Mr. Guo Wenqing Attends On-line Roundtable Conference of China-Chile Business Council

On the evening of May 27, Beijing time, Mr. Guo Wenqing, Chinese Chairman of the China-Chile Business Council (CCBC), China Minmetals' President and MCC Chairman, attended On-line Roundtable Conference of China-Chile Business Council in Beijing and delivered a speech. Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister of Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China (MOFCOM) and Deputy China International Trade Representative, Rodrigo Yá?ez, Vice Minister of Chile's Ministry of Trade, and Francisco Silva, Chile's Chairman of CCBC and President of Banco Security, also attended the conference presided over by Yao Wenping, Executive Vice President of China Council for International Investment Promotion.

In his opening speech, Mr. Guo, first of all, on behalf of China Minmetals and CCBC in China, thanked Chile's understanding and support over the years, expressed sincere gratitude to their assistance to Chinese enterprises including China Minmetals, and extended heartfelt sympathy to enterprises still being troubled by the COVID-19.

Mr. Guo pointed out that COVID-19 had severely damaged the world economy as well as international trade and economic cooperation Facing the adverse situation, CCBC, as the most prestigious and largest economic and trade organization engaged in economic and trade investment between the two countries, has organized several on-line roundtable conferences, invited leaders of relevant government departments and business circles of the two countries to discuss the solution to China-Chile economic and trade development in the period of regular epidemic prevention and control and resume economic and trade activities. Besides, CCBC has provided the members with information release, publicity and promotion, project promotion and other services to minimize the impact of the epidemic on enterprises, and fully supported and participated in online and offline economic and trade activities. On top of that, CCBC has actively organized Chinese members to donate epidemic prevention materials to Chile to help combat the pandemic. Thanks to the joint efforts of the governments and businesses, the China-Chile economic and trade tie has stood the test. In 2020, our bilateral trade volume increased by 7.7% and nearly 50% in the first four months of this year. China remains Chile's the most important trading partner, source of imports and export destination. Meanwhile, Chile's share of mineral and agricultural products in the Chinese market keeps on expanding.

Mr. Guo stressed that the world was undergoing profound changes unseen in a century and international economic and trade cooperation was showing new features. Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a telephone conversation with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on December 15 last year, that China was willing to expand investment in agriculture, mining and infrastructure construction of Chile to seek new breakthroughs. The two countries reached a series of consensus including joint promotion of the sustained and in-depth development of China-Chile comprehensive strategic partnership. Next, CCBC in China will continue to follow the steps of the leaders of the two countries, further enhance close cooperation with CCBC in Chile in industries with complementary advantages and supply and demand, consolidate and deepen cooperation in traditional fields such as agriculture, mining and engineering, and promote resources and results sharing between the two countries. Besides, the two countries will focus on the new economic development pattern of carbon neutrality and emission peak, deepen cooperation in emerging areas such as new energy, new technology, greening and intelligence, and accelerate efforts to foster new economies as new driving force.

Mr. Guo also pointed out that China Minmetals, as the initiator and President of CCBC, managed assets of more than RMB 2 trillion, with its revenue of over RMB 700 billion last year, realizing the goal of quadrupling in three steps. In the first quarter of this year, its year-on-year revenue and profit increased significantly and hit a new record, making a good start in realizing its goal of generating revenue of over RMB 1 trillion and doubling profit in the 14th Five-Year Plan period. China Minmetals is one of the first companies involved in the economic and trade cooperation between China and Chile. After the establishment of diplomatic relation between the two countries in 1970, China Minmetals launched the trade of the first shipment of electrolytic copper between China and Chile. In 2005, it signed a 15-year sales agreement involving 840,000 tons of electrolytic copper with Chile's national copper industry, so it becomes the main force in the copper resources cooperation between the two countries. In the future, Minmetals will also play a leading role in deepening cooperation with Chilean mining companies with greater sincerity, so as to maximize resource values in larger markets, and make contribution to Chile's economic and social development with more investment. Mr. Guo also stressed that China Minmetals would team up with Chilean enterprises in the development of copper and lithium resources, treatment of mine tailings and construction of engineering projects.

