"Australian industry warmly welcomes today's meeting between Prime Minister Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping as hopefully the first step in thawing what has been a decade of increasingly troubled relations," Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association Ai Group said today.
"Australian businesses from across the economy have been the unfortunate victims of the deteriorating relationship as legitimate security interests have been played out.
"It is highly unlikely that, with ongoing geo-political tensions in our region, the overall relationship will any time soon regain its former diverse economic momentum. Even though China remains an important economic partner, much of Australian industry found new markets and new sources of supply as the relationship deteriorated.
"However, industry strongly hopes that today's meeting can provide a platform for ongoing political dialogue that over time opens the way for a new and more stable economic and business relationship between our two countries," Mr Willox said.
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