Australia, China still keen on resuming trade and investment after diplomatic thaw: mining tycoon

There have been many ‘expressions of interest’ by Chinese businesses to work with Australia, mining billionaire Andrew Forrest says at Boao Forum

The tycoon calls for countries to work together to tackle climate change, and says China can be a leader in creating ‘renewable energy’ supply chains

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Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest during a speech at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2023 in Boao, south China’s Hainan Province, on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 5:51pm, 31 Mar 2023Updated: 6:24pm, 31 Mar 2023

Australian and Chinese businesses have “weathered the storm” of a three-year bilateral conflict to reveal a mutual desire to resume trade and investments, mining billionaire and Australia’s richest man Andrew Forrest has said.

Speaking from the Boao Forum for Asia conference in the southern Chinese province of Hainan on Thursday, Forrest said the reception from Chinese businesses was strong and there had been many “expressions of interest” by Chinese businesses to work with Australia.

“The appetite [to work together] never went away,” he told This Week in Asia. “I am grateful we weathered that storm.”

Forrest also acknowledged the challenges Australian business leaders faced as they had to “keep their heads down” when the former Morrison government clashed with Beijing in the past three years.

The chair of iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group, a major iron ore exporter to China, was among some who had come under fire for defending the importance of Australia’s economic relationship with China.

Forrest has continued to play a key role in maintaining Sino-Australian relations despite ongoing political tensions. Fortescue Metals is heavily invested in China and makes nearly 90 per cent of its revenues from there.

His trip to Boao, or the “Asian Davos”, is one of the first to China by an Australian business leader since the country reopened its borders. It follows efforts by the new Albanese government to “stabilise” bilateral relations after they nosedived in early 2020.