Austrlian top officials to attend Beijing Olympics
29/7/2008 18:10
The Australian government will be coming at a very high level led by Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd, said Australian Ambassador to China Geoff Raby in Beijing
on Tuesday.
Raby attended a news conference together with Johan Coates,
president of the Australian Olympic Committee at the Olympic Main Press Center
Tuesday morning, reassuring that they were confident with the security
arrangements the Chinese government has put in place.
"The Prime Minister
will be arriving on August 7 and will stay for a few days after the end of the
opening ceremony on August 8," said Raby.
The Prime Minister will be joined
by Sports Minister Kate Ellis, who will stay for much of the Games to support
the Australian athletes and the Governor General will arrive towards the end of
the Games and will attend the closing ceremony.
Australia finished fourth at
the previous two Olympic Games and is looking forward to another top-five
placing in Beijing with a strong squad of 434 athletes.
According to Raby,
who arrived in Beijing last February, the Chinese government has been putting a
very big effort to improve the security environment, as people can see obvious
security tightness at airports, railways and bus stops recently.
In terms of
travel advisory cautions, the Australian government put China in level two, with
the highest up to level five. "Level two is similar to what we have for Canada,
Germany, the United States and France," said Raby.
"We've got great
confidence in the Chinese government's capacity to ensure this is a secure and
safe Games," Raby said.
Xinhua
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