Doing Business Abroad

The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located 2,600 kilometers (1,600 mi) northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, 360 km (220 mi) south of the Indonesia capital, Jakarta, and 975 km (606 mi) ENE of the Cocos Island.

It has a population of 1,403 residents who live in a number of "settlement areas" on the northern tip of the island: Flying Fish Cove (also known as Kampong), Silver city, Poon Saan, and Drumsite.

Positioned on the threshold of South East Asia, the Island carries significant strategic value for Australian’s security, commercial and operational interest.

Christmas Island is of great ethnic and culture variety, it's kind of multicultural mix. Today most residents are Chinese followed by Australian/Europeans and Malay. The official language of the island is English, but you can hear there also Chinese with its four dialects (especially Cantonese), Bahasa Malayu (spoken by the Malay Community) and even few European languages, like German for exapmle. You can be also suprised by religious tolerance which is evident for the habitants. Buddhist (36%), Muslim (25%), Christian (18%) and believers of others religions live in harmony.

Australian has the best prospects of maintaining this strategic asset by ensuring there is a viable civilian economy based on the island. Allowing the Island population to fall to very low levels is not in the national interest.

Retaining a viable community involves ensuring the island has a sound economic base. The economy base of the island has been and continues to be Phosphate mining. It has sustained this remote, multicultural, Indian Ocean community since 1900.