A ‘WAGON’ meeting was held recently in a bid to further boost trade opportunities flowing to the Western Australia as a result of the current economic boom. WAGON stands for WA Government Overseas Network, and encompasses all of the state’s overseas trade offices. Department of Industry and Resources deputy director general of investment services Gary Stokes said the meeting was a good way of sharing the department’s expectations with its overseas trade staff, situated in various locations around the world. “It can be difficult to communicate what we require from our international trade offices, so we had them come here for a week, where we put together a business plan that we will review quarterly,” he said The department has worked hard to establish offshore trade offices to promote bilateral trade between WA and key export markets around the world. The China office in Shanghai is an example of the trade offices achieving success, helping to cement the recent $25 billion Guangdong deal for the supply of LNG from WA. Mr Stokes said that, generally, WA trade opportunities were promoted to overseas markets, while offshore investment was encouraged into the state. The London office, established in 1896 for WA’s then official representative in the British parliament, handles the European market, and there is an office in Dubai that looks after trade opportunities in the Middle East. In addition, there is an Indian office, as well as in the key Asian markets of Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan. A US office was established last year.