Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday met with the top Chinese entrepreneurs making up the delegation from the China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) who are on an eight-day visit to Singapore and Australia in search of investment and business collaborative opportunities.
The CEC is a Chinese non-profit organization headquartered in Beijing with a club membership that consists of 46 of the most influential business leaders in China along with 9 academic and diplomatic advisors. Its member companies reportedly contribute about 2 trillion yuan annually to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of China, according to ECNS.
Ma Weihua, executive chairman of the club and former president of China Merchants Bank, led the delegation of more than 20 Chinese entrepreneurs including Zhu Xinli, Charles Chao, Feng Lun, Yang Shaopeng, Frank Wu and Wang Wenjing during the two-country visit.
The Australian prime minister, in receiving the Chinese delegation, welcomed them saying that he believed the business leaders have been responsible for helping raise the living standards of the people in China, and for bringing benefits not only to the Chinese public but also to many people around the world.
The CEC delegation is the first high-level business delegation which has visited Australia following the conclusion in November of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between China and Australia.
According to Ma, while the FTA will serve to promote bilateral economic and trade exchanges, it will be up to the business leaders in the two countries to find concrete ways of getting tangible results from the agreement.
In Australia, aside from the courtesy call on the prime minister, the CEC delegation will be making stops in various places in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne to touch base with the Business Council of Australia, the Australia-China Business Council, Tourism Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australian Centre on China in the World, as well as with select Australian enterprises.
Prior to Australia, the CEC delegation was in Singapore where they were received by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and where they established contact with the Singapore Business Federation as well as with a number of Singaporean enterprises.