- Published:
- Wednesday 1 June 2016
The Premier Daniel Andrews today promoted Victoria’s economic strengths and impressive growth prospects at a Wall Street lunch during his official US visit.
The Premier said Victoria was an attractive investment prospect with a strong pipeline of infrastructure projects, a skilled labour force, world-class tourism experiences and major events.
Highlighting the Victorian Government's major infrastructure program, he outlined capital projects in 2016-17 worth more than $20 billion, including the Metro Tunnel and Western Distributor contracts that are out to market and will create a combined 10,000 jobs.
The address came after the Premier visited the New York Stock Exchange and received a high level financial briefing on the state of the US economy and financial markets.
As Victoria’s top combined market for exports and foreign direct investment, understanding the state of the US economy is critical. In 2014, $3.4 billion of US investment was injected into Victoria and $2.7 billion of Victorian investment was directed into the USA.
The United States is Victoria’s number one source of foreign direct investment and our second largest export destination. Victoria attracts 30 per cent of all US tourists who visit Australia, with 157,000 visitors and 14.9 per cent year on year growth.
The Premier finished his day on Wall Street delivering an historic agreement with Asia Society, which will strengthen the State’s cultural, trade and investment opportunities in Asia.
During his keynote address the Premier said the agreement was a significant step toward better engagement between Victorian businesses and Asia.
Asia Society is a global not-for-profit organisation dedicated to strengthening Asia’s relationship with the West across arts, business, culture, education and policy.
Quotes attributable to the Premier Daniel Andrews
“With a strong pipeline of major infrastructure projects and all that our state has to offer, now is the time to be driving investment from Wall Street to Collins Street.”
“Victoria is clearly an attractive prospect for US business and tourism, but we can always do more – and I want to see more than just 30 per cent of American visitors to Australia stopping by to visit our state.”