Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is set to begin her 5-day visit to China on Friday. During her visit, Gillard will attend the Boao Forum For Asia to be held in Hainan Province and meet with China’s new leaders.
Gillard and her delegation will have a series of discussions with their Chinese counterparts on trade, investment and education. They will also talk about issues related to regional security. The Prime Minister is expected to sign a currency deal with China to allow the direct conversion of the Australian dollar into Chinese Renminbi. In a speech on Tursday, Gillard said Australia must prepare for the coming of an Asian century.
Julia Gillard said, "The Asian century will also involve difficult adjustments, and high dollar is a clear example of this. It’s painful to many sectors. But like Germany, under the towering Deutsche mark in the days before the euro, a high currency need not be a barrier to making products and services of such quality that our partners still want to buy them. "