The importance of my country to the world - Australia

Hi all,

This is my first post to the One At All Project and I'm very happy to be a contributor to such a cool international forum!

Australia is a country of primary industries. Wool, meat, livestock, wheat and minerals are our biggest exports. Actually, since we export these items in bulk and import manufactured items in containers, our biggest export is actually empty shipping containers! We have a growing services and tourism market too, so we are constantly trying to encourage tourists. You might have heard of our recent, unsuccessful tourism slogan, "So where the bloody hell are you?"

We have been selling a lot of minerals and fossil fuels to China's booming manufacturing markets and we're trying to sell a lot of uranium to many countries, including Russia and China - read into that what you will!

Culturally, Australia is a young and multicultural society. This means our identity - what it means to be 'Australian' - isn't clear at all and we're all learning as we go.

Our importance to the world is very limited due to our location. We aren't a hub of activity, we are an end destination. We have had to create our own place in the world. We have had a very strong focus over the last decade on our 'region'. That is, south-east Asia and the south pacific. We try to support developing countries in the region with capability building projects and expertise in areas such as government financial management, infrastructure and security. We also try to support other countries with policing and military issues. We have been sending troops to help maintain order in many nearby countries including the Solomon Islands, East Timor, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. We also have small contingents of troops in more political locations such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

We are very proud of the Sydney 2000 Olympics, which were a HUGE source of pride for Australians and we are looking forward to hosting our biggest, most important event ever: the APEC 2007 meetings from January to September next year. We are hoping to show the world how to come to Australia for business, fun and profit!