The Australian state of Queensland is opening a trade and investment office in Shenzhen as it seeks to court businesses and rebuild ties in mainland China and Hong Kong, with its finance minister calling the city a “gateway” for trade. Queensland Minister for Finance, Trade, Employment and Training Ros Bates, who is leading a trade mission to mainland China and Hong Kong, said her state was “open for business” as she pointed to opportunities for cooperation in infrastructure, healthcare and clean energy. Bates’ visit coincided with the release of the Queensland-China Trade and Investment Strategy 2025, in which she laid out the state’s “commitment to strong and enduring partnerships across China”. Her visit also comes amid a wider thaw in relations between Australia and China, with Beijing lifting the last of its trade bans on Australian exports in December after imposing restrictions in 2020. Speaking to the Post while in Hong Kong, Bates said she hoped to “reestablish” Queensland’s relationship with the city and the mainland following the Covid-19 pandemic. Hong Kong, where the state government’s agency Trade and Investment Queensland first opened an office in 1991, served as a “gateway” for the mainland through which products could flow to and from Queensland, she said. “We’ve had strong relationships with Hong Kong in the past, and we want to make sure that we continue that,” she said. During her three-day stay in Hong Kong before leaving for Shenzhen on Thursday, Bates also attended Hofex, one of Asia’s largest food and hospitality trade shows. Queensland last took part in the fair in 2019. To cap off her trip, Bates will oversee the opening of a new Trade and Investment Queensland office in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen on Friday. The new office will be the sixth in the country and is meant to work in conjunction with those in Hong Kong and Guangzhou to create opportunities for trade and market access in the Greater Bay Area. The bay area refers to a plan to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province into an integrated economic and business hub. “We see a burgeoning market available here in China, and we want to ensure that that works both ways,” Bates said, explaining that Queensland’s government was also looking to give confidence to Chinese investors to invest in the state. The mainland is Queensland’s largest trading partner, with A$43.8 billion (US$28.3 billion) in trade last year, according to official statistics. With Hong Kong, trade reached A$431 million last year. The state’s exports to Hong Kong mostly consisted of beef, coal and aluminium waste, while it imported manufacturing electronics and professional and scientific equipment from the city. At the same time, Hong Kong was responsible for A$146.6 billion in investment into Queensland, nearly double the A$88 billion that came from the mainland. Hong Kong investment was mostly directed in areas such as energy, mining and infrastructure. Bates said she was keen to encourage even more investment into Queensland as its capital city of Brisbane prepared to host the Olympics and Paralympics in 2032. She said there was an “incredible amount of building” to be done ahead of the games, with about A$8 billion needed for infrastructure alone. Bates said that she also hoped to develop partnerships in areas such as innovation and healthcare, citing “great synergies” with Hong Kong owing to similarities with ageing populations. Clean energy was another area where Bates hoped to encourage investment, citing the state’s road map to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. There were investment opportunities in areas such as batteries, hydrogen development, and solar and wind farms, she said. Bates added that the Queensland government was keen to remove any “road blocks” that could impede businesses from establishing a presence in the state. “If there are any regulatory road blocks for doing business with Queensland, then we will pave the way to make sure that we get rid of those so that you can do business,” she said.