On Jan 20, the 6th Meeting of China-Australia High Level Dialogue, co-hosted by the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, was held in Sydney, Australia. Amb. Li Zhaoxing, Honorary President of the CPIFA and Hon. Jon Howard, former Australian Prime Minister headed the Chinese and Australian delegations respectively. Mr. Wang Chao, President of the CPIFA, Amb. Cheng Jingye, Ambassador of China to Australia, officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and Ministry of Commerce of China, Ms. Frances Adamson, Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, Amb. Graham Fletcher, Ambassador of Australia to China as well as more than 30 representatives from political, academic and business fields of the two countries attended the meeting. The two sides had in-depth discussions on bilateral political relations, economic, trade and investment cooperation, international and regional issues and people-to-people exchange. Mr. Simon Birmingham, Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment of Australia delivered a speech at the welcoming dinner of the dialogue.

China-Australia High Level Dialogue is an annual “Track 1.5” dialogue mechanism and its establishment was announced by both Governments during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Australia in November 2014 with the CPIFA and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia as its co-hosting organizations and officials in charge of diplomatic, economic and trade affairs and representatives from business and academic fields of the two countries as its participants.