(Bloomberg) -- The head of Australia’s A$193 billion ($130 billion) sovereign wealth fund said the warming of diplomatic relations between Canberra and Beijing was a “positive development” and it still sees opportunities to invest in China. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali this week for about 30 minutes. It was the first face-to-face meeting between leaders of the two nations in almost three years.  

“It’s good for investors and it’s good for the world if everyone gets on and can cooperate,” Future Fund Chief Executive Officer Raphael Arndt said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the New Economy Forum in Singapore. “So that is really positive and we hope there is more of that coming together.” 

Arndt said Australia had a large exposure to China as a major trading partner, and despite challenges in recent years he still sees opportunities. 

“For many years the Chinese entrepreneurship and the private equity sector has been very attractive to us and we have a lot of investments into that sector,” he said. “In the last few years obviously there’s been tension between the Australian and Chinese governments and obviously between the Chinese and US, and that’s given us some pause to think carefully about that.”

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Arndt pointed to China’s intervention in industries including education and gaming as reasons to be “very thoughtful,” saying Xi’s government clearly doesn’t want entrepreneurship in those sectors. 

“There is a huge opportunity still and we’d like to see the Chinese government being more willing to accept foreign investment and let the markets operate,” he said. 

--With assistance from Shery Ahn.

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