STATE PROFILES – VICTORIA AUSTRALIA Strong ties with the Arab nations
South Wales, handling around 25 per cent of the national economy. Melbourne, the capital of Victoria is
V
well known for its cosmopolitan nature and offers some of Australia’s best shopping, as well as a celebrated café culture. Victoria is proud of its varied demographic makeup – Victorians come from over 200 countries, and over 20 per cent of Victorians speak a language other than English at home. Melbourne is also known as Australia’s cultural capital, with a strong and vibrant arts community, all of which contribute to The Economist ranking Melbourne the world’s second most liveable city in the world in 2009. There is a very strong Omani
population living in Victoria, as more and more Omani students look Victoria for education and training. In 2009 many Omani pilot trainees also completed their pilot training program through RMIT in order to become Omani air pilots. There are now 131 Omani pilots that have been trained in Melbourne. The Consulate-General of the Sultanate of Oman is based in Melbourne, with its main focus being the development of education, trade
ictoria is Australia’s second most populous state and boasts the second largest state economy after New
and tourism links between Australia and Oman. Victoria’s financial strength is a
product of its broad-based economy. Victoria has strong trading links with the Middle East, importing nearly A$300m worth of commodities from the Arab League and exporting nearly $3 billion in commodities, largely consisting of motor vehicles, meat and dairy products. The Port of Melbourne is one of Australia’s largest ports with shipping services to the Middle East. Three Middle East countries are in the top 20 Victorian export markets. Saudi Arabia is ranked sixth, the United Arab Emirates ranked tenth and Oman ranked sixteenth. Services and investment
into the Arabian Peninsula are also on an upward trend for Victoria, especially with Victorian building and construction companies looking to the lucrative housing market in Saudi Arabia and the UAE for opportunities. The Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind has also had success in exporting technologies, services and resources to the UAE. According to Peter Linford, the ex-Australian Senior Trade Commissioner for the Middle East, “Australia’s expertise in medical technology and knowledge- based services is paying dividends in the Middle East, and the Royal Society’s excellent work in Dubai is just one example of this.”
LEFT: Melbourne is renowned for its shopping.
BELOW: The Docklands region, on Melbourne’s Yarra River.
ABOVE: Melbourne city.
LEFT: The world- famous Emirates Melbourne Cup.
Sport is extremely popular in
Victoria and Melbourne, with its world- class sporting facilities having hosted events such as the 1956 Summer Olympics, 2006 Commonwealth Games, and the FINA World Swimming Championships. Tapping into the strong sporting culture in Victoria, Middle Eastern Airlines are using it as an ideal platform to boost brand awareness in Australia. Etihad Airlines has naming rights partner to Dockland Stadium in inner-city Melbourne, which gives massive exposure to the airline through major events in Australian Rules Football, football (soccer), rugby union and cricket, as well as several concerts from top international acts each year. In 2006 alone over 2.7 million spectators passed through the stadium. Emirates has been the naming rights sponsor of the Melbourne Cup horse race – known in Australia as “the race that stops the nation” – since 2004. This has built brand awareness of the Emirates airline not just in Victoria, but all around Australia. p
AUSTRALIA AND THE ARAB COUNTRIES | 2010 77
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