From May 22 to 27, to coincide with the state visit to four Latin American countries by Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, Chairman He Wenbo headed a delegation to Peru to attend the seminar for Chinese enterprises and delivered a work report to Premier Li Keqiang. Chairman He and his delegation also went to Chile for the economic and trade seminar marking the 45th anniversary of the establishment of China-Chile diplomatic relations and delivered a speech. During this period, He Wenbo also paid a field visit to the Las Bambas Copper Project of China Minmetals Non-ferrous Metals Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Las Bambas Project”) and was invited to visit the El Teniente Copper Mine and Caletones Refinery under Codelco. The visit was a complete success.
On the morning of May 23 (local time), Premier Li Keqiang presided over the seminar for Chinese enterprises in Lima, Peru, was briefed by a number of representatives from Chinese enterprises including China Minmetals on their production and business operation, and had talks with production line employees of Chinese enterprises through remote videos.
At the seminar, on behalf of the Chinese enterprises, He Wenbo briefed Premier Li on the profile of investment of Minmetals in Peru, his work experience, the features, progress, production plans, and social responsibility of the Las Bambas Project. Based on his own experience, He also put forward his opinions and suggestions on how Chinese enterprises should support each other in expanding overseas operations and promote the development of China's equipment manufacturing industry and international production capacity cooperation, and on how to seize the opportunity to expand trade and investment in Latin America. He recognized the successful merger and acquisition of the Las Bambas Project as a typical case of full cooperation between the Chinese government, enterprises and banks through fulfillment of their respective duties, saying China Minmetals Corporation has confidence in building the Project into a model project for supporting each other in expanding overseas operations and cluster development. Meanwhile, he expressed his sincere gratitude to State Council leaders and relevant government departments for their meticulous guidance and great support.
Premier Li Keqiang was very satisfied with He Wenbo’s report, saying that “your opinions and suggestions on how Chinese enterprises should support each other in expanding overseas operations are very important. We should promote transformation and upgrading cooperation between China and Peru through production capacity cooperation, combine China’s advantageous production capacity with Peru’s needs for economic development, and boost domestic exports and industrial upgrading through promoting economic development in Peru. The government will further provide policy support to enterprises in their efforts to go global. Chinese enterprises in the mining industry and equipment manufacturing industry in Peru and financial institutions should support each other for positive interaction and common development.”
Then, Zhang Jinhong, the technical director assigned by China Minmetals Corporation to the Las Bambas Project, reported to Premier Li through a remote video on the progress of major works such as the concentrator, tailings reservoir, primary crushing station and surface mining area of the Project at the construction site at an altitude of 4300 meters. 50 local workers in a red jacket and white helmet carried a banner with the slogan of “Hello, Premier”, took off their helmets and greeted Premier Li with a wave, and shouted in unison in Spanish: “Hello, Premier!”
Premier Li Keqiang cordially greeted all the employees at the construction project through the video and extended his warm congratulations to China Minmetals. He hoped that the Chinese and foreign employees would make further efforts to complete the project as soon as possible. He particularly urged the Chinese employees working in the plateau region to take care of themselves, and asked the enterprises that had sent them to take good care of them.
On May 22, He Wenbo held a breakfast meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Peru Huang Minhui to learn about the investment and development of Chinese enterprises in Peru, and consulted Ambassador Huang on the business development of Minmetals in Peru. Then, He Wenbo and his delegation met with Rosa María Soledad Ortiz Ríos, Minister of Energy and Mines of Peru. He expressed his gratitude to the Government of Peru for its support to Minmetals in business development in Peru over the years, saying China Minmetals Corporation and its MMG will go all out to put the project into production on schedule and will actively fulfill its corporate social responsibility. He hoped the Government of Peru will further act as a bridge to promote good interaction between the government, enterprises, and local communities. Minister Ortiz said that since the Las Bambas Project is of great significance to Apurimac Region and even to the entire Peru, governments and departments of Peru at all levels will follow closely its progress and are willing to provide any possible support and assistance to facilitate its smooth progress.
On the morning of May 24, He Wenbo and his delegation went to the construction site of the Las Bambas Project, paid a field visit to the construction and installation of the mining field, concentrator and relevant equipment and facilities, and inquired about the overall progress and future operational plan of the Project. He said that as the Project is of great significance to Minmetals, all cadres and employees should work together and overcome difficulties to put the Project into operation as soon as possible. At the same time, he also expressed his sincere gratitude to the production line workers on the plateau and asked them to take good care of themselves.
On the morning of May 26 local time, Premier Li Keqiang and Chilean President Bachelet jointly attended the opening ceremony of the economic and trade seminar marking the 45th anniversary of the establishment of China-Chile diplomatic relations & the 7th Meeting of China-Chile Business Council and delivered a speech respectively. Before the opening ceremony, He Wenbo accompanied Gao Hucheng, Minister of Commerce of China, to greet at the venue door President Bachelet and Premier Li Keqiang, and they accompanied the two leaders for autographing.
In his speech, Premier Li Keqiang said that many records have been created in the cooperation between China and Chile. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of China-Chile diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the signing of the free trade agreement. It is hoped that both sides could take infrastructure construction as a foothold in strengthening production capacity cooperation, namely industrial and investment cooperation. The two countries should promote cooperation in equipment manufacturing, focus on development of the real economy, jointly respond to the downward pressure of economy and promote world economic recovery. Michelle Bachelet said in her speech that Chile is willing to work with China to launch the upgrading process of the bilateral free trade agreement, expand mutual investment and strengthen cooperation in infrastructure construction, energy and other areas by taking full advantage of the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation, deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and expand financial cooperation and promote the internationalization of RMB in Latin America, so as to jointly lift the bilateral relations to a new high and strive for more "firsts".
After the speech of the two leaders, He Wenbo delivered a speech on the stage in the capacity of the head of the chairmanship of the China-Chile Business Council. He said that enterprises are the main players in economic and trade cooperation between China and Chile. In this process, inter-enterprise organizations will also play an important role. To promote all-round, in-depth, pragmatic and efficient cooperation between enterprises, the China-Chile Business Council shall play the following three roles: first, to promote interaction between the government and enterprises; second, to serve as a platform for communication and exchanges; third, to provide value-added services.
Before the meeting, He Wenbo also attended the first China-Chile Dialogue for Economic Cooperation and coordination, and discussed mining cooperation, planning for the Railroad linking Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and other matters proposed at the meeting with relevant government officials.
On May 26 and 27, at the invitation of Oscar Landerretche, Chairman of Corporación Nacional del Cobre (Codelco), He Wenbo and his delegation paid a visit to Codelco and visited the world’s largest underground copper mine El Teniente and its Caletones Refinery. Chairman Landerretche introduced the mining and investment plan of Codelco for the future 5 years, saying that they will further develop old mines, include Chinese construction machines and mining equipment in its procurement plan, introduce advanced Chinese smelting technology, and strive to find reliable strategic partners. He Wenbo said that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the upgrading of the equipment manufacturing industry and the acceleration of internationalization of China’s equipment manufacturing enterprises. As a state-owned enterprise, the business strategy of Minmetals is in line with the national strategy, and the two sides have a broad prospect for cooperation.
During his visit, He Wenbo was also briefed by the Minmetals Latin American Office, MMG, and MINMETALS, INC. (L.A.). He also conveyed his greetings to cadres and employees and proposed work requirements.
Jiao Jian, President Assistant of China Minmetals and General Manager of Minmetals Non-ferrous Metals Holdings, and Zhou Wei, Assistant General Manager of China Minmetals, were also present at the above activities.
