On April 15, Guo Wenqing, general manager of China Minmetals and chairman of China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC Group), held a video conference with Jean-Sebastian Jacques, the CEO of Rio Tinto Group. Both parties friendly discussed further cooperation such as long-term trading agreement in detail.
As the conference began, Guo Wenqing gave his kind regards to the other party, asked about the current COVID-19 pandemic situation in Australia and regions where the businesses of the Rio Tinto Group were carried out. Then he explained that on-site communication cannot be conducted for the time being due to the pandemic, and this video conference was an alternative choice to further strengthen bilateral cooperation. Mr. Guo introduced that, now China was consolidating its progress in pandemic prevention and control; China Minmetals had taken multiple measures and made active efforts in the fight against this pandemic. Its affiliated companies had resumed work and production while taking regular pandemic prevention and control measures, and their production and operating activities had returned to normal. As an international group, China Minmetals had a large number of overseas branches and projects in more than 60 countries and regions in the world with a large size of the asset base. While actively taking pandemic prevention and control measures, it has fully leveraged the great business advantages in procurement, transportation, etc.
Mr. Guo emphasized that the business ties between China Minmetals and Rio Tinto Group had been long-term cooperation of strategic significance with win-win results. China Minmetals had always attached great importance to friendly partners like Rio Tinto Group. It was expected that both parties could foster deeper strategic cooperation. He also indicated that the business of metals and minerals was a primary component of China Minmetals' business system, which was featured by "four beams and eight columns". It also enjoyed outstanding advantages in metallurgical construction, trade logistics and financial real estate. Currently, a number of enterprises were facing challenges posed by the pandemic. China Minmetals made full use of its diversified business systems to cope with adverse factors such as falling prices of mineral products and promoted its sustained and steady development. Its proactive move received positive feedback from the market. For example, many corporate clients in the steel industry reached out to China Minmetals for closer cooperation. In terms of trade logistics of metal mineral resources, Caofeidian International Ore Trading Center, built by China Minmetals, achieved more than ten million tonnes of sales in the first quarter. Guided by the needs of corporate clients in the steel industry and the standard of meeting characteristic demands of different furnaces, this project provided considerate services, simplified the operation process, lowered transaction costs, and created incremental value during the ore blending process. China Minmetals hoped to further strengthen and deepen the cooperation with Rio Tinto Group, develop and optimize trade varieties, and expand trade scale. Especially in terms of the long-term trading agreements, China Minmetals will further increase its procurement and sales, and promote better bilateral cooperation with strong risk-resistance capacity and diversified business advantages.
At the conference, Jean-Sebastian Jacques extended cordial greetings to Guo Wenqing and his colleagues, fully recognized Guo's suggestions for cooperation, and praised China Minmetals for actively fighting against the pandemic and resuming normal production and operation. Jean-Sebastian Jacques said that, Rio Tinto Group combated the pandemic according to strict standards, actively provided supports for corporate employees and their families and communities, managed to maintain normal operation of existing mining projects, and tried to satisfy the needs of clients such as China Minmetals for iron ore, copper ore, etc. He also added that, the growth rate of Rio Tinto Iron Ore Port Trading Company was affected by the pandemic to a certain degree, but he was confident about this bilateral cooperation. To be specific, the company would actively explore the potential for cooperation during the project of Caofeidian International Ore Trading Center with a hundred-million-ton trading volume to deepen and strengthen long-term cooperation in ore trading. Meanwhile, it would further facilitate communication between both parties, promote the progress in trade, exploration and other fields and make contributions to yielding more mutual benefits and win-win results.
Other participants from China Minmetals include Liu Caiming, vice general manager and chief accountant; and Jiao Jian, vice general manager. Participants from relevant departments of headquarters and affiliated enterprises include Wang Jionghui, Wang Shilei, Xue Fei, Xing Yan, Zhu Haitao, and Xu Jiqing.
Guo Wenqing is delivering a speech
The video conference
