Australian Consul General Les Luck, who will give the opening address at today's gathering, is a veteran Asia-Pacific watcher - particularly regarding his nation's bilateral relationship with Beijing.
China is now Australia's largest trading partner, with two-way trade having increased by 15.1 per cent last year to A$85.1 billion (HK$656.3 billion).
Australia offers many of the products China needs to continue its modernisation. 'It's a competitive and reliable supplier of minerals and energy resources including iron ore, coal, alumina, base metals and LNG,' Luck says. Minerals and fuels accounted for 75.3 per cent of Australia's merchandise exports to the mainland last year.
China is also a large consumer of Australia's agricultural products such as wool; 66 per cent of Chinese wool imports last year came from Australia.
The resources boom is undoubtedly one driven by rapid economic growth in emerging Asian economies, most notably China and India, and continuing strong demand from Australia's long-term traditional resources markets (Japan, Taiwan and South Korea).
The value of Australia's exports of resources has increased from A$37.9 billion in 1999 to A$130.8 billion last year. In volume terms, resources exports have increased by an average annual growth of 2.6 per cent per annum over this period.