Western Australia is establishing a new Invest and Trade office in the US as part of a diversification effort aimed at attracting new industries to the state.
The new office, which will be located in Austin, Texas, was established to expand WA’s trade and investment ties with the United States, create a pipeline of work across WA, and support local jobs and local businesses.
In a media release, the WA government said Austin presents significant investment and trade opportunities for WA across a range of industry areas, including advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, health and medical sciences, space industries, and creative and digital media technology.
The new US hub will reinforce the McGowan Government’s WA Jobs Plan to create new jobs for the future by building a skilled workforce with the capacity for long-term growth.
This involves attracting and maximising investment opportunities while positioning WA as the destination of choice for business investment, trade, international education, and tourism.
“They say ‘everything is bigger in Texas’ and we are confident that establishing our Americas hub in Austin will lead to bigger and better investment and trade opportunities for Western Australia,” Premier Mark McGowan said.
The United States ranked as WA’s sixth largest trading partner in 2022, with a total trade amounting to approximately $8.7 billion.
“The new hub will tap into this significant potential to grow our relationship across a range of sectors, and explore opportunities in other markets across the region, outside of the US.”
The new US hub will be the sixth regional office in the WA government’s global Invest and Trade WA Network, which now includes ASEAN, Greater China, India-Gulf, North East Asia, and the United Kingdom.
“Through the new Americas hub, the WA Government will be better placed to facilitate and support opportunities to increase production of these commodities. This will help to diversify the State’s production and fiscal base, and provide an opening for further downstream processing and involvement in global supply chains,” said State Development, Jobs and Trade Minister Roger Cook.
The new office builds on WA and Texas’ existing relationship in the oil and gas industry and similarities in the economic structure and development priorities between the two states.
