December 2023 ALABC Newsletter

IN THIS ISSUE

Letter from the Chairman
Industry News - A combination of news articles specifically curated for news relevant to the Latin American region.
Featured Members - Find out which companies are being featured this month.
Previous Events - Gain access to previous event photos and webinar recordings to share with your friends and colleagues on social media.

Letter from the Chairman

Dear Members and Friends of ALABC,

As Chairman of ALABC it is my pleasure to welcome you to our final newsletter for 2023.

We would like to thank our partners and members who have worked with us to enhance the business relationships and increase trade and investment between Australia and Latin America. Some highlights from 2023 include our successful relaunch of the Business Excellence Awards, the ALABC internship program, and hosting key events across Australia and in Latin America. It was wonderful to welcome senior representatives from both Federal and State Governments and the private sector, all of whom added significant value to our events and activities.

We acknowledge and welcome all our new members who joined us in 2023 and look forward to continuing to engage with each of your organisations in the coming year.

On behalf of the Board of Directors we send our best wishes for the festive season and a wish you every success in the coming year.

Best regards,

Richard Andrews
Chairman
Australia-Latin America Business Council
chairman@alabc.com.au

ALABC 2023 highlights

Supporting the Latin American student and young professional community in Australia:
This year we launched our internship program placing Latin American students and graduates with our member companies in Australia. In 2024 we look forward to relaunching the program with new opportunities for young professionals and talent for our member companies.

Facilitating engagement for LATAM's with leading Australian companies:
ALABC with the support of Global Victoria hosted a group of Latin American Ambassadors from Canberra to meet with leading Victorian organisations based in Melbourne. The trip was a great success and participants had the pleasure of visiting and connecting with representatives from the Study Melbourne Hub, Holmesglen Tunnelling Centre and AgriBio Centre.

Continued engagement with the Australian Government:
Our flagship event for the year, the Canberra Networking Day at Parliament House welcomed contributions from the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs the Honourable Tim Watts, senior representatives from DFAT, the Department of Education and Department of Home Affairs, along with our Patron and Large Corporate members Global Victoria, BHP, Sharp EIT Solutions.

Recognising leaders of success in the bilateral relationship:
In June we formally presented the ALABC Business Excellence Awards for 2023, congratulations again to our three category winners Mincka Engineering, Mining Plus and GroundProbe!

Peru spotlight:
This year we had the pleasure of hosting luncheons in the honour of official visits from the Minister of Trade of Peru and Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Peru.

Event highlights:
Our Latin America Mining Dinner (IMARC 2023) hosted over 240 attendees from Australia and internationally with the Minister for Energy and Mines of Peru and Australian Minister for Resources, the Honourable Madeleine King MP. The Australia-Chile Business Council Mining Dinner was our first international collaboration event with our bilateral partner SOFOFA in Santiago, Chile.

Connecting with our State Partners:
This year we were fortunate to continue strengthening our relationship with state partners and welcomed representatives to present at our state events. This included the Deputy Premier (current Premier) of Western Australia in Perth, the Hon Roger Cook, the Treasurer of Victoria in Melbourne, Tim Pallas MP, the Treasurer and Minister for Trade of Queensland in Brisbane, the Hon Cameron Dick MP and the CEO of Investment NSW in Sydney, Katie Knight.

Ambassadors at the Study Melbourne Hub, Victorian visit, Aug 2023

ALABC Chairman and Assistant Foreign Minister, Canberra Networking Day Nov 2023

Winners of the Business Excellence Awards, ALABC Sydney dinner July 2023

CEO of Trade and Investment QLD and Minister for Trade of Peru, July 2023

Ambassadors at the Latin America Mining Dinner, Oct 2023

QLD Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment at the ALABC SOFOFA event in Chile, April 2023

ALABC Latin America Mining Dinner (IMARC) 2023 exclusive interviews!🎥

Supported by our Event Partner, Duratray International, Platinum Sponsor Lake Resources and Bronze Sponsor Interlingual, on the first day of IMARC 2023 we hosted our annual Latin America Mining dinner.

Watch the exclusive interviews below with the Managing Director from Duratray, CEO of Lake Resources, the CEO of Austmine and Ambassadors of both Peru and Ecuador with our host and MC, Tim Harcourt (the Airport Economist).

H.E. Arturo Cabrera, Ambassador of Ecuador

Marcelo Medel, Managing Director Duratray

H.E. Vitaliano Gallardo, Ambassador of Peru

Christine Gibbs Stewart, CEO Austmine Limited

David Dickson, CEO Lake Resources

Richard Andrews, Chairman ALABC

Austrade's Study Australia Experience Project supports 30%+ growth in LATAM

Un 2019, the Latin American education sector was worth A$2.3 billion to the Australian economy. The COVID-19 pandemic cut deeply into Australia's education exports. But Austrade LATAM team's hybrid online and offline Study Australia Experience Project has made great strides in revitalising the market. It has supported more than 30%+ growth last financial year for the five priority Latin American markets, far outpacing growth in the rest of the world.

The extraordinary growth has come across the five LATAM markets: Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Colombia - as well as Mexico. However, it's Colombia in particular that has experienced unprecedented demand.

With a population with just over 50 million people, Colombia is the number one market for Australian providers of ELICOS, English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students market for Australia, and is fourth by student volume overall, with more than 24,500 student commencement in July 2023.

Nurturing and relationships are the keys to success

Craig Ford, Trade Commissioner in Mexico and Colombia, who leads the LATAM Education team, says that while online and offline reach and influence through public relations and digital marketing campaigns is important in expanding market share, the key to the success of the project is nurturing the student audience from first contact to final decision: "By engaging with our target student demographics up to 4 times a week during campaign period, and influencing them with a depth and diversity of Study Australia messaging, we can prioritise Australia in their study abroad location decisions.

Equally critical is the conversation element which happens offline. LATAM is a relationship based region and students will overwhelmingly prefer to work with an agent in the region to facilitate the process of enrolment. So it's critical we align with committed Australian institutions and their agent representatives and drive that student community towards their in-person conversion events.

"Now with a change in focus to Australia's international student approach, we will look to double down with those quality institutions in preferred skilled fields that align with Australia's economic and priority sectors".

About the Project

Started in January 2022 and majority funded by education institutions and partners, Study Australia Experience (SAE) was one of many critical elements in reestablishing the Study Australia brand in LATAM. With Spanish and Portuguese language digital marketing and events, the project dominated online search results and social media for studying in Australia.

For further information, contact Scott Bennett scott.bennett@austrade.gov.au, Austrade Education BDM Chile.

Argentina's new President Javier Milei devalues the peso in plan to pull the country from it's economic crisis

The government will slash spending equivalent to 2.9 per cent of gross domestic product, in a radical fiscal adjustment, according to a senior economic official.

Cuts to energy subsidies will save 0.5 per cent of GDP, while reductions to transport subsidies will save 0.2 per cent, according to the government’s estimates. The administration also expects reductions in social security and pensions to save an additional 0.4 per cent of GDP. The government plans to end indexation of pension payments, the official said.

The Green Hydrogen Market segment where Uruguay could fly

Synthetic jet fuel represents the single biggest potential export market for Uruguay in the sphere of green hydrogen and is derivatives in terms of revenue.

That is according to a study published by multilateral lender IDB on Uruguay's green hydrogen potential.

By 2040, the country could be exporting US$1.3bn per year, with synthetic jet fuel accounting for 58%, green hydrogen 26% and synthetic maritime fuels 14% of the total, the study states. Target export markets are the US, EU and UK.