Invited by Western Australian Parliament, Fijian Khesar Investment Group, and New Zealand Ashburton City Government, Director Xue Shaoxian of the Standing Committee of Taizhou Municipal People’s Congress led the Taizhou City Delegation to these three countries for economic trade research and friendly visit from April 18th to 29th.

Western Australia, the largest state in Australia, is the biggest import market for China concerning iron ore, oil, natural gas, etc. As early as 1987, Western Australia and Zhejiang Province came to an agreement on being sister province/state. The two parties have seen increasing communication and cooperation in various fields in recent years.

On the morning of April 19th, Xue and his delegation had a meeting with John Schutter, Director of Chinese Affairs Department of Western Australian Economic Development Board, for mutual introduction of economic and social development and mutual investment and cooperation in automobile, timbering, trade, etc. In the meeting with Anthony O'Gorman, Deputy Chief of the House of Representatives in Western Australia, Xue noted that the duties of both China’s People’s Congress and Western Australia’s Parliament are serving its people. He hoped both sides could take advantage of the friendly relation to make joint efforts in communication and cooperation for better development of and more welfare to its people. Accompanied by relevant officials of Western Australian Parliament, the delegation visited Western Australian Parliament Building and learnt the operational mechanism of the two houses of the Parliament, the financial budget supervision, and the parliamentary hearing and voting.

In visiting Fiji, Xue and his colleagues made a special tour around Lautoka, Fijian’s second largest city, and visited its largest wood processing plant. After an in-depth survey on local trading with China, Xue hoped to find more cooperation opportunities in South Pacific region.

In the last stop in Ashburton City, a vital manufacturing base of automobile parts and textile machinery in New Zealand, Xue and his delegation held a seminar with Bede O'Malley, Major of Ashburton City, and some councilmen and government officials, seeking to set up industrial cooperation with each other. Both sides showed strong wills to come into a relationship of friendly exchange cities for better cooperation in varies fields.

During the visit, Xue and his delegation visited OMI Pharmaceuticals, the Australian partner of Double-Dove Pharmaceuticals, and some representatives of Taizhou natives living in Australia. Officials of the Taizhou Foreign Affairs Office, Economic Development Zone and Huangyan District Government also joined the delegation.