in these areas continue to develop.

On that positive note, can I finish by thanking all of you, our Friends of Queensland, for being here tonight. 

May the friendship that you all foster between Queensland and Guangdong continue to grow. 

Thank you.