Companies such as Beach Energy, San Remo Pasta, Coffey International, URS Limited and the ANZ Bank have been working together with the Institute for International Trade at the University of Adelaide and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to identify innovative projects that can serve the dual purpose of expanding Australia's business interests while creating jobs, training and support for low income communities and businesses in developing nations.

The development of this new network, the Australian Trade and Development Business Network, is based on the fact that one of the best ways to reduce poverty and stimulate economic development is to encourage investment and the growth of businesses that create employment and higher incomes.

However, new businesses in developing countries need skilled workforces, better education, improved health and enhanced infrastructure. ATAB believes that business, government, universities and aid agencies can work together to deliver these outcomes more effectively, rather than working on parallel tracks in isolation.

The formation of ATAB coincides with the announcement of new directions for Australia's foreign aid program. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop recently announced a new aid paradigm for Australia that envisions a more proactive and collaborative role for Australian businesses in Australia's overseas development efforts.

Experience shows that encouraging greater private sector participation in poverty reduction makes good sense. For example, Shell Oil Company, in pursuit of its own business interests, spends approximately $17 billion a year on goods and services purchased from locally owned small and medium sized businesses, growing jobs and increasing income in those economies.

As many developing countries move out of extreme poverty it is logical to shift the emphasis to sustainable economic development that is grounded in the growth of commercial enterprises.

The private sector is essential for sustained economic development as it can offer long-term investment, create employment, develop infrastructure, provide services that often can substitute for government services, provide income for local investors and contributes taxes and royalty revenue - some of the key enablers for economic development.

The facts are also compelling from a development perspective. According to studies conducted by the British Department for International Development, long-term per capita growth of over 3 per cent, as driven by trade and the private sector, is generally accompanied by significant falls in poverty.

With this in mind, the Institute for International Trade has been working closely with a number of interested and highly reputable businesses from around Adelaide and across Australia on how new partnerships for development could form and work well together on a long-term basis.

For example, Beach Energy has been working with DFAT, Austraining International and the Institute for International Trade on a project involving Tanzania, where very large offshore gas discoveries have recently been made. Exploitation of this resource will require significant numbers of trained personnel, on a scale indicating that Tanzania will face even bigger training challenges than Queensland and Western Australia saw in the recent past.

As in Australia, private companies will implement specialised training programs to address their needs. However, Tanzania will also require a large increase in certificate courses, diploma courses, degree courses and many support industry training courses to ensure that, in the long-term, Tanzanians rather than just expatriates will benefit from the increased employment and training opportunities arising from the utilisation of natural resources in Tanzania.

Ideally this creates a 'win-win' outcome. Beach Energy gets access to well-trained local staff, while developing a strong reputation as a responsible business contributing to the local economy. Meanwhile, the local community - not simply expatriates - find jobs and training and can contribute to and grow their local economy.

Projects such as these often come under the banner of what is called 'aid for trade', which Minister Bishop has correctly signalled as a flagship of the Coalition Government's aid program. When well-targeted and driven by mutual interest, it builds self-reliance through helping small and medium sized businesses in poorer regions to utilise and benefit from international trade.

ATAB, harnessing the knowledge of business, the research and educational expertise of universities and the aid, trade and diplomatic experience of DFAT, seeks to maximise the potential economic and development gains.

Australia will benefit from increased trade with developing countries in our region and beyond, benefiting not only from lower priced goods and services they may produce, but more importantly, as they develop, our developing country trading partners become consumers of Australian expertise, services, raw materials and agricultural products.

While all of this sounds very positive, it is easier said than done. Business needs to understand the development case, and government needs to understand business. There needs to be clear agreement about where the common ground is between commercial objectives and poverty reduction outcomes.

This is where the new business network takes prominence. ATAB developed to help facilitate effective private public sector partnerships. ATAB will aim to work closely with DFAT and others in the Australian Government to help companies find the strategic points of connection between their core business interests and poverty reduction outcomes.

ATAB is keen to assist government with private sector perspectives and provide a breeding ground for innovative models for successful partnerships for development.

In perspective, it is sobering to recall that in one of our closest neighbours, Indonesia, approximately 33 million people, roughly 50% more than the entire population of Australia, currently to live below the poverty line of US $1.50 per day.

If through the combined and innovative efforts of private sector partnerships with government, aid agencies and universities we can help to seriously impact on poverty both regionally and globally, we are all winners. Poverty reduction contributes to political stability, a more prosperous region and increased trade between countries - and that's good for the private sector and the poor alike.