Tim Dillon, commissioner to Greater China for the state of Victoria, Australia

I was pleased to see President Xi Jinping's opening address at the 2nd Annual CIIE Opening Ceremony this morning.

The state of Victoria has a strong and robust relationship with China, and we are the first and only government in Australia to sign an MOU with the NDRC on the Belt and Road Initiative. We have 66 companies from Victoria exhibiting at this year's CIIE.

President Xi's speech this morning was welcomed by the Victorian government as Victoria is an ardent supporter of free trade. We understand the benefits, to both businesses and to people, of building an open and innovative global economy where strong bilateral and multilateral relationships built on trust and mutual benefits are used to facilitate more open trade, investment and collaboration. This is why Victorian Premier Daniel Andrew's signed our MOU with the Belt and Road Initiative.

Over the past 40 years, since Deng Xiaoping began opening up, China has undergone enormous changes to the benefit of not only people here in China but to the world. With President Xi Jinping's speech today, it was very encouraging to see that this era of opening up will continue with improvements to the business environment, specifically for ease of market access for foreign goods and services and strengthening a more market-oriented, law-based and internationalised business environment.

The Victorian government will continue to build a strong relationship with China. In addition to our Belt and Road Initiative MOU, we have two sister state relationships with Jiangsu province, which is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and our new relationship with Sichuan province, which are the cornerstone for building deeper people to people, cultural, education, tourism and business links.

The Victorian government would like to wish the 2nd annual CIIE every success and look forward to the great business outcomes that will result from this year's event.