Published Saturday, 24 March, 2007 at 05:30 AM
Premier and Minister for Trade
The Honourable Peter Beattie
PREMIER SIGNS NEW FRIENDSHIP ARRANGEMENT WITH SOUTH AFRICAN PROVINCE
DURBAN: Queensland’s role in the global response to climate change has been further strengthened following today’s signing of a new Friendship Cooperation Arrangement between the Queensland Government and the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said finding practical responses to climate change was a key objective of the Friendship Cooperation Arrangement signed by himself and the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, the Honourable Sibusiso Ndebele, today.
Premier Beattie said the Friendship Arrangement signalled the start of a strong and broad-ranging relationship between Queensland and the South African province, which shares many of the challenges faced by Queensland.
“KwaZulu-Natal and Queensland are climatically similar, as are the challenges of population growth and the need to upgrade major infrastructure”, Mr Beattie said.
“The new arrangement will foster information exchange and cooperation in a number of key areas including policies in relation to climate change, such as the impact of climate change on economic, social and environmental sectors and sustainable water management.
“A letter of intent for a climate change partnership was signed between Australia and South Africa last November and this new arrangement between Queensland and KwaZulu-Natal will look at practical ways of sharing knowledge and experience in tackling the impacts of climate change.
“Queensland also looks forward to cooperating in the arts, culture, tourism and sport, exchanging knowledge and experience in training and skills development and strengthening trade and investment linkages,” Mr Beattie said.
Premier Beattie said the KwaZulu-Natal arrangement would complement another accord which he signed today with the University of KwaZulu-Natal on behalf of the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.
“The new arrangement will focus on strengthening research collaboration between the parties which could include modelling the impact of climate change on key agricultural systems such as sugar cane production and pasture yields – topics of interest to both Queensland and KwaZulu-Natal,” Mr Beattie said.
Premier Beattie said Queensland was also keenly interested in Durban’s preparations to host key events during the FIFA World Cup in 2010, including the building of a new stadium in Durban and transport infrastructure developments.
“Queensland has very strong capabilities in the sports and major events sectors and Queensland firms have a lot to offer in terms of facilities development, architectural design, staging and managing major sporting events, sports surfaces, clothing and equipment and management consultancy,” Mr Beattie said.
“We’ve hosted the Rugby World Cup and Goodwill Games in recent years and assisted with the development of Stadium Australia for the Sydney Olympics – we’ve certainly got the experience and the know-how.”
Mr Beattie said a number of Queensland transport companies had accompanied him on this trade mission and were looking to develop greater links in South Africa, Botswana and other sub-Saharan African markets.
“Queensland could be well placed to support and partner with local firms to meet a range of new projects and transport infrastructure solutions for this major world sporting event,” Mr Beattie said.
“Queensland has Australia’s largest integrated rail network and our rail industry has had success internationally with projects in Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Kenya, UK, Vietnam and Taiwan.
“Clearly Queensland firms are highly capable in transport infrastructure which presents strong opportunities for Queensland and South Africa to work together.”
Media inquiries: Premier’s office 3224 4500, 0400 767 490
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said finding practical responses to climate change was a key objective of the Friendship Cooperation Arrangement signed by himself and the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, the Honourable Sibusiso Ndebele, today.
Premier Beattie said the Friendship Arrangement signalled the start of a strong and broad-ranging relationship between Queensland and the South African province, which shares many of the challenges faced by Queensland.
“KwaZulu-Natal and Queensland are climatically similar, as are the challenges of population growth and the need to upgrade major infrastructure”, Mr Beattie said.
“The new arrangement will foster information exchange and cooperation in a number of key areas including policies in relation to climate change, such as the impact of climate change on economic, social and environmental sectors and sustainable water management.
“A letter of intent for a climate change partnership was signed between Australia and South Africa last November and this new arrangement between Queensland and KwaZulu-Natal will look at practical ways of sharing knowledge and experience in tackling the impacts of climate change.
“Queensland also looks forward to cooperating in the arts, culture, tourism and sport, exchanging knowledge and experience in training and skills development and strengthening trade and investment linkages,” Mr Beattie said.
Premier Beattie said the KwaZulu-Natal arrangement would complement another accord which he signed today with the University of KwaZulu-Natal on behalf of the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.
“The new arrangement will focus on strengthening research collaboration between the parties which could include modelling the impact of climate change on key agricultural systems such as sugar cane production and pasture yields – topics of interest to both Queensland and KwaZulu-Natal,” Mr Beattie said.
Premier Beattie said Queensland was also keenly interested in Durban’s preparations to host key events during the FIFA World Cup in 2010, including the building of a new stadium in Durban and transport infrastructure developments.
“Queensland has very strong capabilities in the sports and major events sectors and Queensland firms have a lot to offer in terms of facilities development, architectural design, staging and managing major sporting events, sports surfaces, clothing and equipment and management consultancy,” Mr Beattie said.
“We’ve hosted the Rugby World Cup and Goodwill Games in recent years and assisted with the development of Stadium Australia for the Sydney Olympics – we’ve certainly got the experience and the know-how.”
Mr Beattie said a number of Queensland transport companies had accompanied him on this trade mission and were looking to develop greater links in South Africa, Botswana and other sub-Saharan African markets.
“Queensland could be well placed to support and partner with local firms to meet a range of new projects and transport infrastructure solutions for this major world sporting event,” Mr Beattie said.
“Queensland has Australia’s largest integrated rail network and our rail industry has had success internationally with projects in Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Kenya, UK, Vietnam and Taiwan.
“Clearly Queensland firms are highly capable in transport infrastructure which presents strong opportunities for Queensland and South Africa to work together.”
Media inquiries: Premier’s office 3224 4500, 0400 767 490