AmCham Luke Sayers Access CEO, PwC Australia Vice Chairman, PwC Asia
A strong US-Australia partnership will grow the region’s prosperity As world leaders including US President Barack Obama touch down on Australian soil for the G20 meeting this week, the enduring nature of the US-Australia relationship – and its role in supporting growth and prosperity across the region – will be in the spotlight. When most people think of the US-Australia relationship, they think of a relationship forged in the battles of past wars, where we fought side by side. However, there is a much longer, sometimes overlooked thread that runs through the US-Australia relationship from its earliest days.
From the Victorian gold rushes to the great nation-building infrastructure projects of last century – waves of American entrepreneurship, innovation and investment have continued to flow into the economic development of Australia. It’s been built on a shared sense of entrepreneurship and hard work – on having a go and making the most of what our respective countries have to offer, most notably our people. Today, it is one of the world’s most significant trade and investment relationships. The US is Australia’s third biggest trading partner and biggest investor in Australia with $658 billion of investment. The US is also the most important investment destination for Australia accounting for $472 billion.
Bob Moritz Chairman and Senior Partner PwC United States
Next year, our countries will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement coming into force. The agreement has seen our economies and people become more closely integrated across our most important industry sectors including resources, tourism, agribusiness, manufacturing, health, technology and infrastructure. Over more recent times, the relationship has served as an important catalyst for growth across the Asia-Pacific region. Asia’s rapid ascension has been well documented in this, The Asian Century. It is home to more than half the world’s people, and expected to account for the lion’s share of economic growth over the next couple of decades. With this growth comes new demand for the products and services, and skills and infrastructure, needed to support the region into the future. The US and Australia have long realised that a prosperous Asia-Pacific region – based on mutual interests and shared goals – promotes stability and opportunity for all. “It’s why Australia made an early foray into an economic partnership covering our region, when it proposed the formation of the Cairns Group in the mid-1980s. With the support of the US, 14 nations signed up to this regional trading bloc covering agricultural exports. It would, of course, become the precursor to the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC).