The tropical northern Australian city of Cairns will host a meeting of G20 finance ministers and the central bank governors in 2014, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said today.
The Queensland capital of Brisbane was named last month as the host of the G20 summit in 2014, and at that time the government said the lead-up meeting of finance ministers would take place elsewhere in the state.
“It will be a great opportunity to showcase this wonderful place to the world, to showcase the delights of tropical north Queensland, to showcase to the world Queensland and Australia,” Julia Gillard said in Cairns.
The government said it was keen to hold the meeting in Cairns, a tourist centre and a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, given that the industry has been hard hit by the strong Australian dollar.