Group photo of Guo Wenqing and Peruvian Prime Minister Fernando Martín Zavala Lombardi and others

Group photo of Guo Wenqing and Peruvian Prime Minister Fernando Martín Zavala Lombardi

Group photo of Guo Wenqing and Jia Guide, Chinese Ambassador to Peru

On November 15, Guo Wenqing, General Manager & Leading Party Group Deputy Secretary of China Minmetals Corporation as well as Chairman and Party Secretary of MCC, met in Lima with Fernando Martín Zavala Lombardi, Prime Minister of Peru. The two sides held talks in a cordial and friendly atmosphere and exchanged views on ensuring the smooth operation of Las Bambas Project and strengthening cooperation in such fields as mining development, municipal infrastructure construction, road traffic, rail transit, ports and airports and industrial parks.

Guo Wenqing first extended his gratitude to the Peruvian government for the great support to the Las Bambas Project of Minmetals, and briefed upon the basic situation of Minmetals. He pointed out that through strategic restructuring with MCC, Minmetals has integrated advantages throughout the industry chain, from resource acquisition, exploration, design, construction, operation to circulation. The new Minmetals boasts more than RMB 750 billion in assets and 240,000 on-the-job workers, and it is clearly positioned as “China’s best and a world-class metal and mining enterprise group”. Las Bambas Copper Mine is the largest project invested by China in the overseas mining industry, which is operated by MMG under Minmetals. Guided by the strategy of sustainable development, Las Bambas has invested USD 250 million in improving people’s livelihood through its community foundation. At the same time, the smooth operation of the project not only has brought stable revenue to the Peruvian government, but also will promote the employment and trade development in surrounding communities.

Guo Wenqing said that along with the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Peru, economic and trade activities between the two countries have developed rapidly. As one of the largest investment enterprises in Peru, Minmetals will further carry out good-faith cooperation with Peru in mining development, capacity cooperation, infrastructure construction and other areas. On the occasion of General Secretary Xi’s visit to Peru, Minmetals plans to enter into the memorandum of cooperation on infrastructure construction with the inter-governmental alliance in five Andean regions, so as to get truly rooted in Peru and fully serve the Peruvian people.

Zavala expressed his welcome and gratitude to Guo Wenqing and briefed upon the basic situation of the mining industry and infrastructure in Peru. President Kuczynski has chosen China as the first country to visit after taking office, fully demonstrating the new Peruvian government has attached great importance to the relationship between Peru and China and has high expectations for future development, said him. Mining is a pillar industry in Peru’s economy, but its development has been hindered by poor infrastructure to a certain extent, so Peru looks forward to enhanced cooperation with China in many areas, added him. Las Bambas Copper Mine is essential to economic development in Peru, so, the governments of Peru at three levels (namely, the central government, the regional government and the community government) will actively cooperate with enterprises in community work to ensure the stable operation of the project.

On the same day, Guo Wenqing and his delegation met Jia Guide, Chinese Ambassador to Peru. Ambassador Jia Guide said that the comprehensive bilateral strategic partnership between China and Peru has maintained a good momentum of development, which is inseparable from the vigorous development of economic cooperation between the two countries. As a flagship project, the Las Bambas Project is an important highlight of such partnership. At all stages of its construction and operation, the project has been a matter of widespread concern from all walks of life. Both the previous Peruvian government and the current Peruvian government have expected much from the project. The new administration of Kuczynski is committed to the development of Peru's infrastructure. Through promoting inter-city rail transit construction, it will explore means of deep processing of mineral products and vigorously promote the country's industrialization process. Therefore, it looks forward to enhanced cooperation with large Chinese enterprises, particularly Minmetals. There are new growth points for the business of Minmetals in Peru. Guo Wenqing expressed his gratitude for the Embassy of China in Peru for its great support to the Las Bambas Project over the years and to the working teams of Minmetals in Peru for their guidance and care, saying Minmetals will actively explore the market and such business opportunities as resource development infrastructure construction in Peru, a strategic support area of Minmetals in Latin America. Guo Wenqing briefed Ambassador Jia Guide upon the combination between Minmetals and MCC as well as the fact that Minmetals had been approved as a state-owned capital investment company. The two sides also exchanged views on some project issues like community development and transportation.

Jiao Jian, Deputy General Manager and Party Member of Minmetals; Zhang Ye, Director of General Office & Party Group Office & Board Office of Minmetals; Lu Zhifang, Chairman of China ENFI Engineering Corp.; and Drago, Deputy General Manager of Public Relations of Las Bambas; were also present at the events.