G’Day USA – Australia Week  is a collaboration between the Australian Government (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Trade Commission and Tourism Australia), Qantas Airways and five Australian State governments (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria), with strong support from business, universities and the arts community.

2011 represented the G’Day USA  program’s eighth year and it remains the largest foreign country promotion held in the US. The Financial Services Technology Forum is managed by Austrade and went to Boston for the first time in 2011.   Australia’s Ambassador to the US, the Hon. Kim Beazley, was a keynote speaker at both events. 

The theme of the forum – Australia’s growth and the role of Asia – attracted questions on the proposed ASX-SGX merger; the Government’s role in making Australia into a financial services hub; the future of Asia’s growth; and what role Australia plays in the region for foreign investors.

Both events included a panel involving representatives from Australia and the US funds management sector.

The Financial Services Technology Forums featured presentations from three global financial services leaders on technology solutions for the financial services industry. This included Command Hub CEO, Richard Cousins, discussing Sensitive Data Handling and Security; Michael Karbouris SMARTS Group Americas, Managing Director on Market Surveillance Analytics; while Phil Davies, Milestone Group’s Chief Technology Officer and Global Head of Products, profiled the role of technology in Funds Management Operations.

Austrade has a network devoted to the US market. It provides extensive support for Australian exporters and assists US companies to invest into Australia.

G’Day USA 2011 was the first time that Australia’s new international brand identity ‘Australia Unlimited’ was been promoted in the USA.