A re-elected Beattie government will target the high-potential export markets of China, India and south east Asia, Premier Peter Beattie announced in Gladstone today.
Beattie says Queensland would open a State Government Trade and Investment Office in India at a cost of $1 million over three years as part of its ongoing commitment to boost the export sector.
"Queensland companies have achieved substantial growth in export performance over the past 15 years, with the value of exports in most industry sectors more than doubling during that time," he says.
"Building our exports is about creating more jobs - in Queensland, one in five jobs is directly linked to exports. In the regions, it is one in four jobs.
"A third-term Beattie government will sharpen its focus on developing the potential of high-growth export sectors such as manufacturing and the service industry.
"There will be a particular focus on helping our small to medium-size enterprises access export markets in high-potential markets such as China, India and south east Asia.
"Now is the perfect time to put an office in India and we've chosen Bangalore as the ideal location to enable us to build on our exports to the sub-continent.
"Bangalore is the capital of Queensland's sister state, Karnataka, has a progressive government and business community with whom we have excellent relations."
Beattie says China and India, as the most populous nations in the world, offer enormous potential as export markets.
"Queensland exports $1.2 billion worth of merchandise to India now, but there is absolutely enormous potential to grow that and the service sectors," he says.
"Our main opportunities are in mining services and equipment, tourism development and environmental management.
"We export more than $1 billion in merchandise to China. The main opportunities there are commodities trade in aluminium, copper, cotton and coal, with other opportunities in coal mining equipment, sports infrastructure, building and construction and education and training.
"There is also great potential for us to expand trade with Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam."
Queensland exports over $27 billion worth of goods and services annually. Exports of goods to India, China and South East Asia are valued at more than $4 billion annually.