Australia to target economic ties with Asia
An ambitious plan aimed at maximising links with booming China and other Asian economies will power Australia into the world's top 10 wealthiest nations by 2025, the government has said. By engaging in more business with China and India in particular, Australia aims to lift Asia's impact into its economy to one third by 2025, from 25 per cent now.
"Whatever else this century brings, it will bring Asia's return to global leadership, Asia's rise. This is not only unstoppable, it is gathering pace," Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Sunday.
It also targets more Asian investment into Australia and lower trade barriers, although does not recommend changing Australia's foreign investment rules, which include intense scrutiny of planned investments from overseas state-owned firms.
Gillard said Australians had long seen Asia as a threat "racially, militarily and economically" but the region had changed dramatically in the past 30 years, demanding "new changes of us today".
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/10/2012102885512841170.html
Given the growth of Asian economies and Australia's location, it makes sense for the country to make plans to "maximize economic links" with Asia. It is even better that this plan has been developed by a liberal government than by the conservative one that it replaced in the last election.
