By CASEY NEILL
GREATER Dandenong business opportunities in China have received another boost.
City of Greater Dandenong business group manager Paul Kearsley received an invitation to attend the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) Victoria Jiangsu Business Placement (VJBP) Program in May.
Its aim is to foster alliances with business, government and academic leaders in Jiangsu, Victoria’s sister state.
Mr Kearsley and representatives from Victorian businesses, associations and organisations will meet their Jiangsu counterparts and learn about how to conduct business in China.
VECCI and the Jiangsu Federation of Industry and Commerce (JFIC) will present the event, with support from the Victorian Government and City of Melbourne.
JFIC is the largest chamber of commerce in Jiangsu with more than 30,000 members, including a large number of trade associations.
Greater Dandenong has fostered a sister city relationship with Xuzhou, in Jiangsu, since 1996.
Mr Kearsley went to the Xuzhou Investment Fair in September 2013 and attended again in October last year.
He and a business delegation also visited Shanghai and Nanjing, where they connected with trade associations including the JFIC.
Committee for Dandenong chairman Gary Castricum and SEMMA’s executive officer Adrian Boden, vice president Greg Northrop and president Simon Whiteley were alongside Mr Kearsley.
“I wanted them to understand the relationship the council has with China,” he said.
“They’d done business on their own. I wanted to show what council can do for them.”
He said the council’s efforts could save businesses up to four years of relationship-building.
“Now we’ve got extra people who can sell the message,” he said.
Councillor Jim Memeti was the first Greater Dandenong mayor to participate in the Xuzhou Investment fair.
He met with up to 12 businesses over two and a half days, including tooling and sheet metal companies, and a company that made scooters.
“We went to a tractor factory,” Mr Kearsley said.
“We saw solar panels. They showed us the latest technology.”
Mr Kearsley said the government and businesses were now more open to trading overseas following a dip in the Chinese economy.
“I can see the difference even in 18 months,” he said.
“There’s not many councils with the 20-year relationship. It’s perfect timing.”
Mr Kearsley will recommend that the council continue to send trade delegations to China at least every year.
He said they would seek out more direct company to company meetings while there.
“The main role of the council is to maintain its relationship, and expose businesses to the relationship and its benefits,” he said.
“The council has a good understanding of where opportunity lies but at the end of the day the opportunity is in the hands of our businesses.”
Mr Castricum found the October trip “very interesting and insightful”.
“The relationship with the Chinese is a very strong one, particularly with the province being the sister city,” he said.
“It took me a little by surprise.
“There is a very strong link between the administration on both sides and I think it does give a great facilitation to businesses wishing to get into those areas.
“We were particularly looking at an export perspective – not China exporting to Australia but Australia exporting China.”
Mr Castricum said there were many large manufacturers in the province.
“They are importing quite a lot of specialised componentry into their factories, particularly from the USA and Europe,” he said.
“There are a lot of opportunities.”
And there’s a genuine desire to work with Australia.
“We met quite a lot of chambers of commerce. They literally have thousands of members,” he said.
“There is a genuine interest – from the government and those chambers – to really facilitate that kind of contact.”
Mr Castricum said Committee for Dandenong and SEMMA were keen to encourage companies to exploit that.
“SEMMA’s now working to get a pilot group to go along,” he said.
“There’s a good leg up and there is a real opportunity for even small-scale specialised manufacturers, component makers and even some of the service providers, to really leverage an entry into businesses in China that actually are looking not only for suppliers, but partners of all types.
“It’s quite an open exchange.”
