High-speed locomotive maker CRRC Corp said on Wednesday it is in talks with Australia's national research agency about cooperation opportunities involving technology and innovation.
Some details are still being negotiated with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), according to a press release the Chinese company sent to the Global Times Wednesday.
The discussion involves the establishment of an R&D center that will jointly develop rail transport in the two countries, said the release.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull proposed to build a high-speed rail link from Melbourne to Sydney within a decade, The Australian news-paper reported on Tuesday.
CRRC said that it would like to introduce advanced technologies relating to high-speed rail service to Australia.
The CSIRO, which is equivalent to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is part of the Australian delegation led by Minister for Trade and Investment Steven Ciobo as part of the ongoing Australia Week in China 2016 (AWIC), which runs from Monday to Friday this week.
A delegate with CRRC, who preferred to keep his name undisclosed, told the Global Times on Wednesday on the sidelines of the AWIC that CRRC also has interests in semiconductors and wastewater treatment, areas where it is looking for cooperation with Australian companies.
Wastewater treatment has become an emerging sector for CRRC, which is diversifying from its core business of locomotive production.
CRRC's net profit rose 122.36 percent year-on-year to 11.8 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) in 2015.
In August 2015, CRRC signed a deal with the government of Changshu, a city of East China's Jiangsu Province, to work together on wastewater treatment.
Wastewater in China's rural areas is seen as a promising sector, which media reports have said will be worth 200 billion yuan by 2035.
China, with its large population, is very attractive among Australia's investors and start-ups, Yan Zhenjun, executive president of the International Universities Innovation Alliance, told the Global Times Wednesday.
"Chinese people, on the contrary, usually think projects in the U.S. and EU more worthy of investment," said Yan.
But the plenary session of the AWIC on Wednesday, under the theme "Innovation," is perceived as a good chance by Chinese companies to get a peek at Australia's innovation ability and advanced technology in fields such as manufacturing materials, according to Yan.
Chinese foreign direct investment in Australia was worth A$30 billion ($23 billion) in 2014-15, official data showed.
