Australia-Nepal: a framework to grow the trade relationship
NSW business showcased to journalists from Southeast Asia
Austvolt: Scaling up battery technology in WA Mollie Tracey Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA
In the leadup to the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in March 2024, DFAT hosted nine journalists from Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam to showcase contemporary Australia. They toured the Port Kembla Hydrogen Hub on a visit to Wollongong. In Sydney they visited HMAS Adelaide, the University of New South Wales’s Solar Industrial Research Facility, and NSW Investment’s Tech Central ScaleUp Hub. Site visits and meetings gave first- hand insights into existing and future opportunities for cooperation in trade and investment, climate and clean energy, and the maritime domain –key areas of focus for the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne on 4-6 March. Meeting with businesses, universities and think tanks gave the journalists valuable opportunities to discuss how two-way trade and investment between Australia and Southeast Asia will deepen, with a particular focus on Australia’s national strategy, Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040. NSW Minister for Trade and Industry the Hon Anoulak Chanthivong met with the group in Sydney to share his vision for building bridges and shared economic benefits between NSW and Southeast Asian countries. He highlighted opportunities in education, renewable energy and the defence sector. Mr Chanthivong spoke of the strong people-to-people links that have been created with NSW’s diaspora of 365,000 residents from Southeast Asian countries – including himself, as he emigrated from Laos at the age of six. “This is a two-way partnership, commercial and cultural. It is very much mutual, given the shared interests that we have,” said Mr Chanthivong.
Austvolt is on track to be Australia’s first manufacturer of commercial-scale precursor cathode active material (pCAM), making it a key player in the country’s rapidly growing lithium industry. The pCAM is a high-value and specifically engineered substance comprising nickel, cobalt, and manganese. When calcined with lithium hydroxide it produces the cathode material for lithium batteries. Peeyush Mathur, Austvolt Founder and Managing Director, says the company aims to guarantee ethical sourcing and traceability, while helping drive Australia’s advanced manufacturing ambitions. “Our long-term vision is to provide pCAM to a range of battery industry customers and continue to develop our product through ongoing research,” he says. “Our plant will help fulfill the Western Australian Government’s desire to build a battery downstream industry in WA.” Primed for investment to scale up The manufacturing plant is listed on WA Investments where Austvolt is seeking $250-$500 million to scale up its pilot plant (800 tonnes per annum production capacity), followed by a full-scale plant with the capability to produce 40,000tpa. Austvolt’s laboratory is currently based in Bentley but has secured a nine-hectare site at the Rockingham-Kwinana Strategic Industrial Area for the pilot and full-scale plants. “We commissioned scale B facilities last year and currently producing series A and B samples for our potential off-takers to test,” Mathur says. “We have supplied samples to a leading car manufacturer in early January 2024 and a European battery manufacturer for testing in their batteries in March 2024. The company hopes to sign a long-term offtake contract later this year following the qualification of the samples. “The next stage will be to build a 60 tonnes per year pilot plant and 1000t/year full scale production reactor train at the Kwinana site which is planned to be completed in Q1 2026,” he says. The final stage is to build and commission the full-scale 40,000t/year production plant, targeted for completion in 2028. The full-scale plant is expected to employ up to 50 operational and support roles.
Australia and Nepal signed a Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement (TIFA) on the margins of the Indian Ocean Conference in February 2024.
The Nepali diaspora of more than 150,000 is Australia’s fastest- growing migrant community, and the Australia-Nepal TIFA gives Australian businesses a solid foundation to expand their business networks and deepen connections with Nepal and the South Asia region. The TIFA will help Australia build on our services trade with Nepal. It is our seventh-highest services export destination, with services accounting for 95 per cent of our bilateral trade. It is rapidly increasing, having grown from $2.1 to $3.7 billion in the last three years. Much of this trade is in education in Australia’s world class institutions – so much so that Nepal is our third-largest international student market. This opens other trade opportunities as they take their skills home. Australia’s merchandise exports reached $135 million in 2023, driven by strong exports in vegetables and oil seeds. Nepal imported A$10 million of Australian wine in 2022‒23, meeting the needs
of a growing urban middle-class. Commodity exports to Nepal included $39 million of Australian coal. On the import side, Australia welcomes Nepal’s goods. In 2022‒23, Nepal’s exports to Australia totalled $873 million and included carpets and yarn, processed seed oils and flat-rolled steel. This solid mutual trade foundation is a basis for continued growth through the TIFA. There is potential for further Australian trade and investment in sectors such as green hydrogen, forestry, agriculture and tourism. A recent electricity supply agreement between Nepal and India should lead to significant growth in the hydro-electric sector and for the Nepali economy more broadly. Tied to this growth in hydro- electric, Australia’s development program is supporting the development of regional electricity markets, including by providing technical support to the integration of electricity markets in the South Asia region, through our World
Bank and International Finance Corporation funding. The Government of Nepal is taking active steps to attract investment, including from foreign investors. The 3rd Nepal Investment Summit in Kathmandu, to be held on 28-29 April 2024, is an example of these efforts. The TIFA provides a framework for a new Business Advisory Group established by Australia’s Embassy in Kathmandu to grow the trade relationship, and whether there are Australian companies which would be interested to explore the market in Nepal. Australia looks forward to the TIFA helping to harness opportunities and the strengthening of economic ties with Nepal across priority sectors in both our countries. Above: Tim Watts, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, front right, and Nepalese Ambassador to Australia Kailash Raj Pokharel, front left, sign the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement at the Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) in Perth, Australia, 9 February 2024. Looking on are Nepali Foreign Minister the Hon N P Saud, left, and Australian Foreign Minister Senator the Hon Penny Wong. Photo: Michael Godfrey
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business envoy
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
business envoy
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