AmCham Australia is always looking at ways to benefit our members. A significant area of our work is with government and international trade organisations: sharing information, giving visibility to issues of concern to our members, exploring official positions to better understand how trade and development can be fostered, etc. Today I’d like to highlight some of the work we are doing in these areas, and I invite our members to participate where possible.

I recently attended the 2018 APCAC Business Summit, bringing together the 29 American Chambers of Commerce in the Asia-Pacific region in Malaysia. In the company of hundreds of other business and government leaders, I participated in sessions on American Business in the Asian Century. Topics focused heavily around technology, including cyber security, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IOT), fintech, e-health, and the digital economy. Talks about US trade policy also figured prominently, as well as infrastructure investment. Along with me representing AmCham Australia was my friend and colleague from the US Embassy Canberra, Deputy Chief of Mission Mike Heath. There were also many American companies who are involved in AmChams throughout the Asia-Pacific, such as Bechtel, Caterpillar, Cisco Systems, Coca Cola, Dell, Ernst & Young , ExxonMobil, FedEx, GE, Google, Honeywell, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan, Microsoft, PwC, and Visa. And a special mention to Kristen Foster from eBay Australia who moderated an excellent discussion on Asian Integration. We will be continuing these cross-border discussions throughout the year at our events and committee meetings. I encourage you to let me know if you would like to participate in next year's APCAC conference as a speaker, sponsor, or delegate.