Trade Missions

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:41): Supplementary: can the minister say when this calendar will in fact be published or does he not value the time of businesses who need to actually plan for these events rather than just be left to the last minute?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:41): I thank the honourable member for her supplementary. They are not being left to the last minute. I don't recall the exact date that the actual request for the India trade mission was sent out. I am not even sure that I have been advised of the request for the CIIE, the international import expo in China, but I know that a number of firms have registered interest, serious interest, and a number have expressed a passing interest in that particular event in China.

I know some people have registered for India, so it has not been left to the last minute. They have been given many months to register an interest. Whether it is the honourable member and her colleagues who are wanting to register an interest, perhaps they could do that as well, but maybe they were not aware of it. Certainly, we are in constant contact with the business community, with a network of exporters and business-people to say we are going, that these are the areas of interest and that we want people to be involved.