Business SA has forged a close relationship with a key Chinese counterpart as it seeks to build the foundations for increased trade and investment flows between Business SA’s membership and China.

Chief executive, Nigel McBride signed a Memorandum of Understanding this week between Business SA and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) for the Shandong region during the visit by the 250 strong trade mission to the province led by Premier Jay Weatherill.

The MOU says Business SA and CCPIT are committed to promoting trade and economic exchanges and to cooperating on investment and technology matters.

Specific provisions say the two organisations will aim to find concrete forms of cooperation, to conduct special seminars and symposiums and encourage two-way business delegations. The MOU also says the two parties will assist each other in organising international trade fairs and exhibitions in China and Australia, and publicise products, projects and investment opportunities.

McBride said the MOU was a tangible sign of the close relationship between the two organisations and the ambitions both have to build a strong business partnership.

“The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade plays an important role in representing and promoting business engagement with the Shandong region, an area of China in which South Australia already has significant links through our sister city relationship with the province’s capital Qingdao,” McBride said.

“The arrangement we have now put in place will ensure that South Australia’s business community has a direct and effective entry point to the trade and investment potential of this dynamic regional economy.

“We look forward to helping South Australian companies realise some of the trade and investment potential that exists between our two regions.”

McBride said he held very effective meetings with the chairwoman, Madam Xu Qing, and the senior leadership of CCPIT at the organisation’s head office in Jinan.

“The opportunities for trade, exports and investment between Shandong and South Australia are quite extraordinary and range from premium food and beverage through to aged and health care, education, broader agribusiness and advanced manufacturing,” McBride said.

“The parties agreed to identify a set of early priorities on which to focus.”

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Leon Bignell, was today scheduled to open the Export Growth China showroom in Shanghai where South Australian businesses will be able to showcase their products and services to a large number of Chinese wholesalers.