On August 19, Consul General Fang Xinwen attended the 2026 Economic Outlook and Financial Markets Seminar hosted by the Melbourne Branch of Bank of China, accompanied by Counsellor Chi Jiechao (economic and commercial affairs). Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece, Xie Zhibin, Deputy General Manager of the Sydney Branch of Bank of China, Wu He, General Manager of the Melbourne Branch, Professor Song Ligang of the Australian National University, and more than 70 other guests attended the event.

In his remarks, Consul General Fang said that 2026 marks the first year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan. China’s GDP grew by 4.7% year-on-year in the first half of the year, demonstrating the resilience and vitality of the Chinese economy. Economic and trade cooperation serves as the “ballast stone” of China-Australia relations, while a convenient and efficient cross-border financial services system provides important support for the high-quality development of bilateral trade and investment. He expressed hope that financial institutions in both countries would continue to expand their activities in areas such as cross-border settlement, green finance and renminbi business, continuously improve the accessibility and convenience of financial services, and help take practical bilateral cooperation to a new level.

Lord Mayor Reece said that Melbourne maintains close economic and trade ties with China, with a solid foundation for cooperation, and looks forward to further deepening economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges with China and creating new opportunities for development.

At the seminar, experts and scholars engaged in in-depth discussions on topics including the internationalization of the renminbi, China-Australia economic and trade cooperation, financial markets, and the outlook for the econo