Opening: Presentation by Chief Minister of Penang to focus on setting out the 2 day event and his ambition on the collaboration of the 2 cities (Duration: 15 mins)
· The Hon Martin Hamilton Smith, Minster for Investment and Trade, Minister for Defence Industries
· Mr Sathish Dasan, Chairman Australia Malaysia Business Council
· Penang Delegation members
· Members of the Press
· Ladies & Gentlemen
I speak on behalf of our delegation when I say we are very pleased to be back in Adelaide for an official visit to the Government of South Australia, supported by the Australia Malaysia Business Council.
Our visit is in response to your visit to Penang in August 2015 and over the next 2 days we will be seeking to strengthen this relationships between our two states, between our 2 sister cities, George Town and Adelaide; and between the people of Australia and Malaysia.
In 1973, your then-premier Don Dunstan and our Chief Minister Lim Chong Eu formed a formal sister-city relationship between George Town, the capital of Penang and the City of Adelaide, South Australia.
However our family relationship goes back much, much further than this.
Captain Francis Light founded what he called Prince of Wales Island in 1786, today known as Penang Island.
His first son, William, grew up in George Town before being sent to school in England. After a career in the navy, Colonel William Light arrived in South Australia in 1836, almost 50 years to the day from Captain Francis Light landing in Penang. And Francis Light’s son founded Adelaide. So our cities share a heritage that spans from their very beginnings.
While our cities have followed their own development trajectories ever since, we are both today extremely liveable cities – a key measure of success of cities, George Town in Penang is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Our cities each has a unique blend of environment, history, heritage and culture. Penang is consistently ranked among the most liveable places in Asia, while Adelaide is consistently ranked among the most liveable places in the world.
While South Australia has a significantly larger land mass, we have similar sized populations and our people have similar aspirations. Many potential synergies exist between our economic sectors, from health care to food and drink to advanced manufacturing. There are many ways our businesses can work together to expand their markets, realise efficiencies and develop stronger futures.
Penang’s ambition is to become an international and intelligent city and we have adopted in our strategy the concept of an entrepreneurial state with a ‘balanced society’. We recognise the need to adopt more holistic development strategies where ideas, private investment and public infrastructure come together in partnership to produce an economically dynamic place that is also more liveable, more sustainable and more inclusive.
The Government of South Australia and Adelaide City Council have stolen a march in the sustainability stakes, having formed a globally unique partnership to establish Adelaide as the world’s first carbon neutral city by 2050. To be achieved by investing in energy efficiency, renewables, transforming travel, reducing emissions from waste, and identifying new opportunities for economic prosperity, through leveraging on our advanced electronic cluster and especially partaking in the 4th Industrial Revolution of Big Data Analytics, cloud computing and Internet of Things (IOT) .
Being sister cities, naturally we are keen to follow your progress in reducing our carbon footprint. We are currently in the process of unlocking MYR 27 bn or AUD 9bn of investment in transport infrastructure under the Penang Master Transport Plan. We will, over the next 15-20 years, transform urban mobility in Penang, while at the same time creating the space for new investment in our high technology parks and developing new modern townships, with all the infrastructure required for the city of the future.
I welcome technical experts from South Australia to help in increasing the liveability factor in Penang and I understand that the City of Adelaide has kindly offered a technical city planning exchange programme with George Town City.
As we both develop and thrive in the challenges of tomorrow’s world, there is much for us to be relying on each other. Malaysia and Australia are both signatories to the Trans Pacific Partnership. So, trading of goods and services should benefit us both. Besides, Penang is well positioned for you to capitalise on the ASEAN Economic Community – an economic region of over 600 million people with many achieving middle income. We have a seaport, an international airport, good infrastructure and a deep pool of talents. Most important of all we share the same colonial heritage of a British-based common law system and respect for rule of law.
So, Penang offers a good spring board for high quality Australian produce to target the niche Halal food market. Likewise, Penang is also well positioned to benefit from being a node in the One-Belt-One-Road initiative by China. The Chinese government has recently set up their Consulate- General office in Penang. So, Penang can be your trusted sister as you embark on your South East Asia Engagement Strategy.
