4th World Chinese Economic Forum: China-Australia-ASEAN Partnerships Future Unlimited

The World Chinese Economic forum was held on the 12th and 13th November 2012 at the Melbourne Convention Centre. This was the first time the event was staged outside of South East Asia and reflected the growing importance of the Australian-East Asian corridor. The release of the Australian government's white paper, 'Australia in the Asian Century' in October, just a month before the forum, stimulated much reflection and discussion on the role Australia has to play as a multi-cultural society in the rapidly expanding markets to the north. A number of speakers observed that the balance of power is shifting from the old world economies of North America, Europe and the United Kingdom to the emerging powerhouse economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the socalled 'BRICS' nations), that are challenging traditional markets for increased recognition on the world stage through the sheer force of their market size and growth potential. Despite this increasingly mutually dependent relationship with her Asian neighbours, Australia has yet to sign a free-trade agreement with China, and a number of speakers lamented the time that this has taken to negotiate an outcome.