Australia Highlights EU Investments Employ 500,000

Parliamentary Secretary for Trade, Hon. Anthony Byrne MP, today acknowledged the value of Australia’s ongoing relationship with our biggest trade and investment partner, the European Union (EU), for its contribution to 500,000 extra jobs in the Australian economy.

Speaking at an Austrade-hosted meeting with EU Ambassadors, Mr Byrne said it was not widely known that the European Union is the largest foreign direct investor in Australia, indeed Australia’s largest overall source of foreign investment.

“At the end of 2008, for example, European nations had invested 34 per cent of Australia’s total FDI, or about A$133.2 billion,” said Mr Byrne.

“Total European investment stood even higher, at A$567 billion, or about 33 per cent of total investment, much of it in manufacturing, financial services, mining and resources.

“Together these investments employed about 500,000 people directly and about 1.4 million indirectly, or 12 per cent of the workforce.

“There can be little doubt about the contribution of European investment to our national prosperity and the importance of continuing to strengthen our existing historical, cultural and commercial links with Europe.

Mr Byrne encouraged the Ambassadors to take the message back to their nations that there were many emerging opportunities for further investment in area such as clean energy technology and financial services.

“One of our top priorities is the development of clean energy technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, or solar power, and we welcome investment in those sectors,” he said.

“Another priority for foreign investment is financial services. Australia is now one of Asia’s leading financial hubs, with one of the largest pools of managed funds in the world, estimated at about A$1.3 trillion.”

Topics: Australia, economic development, economic growth, Economy, employment, EU, Europe, European Union, Governance, investments, jobs, mining, resources

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