Over the next two days we have much to discuss:
· We want to share in our ideas for the future, and consider how our people’s creativity and innovation may contribute to future development;
· We want to explore how, together we can facilitate and develop opportunities for private investment, and stimulate our entrepreneurial and innovative economies; and
· We want to ensure that our continued investments in public infrastructure create the right environment, conducive for the social, environmental and economic development we seek.
Penang is embarking on a journey to transform into an international and intelligent city, one which is also among the most liveable, not just in Asia, but in the world. One that stresses on creativity and innovation not only in science and technology but also in arts and cultural. We see Penang as the engineering and cultural capital of Malaysia.
Due to our talent pool, Penang plays host to being the Support Services Outsourcing hub for many multinationals. For instance, Citigroup runs their global credit transaction services from Penang, conducting 32 million transactions with an annual transaction value of USD7.2 trillion. If we can fulfil Citigroup needs, Penang can indeed be one of the future global Business Process Outsourcing(BPO) Hubs. With a multi-lingual workforce, we welcome South Australian companies to service their South East Asian businesses from Penang.
In the skills training space, we have also embarked on a German based type of vocational training in Penang. This is the first of its kind in Malaysia and Penang is capitalising on the unique ecosystem of strong industrial cluster with more than 300 multinationals, supportive State government and an abundance talents. Of course, I welcome South Australians to participate in other aspects of skills training and the education sector, which I believe is your largest export.
Being an Australian graduate, I can attest to the quality of the education and welcome many of you to come to Penang. I understand that TAFE SA is currently seeking a reliable partner in Penang for this; and courses like Computer Graphics Imaging could possibly fit nicely with our newly opened Penang @CAT, an accelerator for the technology and creative industry.
We will be working together over the next two days to discuss opportunities in advanced manufacturing, food industries, creative industries, education, health, agriculture, tourism, heritage and city planning. But the discussions cannot stop once we leave on our flight. Much has happened since my last visit in 2010, and in 2013 for example, together we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the formal sister city relationship, although today in 2016 we are really celebrating 180 years of shared history.
Our shared passion for culture and the arts is on display in the ever closer relationship between our cities. The OzAsia Festival and your Joe, together with the George Town Festival and our Joe, have developed a formal partnership that will see closer co-operation between our cities each and every year. ‘Connecting The Light’ between our cities can provide a pathway for exploring deeper economic and trading ties, and sharing of cultural experience in our cities that will pull us together closer.
So let the next two days be focused and productive, but let’s seek to build lasting and meaningful engagement that serves proud our shared heritage. Always remembering that both of us are bonded by blood, driven by the same values of honesty, diligence and pursuit of excellence as well as sharing our common vision of diversity, harmony, respect and peaceful co-prosperity.
（阿德雷特）槟州首席部长林冠英昨日官访南澳政府时指出，此趟行程不仅寻求和澳洲在高端制造业、食品业、创意产业、医疗保健、教育、农业、旅游、古迹及城市规划上的交流合作，更期许与南澳专才一起配合，将槟城打造成一个宜居城市。
“我得知阿德雷特市已经答应和乔治市进行合作，派遣城市规划技术专家来槟城交流。我们热烈欢迎这些专才来与我们一起打拼，将槟城变得更加美好！”
他也说，在接下来两天的行程中，槟州政府与南澳政府亦将积极讨论加强双边合作的可行性，包括交流城市未来发展所需的创意革新技能、如何增进投资与刺激经济方案等等。
他提及，为寻求城市的永续发展，南澳政府及阿德雷特市政府联手合作，期盼在2050成为全球首个“碳中和城市”（Carbon Neutral City）。作为阿德雷特的姐妹城市，槟城也将致力追随阿德雷特的脚步努力减碳。为了达成这个目标，州政府计划投资270亿令吉予“槟州交通大蓝图”之上，预计在15至20年之内，以减碳为主轴，大幅提升槟州的城市移动能力，同时亦增加高科技园的发展空间，朝建设“未来城市”的目标而前进。
“槟城的志向是成为一个国际智慧城市，而这个社会必须是平衡的、均匀的。欲朝向这永续发展的方向前进，我们需包容各种不同的意见，广纳投资与强化各种基设，促成一个有经济活力的氛围。”
林冠英是在日前会见南澳官员时，这么说。当天出席者尚包括澳方投资与贸易部长马丁、澳马贸易理事会主席萨缇斯等等。