On February 27, China Minmetals and China National Nuclear Corporation ("CNNC" for short) signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Beijing. Weng Zuliang, Party Group Secretary and Chairman of China Minmetals, and Yu Jianfeng, Secretary of the Leading Party Group and Chairman of CNNC witnessed the signing ceremony and held a working meeting. The meeting was attended by Guo Wenqing, President and Deputy Party Group Secretary of China Minmetals, Wang Jiezhi, Deputy Party Group Secretary and member of the Board of Directors of China Minmetals, Zhu Kebing, Party Group Member and Vice President of China Minmetals, and Cao Shudong and Zhang Kai, Members of the Leading Party Group and Vice Presidents of CNNC.

Weng Zuliang expressed his gratitude to CNNC for its long-term care and support to China Minmetals. He noted that China Minmetals had always been following the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and undertaking the founding mission of serving and reinvigorating the country through the metals and minerals industry. He stressed that in recent years, China Minmetals had continuously made its key responsibility and major business even stronger, better, and larger, and continued to enhance its competitiveness and capacity to ensure supply and stabilize prices of mineral resources. He hoped that both sides could take this signing as an opportunity to fully leverage their respective advantages, jointly serve national strategies, and continuously strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in mineral resource prospecting and development, overseas market collaboration and other fields. He also hoped that both sides could promote the integrated development of industrial chains of both sides, and better play the role of central state-owned enterprises ("central SOEs") in technological innovation, industrial control and security support by taking advantage of this opportunity.

Yu Jianfeng thanked China Minmetals for its strong support to the industrial development of CNNC. He stated that CNNC, as the mainstay of China's nuclear technology industry, had always firmly grasped its strategic position in the overall national development under the leadership of the CPC, and unswervingly pursued innovative development. He hoped that the two sides would take this strategic cooperation as an opportunity to continuously carry out pragmatic cooperation and collaborative innovation in the fields of mineral resources prospecting and development, overseas nuclear power plant construction and resource development, and fusion energy industry development, and shoulder the responsibilities of central SOEs in the construction of Chinese path to modernization.

Guo Wenqing noted that the businesses of both parties were highly compatible and complementary, and that our next step was to implement detailed cooperation projects for mutually beneficial and win-win development.

Zhu Kebing and Zhang Kai signed the strategic cooperation framework agreement on behalf of both parties. According to the agreement, both sides will establish a long-term strategic partnership based on the principles of "complementary advantages, resource sharing, mutual benefits and common development". They will strengthen collaborative efforts in areas such as mineral resource development, overseas market collaboration, technological innovation and industrial application, clean energy and environment, so as to enhance core competitiveness and core functions of both parties, and jointly create a new chapter of cooperative development.

The heads of China Minmetals' head offices and directly-managed enterprises, as well as relevant personnel from CNNC, participated in the event.