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For a state that takes pride in politeness and manners, South Carolina has done a pretty poor job with its sister state of Queensland, Australia.

By Andy Brack

For a state that takes pride in politeness and manners, South Carolina has done a pretty poor job with its sister state of Queensland, Australia.

Fortunately, it seems like we’re starting to get our act together.

Back in 1999, Gov. Jim Hodges signed a sister state agreement with Queensland to cooperate, collaborate and boost business ties. Among the areas of common interest were tourism, which is big business in Queensland, ports, business development and joint university projects that could spin off jobs.

At the time – just like now – the idea made good sense because of our similarities and complementary conditions. Queensland, which has about the same population as South Carolina, has economic roots that relied on agriculture and natural resources. And like our state, Queensland has been itching to be more vibrant economically in the 21st century.

We’re really not in competition with the Queensland universities,” explained Karl Kelly, head of SC Bio, a kind of Chamber of Commerce in South Carolina to push biotechnology initiatives. “This collaboration with Queensland makes the entities stronger. We simply go [forward] faster by working together. It’s about building a bigger research engine.”

So far, however, Queenslanders have been doing more of the heavy lifting in the relationship, despite several successes. Cases in point:

• Queensland has sent 10 official delegations to South Carolina since 1999, including five led by its progressive head of state, Premier Peter Beattie. South Carolina has sent two delegations, neither led by a governor.

• In a spirit of goodwill, Queensland donated two koalas to South Carolina’s Riverbanks Zoo – a gesture that shows a deep institutional and cultural commitment to the Palmetto State. For Queensland, giving two koalas (and helping to get two more) is a very big deal– the cultural equivalent of Americans donating a bald eagle or Hank Aaron giving the baseball from his record-breaking 715th home run to someone. What have we given Queensland? A decorated metal palmetto tree, which certainly is a nice gift that now is in a park in Brisbane (Queensland’s capital city), but not something with the emotional complexity of koalas.

“We really have never reciprocated to Brisbane to the level that Peter Beattie has done here,” admitted Clarke Thompson, a Queensland enthusiast who directs export development for the S.C. Department of Commerce. “If we can send a high-level delegation of leaders to him, he would eat it up and greatly appreciate it.”

That trip, the first real official trade mission to Queensland, is planned for late October. It may be led by Commerce head Joe Taylor, or perhaps Gov. Mark Sanford, who renewed ties with Beattie during a May visit to Columbia.

“The opportunities to South Carolinians to enhance their import-export business in tremendous,” said South Carolina’s former state tourism director, John Durst, a long-time friend of Queensland.

One of the big positives of the sister-state relationship is what these two small states can do for each other.

For the Pametto State, Queensland offers a springboard for S.C. businesses to enter the Asian market. Queensland already has significant ties with China, Japan, Korea and other countries. As a partner, our business can work with Queensland’s business development offices in Asian countries to improve the balance of trade to South Carolina. And because Queensland is culturally similar (same language, same British heritage), it makes sense for S.C. businesses to have major offices in Brisbane.

Similarly, Queensland businesses need a friend in America where they can enter the marketplace. Instead of locating in California or some other state they can use South Carolina, with its strong port system, as a launching pad into the American market– the world’s richest.

The sister-state relationship has been somewhat ignored by South Carolina for too long. Now that our economy is healing, it’s time for us to reach out to people who want to be our friends so we can boost business on both sides of the globe– and perhaps build more jobs here.