Francisco Silva said in his opening speech that this year marked the 15th anniversary of the effectuation of the China-Chile Free Trade Agreement. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 on the world trade, the bilateral trade volume reached 43.802 billion U.S. dollars last year, with a year-on-year increase of 12%, thanks to the sound operation of the FTA and China's effective epidemic prevention and control. Up to now, China has invested about 15 billion U.S. dollars in Chile, accounting for about 10% of Chile's foreign direct investment, making great contributions to Chile's economic and social development and employment. In light of the essence of speeches by representatives of the governments and business circles of the two countries, CCBC will continue to expand its trade prospects and formulate favorable policies to help ensure the smooth passage of goods, services and investment between the two countries in a bid to promote better development of bilateral economic and trade relations.

Richard von Appen, President of SOFOFA, said in his speech that since its inception, CCBC had served as a platform for dialogues and exchanges between enterprises of the two countries, boosting cooperation based on mutual trust and benefits and promoting the development of a number of excellent projects. Efforts should be made to maintain a sound investment environment, protect Chinese enterprises by improving investment system and contribute to deepening the friendly business cooperation between the two countries.

Wang Shouwen and Rodrigo Yá?ez respectively delivered a speech under the theme of 'The Key Impact of Investment on Boosting China-Chile Economic and Trade Cooperation under the New Situation'. Wang pointed out that in response to the global outbreak of the COVID-19, MOFCOM and Chile's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had earnestly implemented the important consensus reached by the two heads of state on strengthening joint response to the pandemic, and had jointly issued the Joint Statement on Strengthening FTA Cooperation and Combating COVID-19. Wang indicated that two on-line roundtable conferences had been successfully held by CCBC to promote the steady development of China-Chile trade and investment. He also pointed out that with the concerted efforts, the China-Chile comprehensive strategic partnership had become closer and the momentum of good economic and trade cooperation had further emerged. He concluded that we will continue to promote diversified and high-quality two-way investment of China and Chile in key industries and sectors; encourage Chinese and Chilean companies to fulfill their social responsibilities; and strengthen cooperation in the WTO and jointly enhance the authority and effectiveness of the multilateral trading system. At the end, He hoped that CCBC would continue to serve and unite enterprises of the two countries, propel the mutual understanding and exchanges between the business circles of the two countries, and pursue the sustained and healthy development of bilateral investment and trade cooperation.

Rodrigo Yá?ez pointed out that, the deep friendship between China and Chile had been further consolidated and deepened amid the global outbreak of the COVID-19, and that the extensive cooperation between the two countries on the COVID-19 vaccine had played an essential role in Chile's implementation of its national immunization plan. The Chilean government expressed their appreciation to China for its selfless assistance to Chile in combating COVID-19. The Chilean government indicated that it would, as always, support the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries and further bolster the universal application of open and free markets. It was hoped that the two countries would further enhance exchanges in the fields of infrastructure construction, energy development, agriculture and digital application and establish more pragmatic and constructive bilateral relations.

In the end, Mr. Guo made a closing speech on behalf of CCBC in China. He revealed that CCBC would focus on three priorities in promoting two-way investment as follows:

The first is to further improve the dialogue and communication mechanism, play a better role in connecting the two countries, plan and organize online and offline communication activities, understand the problems faced by Chinese and Chilean enterprises in business activities, and timely report the needs for cooperation to the government departments of both countries.

The second is to further improve the policy and information services, pay more attention to the revision of various policies and regulations, changes in market demand, epidemic containment, sort out the relevant information in detail, and share the relevant information with the members in time. More efforts should be made to interpret and guide such documents as China-Chile Bilateral Free Trade Agreement and China-Chile Bilateral Investment Agreement, thus helping the members adapt to the new situation and take the lead in the new round of economic and trade cooperation.

The third is to actively seek opportunities of project cooperation, encourage Chinese companies to increase investment in Chile, serve Chilean companies in its investment in China, tap the potential of two-way investment and joint investment between China and Chile, and further enhance the interaction and cooperation between the two countries on the Belt and Road Initiative.

Jiao Jian, Vice President of China Minmetals, also attended the conference, together with the relevant personnel of China Minmetals's relevant headquarters departments and directly-managed enterprises, including Xue Fei, Zeng Gang, Liu Lijun, Xing Yan, Zhu Haitao, Yang Ruobing, Zhang Jinhong, Zhao Jing, He Ruijuan and Zhu Lina. On top of that, more than 200 people from the members of CCBC attended the online conference virtually.

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