CHEN JINING, SECRETARY OF SHANGHAI MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA: Welcome to Shanghai.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thank you so much.
SECRETARY CHEN: Currently Shanghai is experiencing its rainy season, however this year’s rainy season seems to end a little bit early, the end of last month. So, you certainly claim some credit for the good weather, for bringing us a session. It is truly a great pleasure for me to meet with you, Honourable Prime Minister.
First of all, on behalf of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, as well as the 24 [million] plus people in Shanghai, I would like to extend the warmest welcome to you and your delegation. Your return to the city after two years speaks volumes of the importance that you place on the exchanges and cooperation between Shanghai and Australia. China and Australia are important partners for each other; we are also key players in the Asia-Pacific region and significant forces in the multi-polarisation process of the world.
In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of states, the relationship between China and Australia have witnessed continuous improvement and strong momentum of development, a trend that is welcomed by both countries as well as the international community.
Over the past three years, President Xi Jinping has met Honourable Prime Minister three times. Both sides engaged in in-depth discussions on important issues of strategic as well as overarching importance to our bilateral relations. A lot of important consensuses have been reached. All of these have provided strategic guidance with continuous improvement and development of our bilateral ties.
Your forthcoming visit during your visit this time with President Xi Jinping will definitely further drive forward and enrich the bilateral relationships between the two countries. Shanghai stands as a very important city in overall cooperation and partnership between China and Australia. A very good example is that the trade between Shanghai and Australia actually accounts for one sixth of that of the bilateral trade between the two countries.
Over 1,400 companies from Australia have made investment, as well as set a presence and carried out operations here in this city. And vice-versa Shanghai has got more than 200 projects currently invested in Australia.
The city of Shanghai stands ready to play an even more significant role for the further development of the bilateral relations between the two countries under the strategic guidance of the two leaders. And I would also like to take this meeting as an excellent opportunity to first listen to you, Honourable Prime Minister, on your input and insights and ideas on how we can further deepen the collaboration between Shanghai and Australia.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Secretary Chen, it is indeed my great pleasure to be back here in Shanghai. This is my second visit to China as Prime Minister, but my eighth visit to China overall. Shanghai is, of course, one of the world's great global cities. And when I first came here twice in the 1990s the area Pudong was very different, was very different indeed. There were farms where there are now a great metropolis.
SECRETARY CHEN: You can see the Pudong new area right across the river.
PRIME MINISTER: The development we can see across the river is symbolic of the extraordinary development that China has seen in recent decades, lifting literally hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and creating economic benefit for both the people of China, but also increased economic engagement with countries like Australia.
My last visit here was timed for the International Expo that was held here and Australia participated last year again with more than 250 exhibitors, 99 of which were here for the first time, showing the increased economic engagement between our two countries, and particularly here in the city of Shanghai. And my visit here will focus on furthering that economic relationship in trade in areas like climate change, steel decarbonisation, tourism, how we can improve the economic relationships even further from where we've come in the past few years.
My government very much values our relationship with China. We deal with each other in a calm and consistent manner, and we want to continue to pursue our national interests, and it is in our interest to have good relations with China. My visit here will enable us to have further frank and constructive dialogue, which is so important for relations between our two countries and to promote stability and prosperity in our region.
So, I thank you very much for your welcome. And it is, I think, extraordinary that when I arrived last night, one of the things that is very evident about this great city is the fact that this is a working river, and you can see the economic activity by just looking out the window.