Thank you for those remarks, Andrew [Meagher,Director, International CEO Forum] and to you all for your warm welcome.
In speaking to you today, I'm very conscious of thelegacy of the International Investor Dialogue, and of the importance yourdiscussions have to the millions of employees and consumers that youcollectively represent.
At the same time, I recognise the topic of internationaldevelopment is perhaps not one that comes up often in business forums such asthis.
The fact of the matter is that the AustralianGovernment's development agenda does have direct relevance to the businesscommunity.
As a government, we want to build partnerships throughwhich your business activities can help us to deliver our development objectives.
Our international development agenda in an integralpart of our long-term strategic vision for Australia's economic prosperity, forprivate sector growth, and for our international trade and investment goals.
Through this development agenda, the Government iscommitted to building resilience in our immediate neighbourhood – to underpin peaceand stability in our region and to ensure an open trade and investment environmentfor business.
It is a big vision – I grant you that – but littleby little, it's a vision that is bearing fruit.
Under a renewed Economic and Commercial Diplomacyagenda, we are stepping up business engagement, harnessing global commercialinsights, and creating more opportunity for Australian companies abroad.
We in government have a lot to offer to a strongerpartnership with the business community.
We can draw on our extensive international networksto help you to increase commercial returns, and at the same time deliver socialimpact – outcomes that support the sustainability of your business activities.
We can share our deep knowledge of business,political and regulatory environments in many countries that are otherwise verydifficult to navigate.
We can influence global platforms in support ofspecific business outcomes – platforms such as the United Nations, the G20 andAPEC.
It's a two-way street, of course – no contractwithout consideration!
There is a lot that you, in the business world,bring almost intuitively.
It is you who have the knowledge and you who havethe innovative ideas.
You have the capabilities, the commercial expertiseand the resources that we need in order to achieve a common goal.
We need to draw on your capabilities, your expertiseand your resources to support the development of private sector activity in ourregion.
This is critical because private sector employment typicallyaccounts for 90 per cent of jobs in developing countries.
And a healthy private sector accelerates the paceof economic growth, it provides essential goods and services without whichcommunities cannot exist, and it stimulates innovation and entrepreneurshipthat is vital to lifting countries from developing to developed status.
That is why in the 2016-17 financial year, we spent$1.4 billion of Australia's development budget to support private sectordevelopment.
We know that business is the engine of inclusiveeconomic growth, and we know that growth in turn is fundamental to ensuringstability and security in our region.
Partnershipswith business and multilaterals
Private sector partnerships are therefore the keyto deepening the impact and inclusiveness of Australia's developmentcontribution.
At the same time, these partnerships help to makeyour business models and value chains more sustainable.
The opportunities created by these partnerships aregarnering attention at the highest business levels, particularly when it comesto individual companies keen to identify and nurture local talent.
To give you some specific examples, the Departmentof Foreign Affairs and Trade has partnered with Google to support the "GoogleImpact Challenge" [in 2016] – with a grant to fund organisations exploring newways of using technology to fight poverty around the world.
Atlassian partnered with DFAT, the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology and others last year to launch the "Youth, Skills andWorkforce of the Future Challenge" and to support the winners of that challengebring their innovations out to scale.
India's Tata Group has partnered with DFAT tolaunch the "Water Abundance XPRIZE" – where competitors try to draw clean waterfrom thin air; finding a solution to service high-humidity areas where water iscurrently inaccessible.
Other businesses are more closely engaged in usingtheir existing expertise to support specific social impact goals.
Through our Business Partnerships Platform, we areenabling business to deliver development outcomes while also extendingAustralia's reach along global value chains.
Melbourne-based travel company, the Intrepid Group,has formed a collaborative partnership in Myanmar with Australian VolunteersInternational and the Australian Government.
Through this partnership, we are working togetherto help local suppliers meet growing consumer demand for tourism services asMyanmar opens to the world.
The initiative has trained 28 candidates insustainable tourism management and supported ten businesses to develop theirtourism products to take to market.
We focus on people who would otherwise facebarriers to participation in the tourism market in Myanmar, such as women,ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.
In Pakistan, Cotton Australia is helping to train over250,000 farmers in integrated pest management and other best practices, inpartnership with the Better Cotton Initiative and the Australian Government.
These are examples that inspire us within theGovernment to explore partnerships with business that challenge our thinkingand that reach beyond conventional development programming.
For example, we are leveraging our aid budget byfunding partners such as the Private Infrastructure Development Group – the"PIDG" – to address the global infrastructure gap.
The PIDG in turn complements our support with contributionsfrom other governments, and from financial services such as equity, debt andguarantees to turn promising infrastructure projects in frontier markets intobankable investments.
We extend our funding to other major implementing partnerssuch as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, which promote privatesector growth and economic reform in the region.
There is undoubtedly a growing global recognitionof the Australian private sector and its role in achieving innovative outcomesin development.
For example, the Commonwealth Bank has veryrecently been chosen by the World Bank to issue the first ever blockchain bond– the "Kangaroo bond" – designed principally for Australian-based investors.
This Kangaroo bond is expected to raise around $50million as part of the World Bank's global funding program, financingdevelopment outcomes around the world.
Conclusion
These are just a few illustrations of thepossibilities that are quite literally endless when we start to break down the conventional'silo' view of the role of the public and private sectors when it comes tointernational development.
Those silos might have made sense once upon a time,but they have no place in our world today.
We have common goals – a larger,economically-empowered global consumer base, where people are free to make theirown financial choices and to engage in open trading markets.
The Australian Government's development agenda aimsto achieve just that; to reach out and support growth in other countries aswell as our own.
And this is not just about doing what's right.
It is about doing what's in our national interest,and what is in the interests of our business community – that is you! – who arethe true engines of jobs and growth in this country.
It is a common goal – and it is a very bigcommon goal – but we will get there if we give it a go together.
To help you to get involved, DFAT has established aPrivate Sector Development Unit to provide a direct entry point for businesses.
I strongly encourage you to be an active partnerfor this very worthwhile project, and to register your interest by contactingDFAT.
Thank you for your kind attention.