Event Recap: Australian Consulate General Breakfast Briefing
On Wednesday July 22nd 2020, AustCham Shanghai hosted a Breakfast Briefing with the Australian Consulate General to discuss the dynamic Australia-China relationship and the impact of COVID-19 on foreign businesses in China. The event was supported by the Australian Consulate and Austrade. We would like to thank the Australian Consulate General and Austrade for supporting us for this event, and our guest speakers for sharing their thoughts on how businesses should adapt in light of this pandemic.
Australian Consul-General in Shanghai Mr Dominic Trindade and Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner Ms Liu Bing each provided updates on their organisations. Our CEO Jack also interviewed David Laris and Pearl Huang from member companies about the challenges their businesses faced due to COVID-19.
Here are key highlights from the Breakfast Briefing:
- Dominic Trindade speaks about how many businesses face challenges of access to government leaders, which is a general and specific problem. He also explains that the government should look at investment laws to see if they protect Australian industries as he hopes to have specific outreach on these issues.
- Liu Bing introduces the Festival of Australia, which is a new model of working in the China market. It is both online and offline in order to adjust towards China’s COVID regulations. She explains the stages for the Festival of Australia: Digital Campaign, FOA, and the China International Import Expo.
- David expresses the idea that we must shift our way of thinking as he observed that there is an increased interest of foreign companies trying to expand in China. COVID-10 has also accelerated the demand for products online and he feels optimistic about the growth of China.
- Pearl explains the importance of having a strong IT support for working remotely and how her company adapting to new trends by shifting into duty free as a target client. In the next 6 months, she will be investing more in infrastructure and housing as there are government driven infrastructure projects.
Click here for the spot poll "COVID-19 Business Impact Report"
