New South Wales (NSW) is one of Australia's eight states. The capital city of this state is Sydney, which is the largest city in Australia. New South Wales is located in the south-east of the country. This state is bordered on the north by Queensland, on the south by Victoria, on the west by South Australia and limited from the east by the Pacific Ocean. Its surface is more than 8000 square kilometres. The highest point is in the Snowy Mountains, where the height is 2228m above sea level. New South Wales has a population of 6,889,100 people and encompasses one third of the entire population of Australia. Some other important cities of New South Wales are Newcastle, Wollongong, Sutherland and Blacktown.

62.9 billion dollars has been invested to create jobs and increase the business activities so far. This investment has led to the creation of schools, roads, and an advanced railway system. This has improved the quality of life, work and business.

Every year the NSW Department of Trade and Investment publishes the results of its latest research and industrial information in order to compare this state with the other states of Australia. This report demonstrates the competitive advantages of NSW and provides valuable information to people who are willing to live or invest in Australia. This report covers these items:

• Business and industrial affairs
• Quality and cost of living
• People skills and education
• Investment
• Business costs and infrastructure

Sydney is the oldest city of Australia, and is almost 220 years old. Sydney is an iconic and multicultural city. It has a mild climate and the temperature rarely reaches below 5 degrees. The average temperature in summer is 30 degrees. Sydney has a very good public transport system, including buses, rail, metro light rail, monorail, and ferries. Sydney's international airport is named Kingsford Smith, and at an international level it has the code SYD or YSSY in IKAO. This airport, which is located in Sydney's suburbs, is one of the few airports in the world that, since opening, has served the passengers without any interruptions. This airport has the highest traffic in Australia, so that in 2003 it was the 28^th busiest airport in the world.

Places to visit in Sydney:

• Sydney Opera House
• Sydney Harbour Bridge
• Sydney Town Hall
• The Wharf Theatre
• Botanic gardens
• Sydney Olympic Park
• Darling Harbour
• Sydney Museum

Some of the major Australian universities are located in Sydney, for example

• University of Sydney
• University of New South Wales
• University of Technology, Sydney (UTS)