On the afternoon of December 28, the signing ceremony of the strategic cooperation framework agreement between China Minmetals and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was held at the Inner Mongolia Grand Hotel in Beijing. Tang Fuping, China Minmetals’ Chairman and Party Group Secretary, and Bu Xiaolin, Chairman of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, witnessed the signing of the agreement.

The signing of the strategic cooperation framework agreement between the two sides would further deepen their future cooperation and boost their high-quality development. According to the agreement, the two sides will carry out all-round strategic cooperation in mineral resources exploration and development, infrastructure and new-type urbanization construction, and financial business by following cooperation principle of “complementary advantages, mutual benefit and win-win results, long-term and short-term considerations, and the whole industry chain” to achieve common development.

Zhang Zhaoxiang, China Minmetals’ Deputy General Manager and Party Group member and MCC Party Committee Secretary and General Manager, and Zhang Shaochun, Vice Chairman of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on behalf of both sides, signed the agreement. Bao Zhenyu, Secretary General of the People’s Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, presided over the signing ceremony. Liu Caiming, China Minmetals’ Deputy General Manager and Party Group member, attended the signing ceremony.

Before the signing ceremony, the two sides held talks. Tang Fuping thanked the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region government for its support to China Minmetals’ enterprises in Inner Mongolia and introduced the overall situation of China Minmetals and its development in Inner Mongolia. He pointed out that, in the field of metals and mining, China Minmetals has taken the lead in forming the whole industry chain covering resources discovery, exploration, design, construction, mining, mineral separation, smelting, logistics, and trade. It has operated a number of world-class mines in South America, Africa, and Australia. Regarding metallurgical construction, China Minmetals has the world’s largest metallurgical construction enterprise, making up 90% and 60% of the share of domestic and global markets, respectively. It has accumulated rich experience and strengths in the field of infrastructure construction. China Minmetals has attached great importance to its cooperation with the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. MCC, Minmetals Development, Minmetals Capital, and Minmetals Exploration have proactively promoted local business to realize mutually-beneficial and win-win development. In the future, China Minmetals will further boost high-quality development and the construction of the “Belt and Road” Initiative and facilitate the economic and social development of Inner Mongolia in accordance with the important speeches made by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up and the Central Economic Work Conference. It will also further deepen the cooperation between the two sides in the broad fields of metals and mining and urban construction, hoping that the autonomous region government will continue to give strong support to China Minmetals’ business in Inner Mongolia.

Bu Xiaolin thanked China Minmetals for its contributions to the development of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and briefed on the development advantages of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. She pointed out that the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is rich in mineral resources and has gradually changed from a traffic terminal to a traffic hub in the construction of “Belt and Road” Initiative, with more prominent location advantages. The establishment of a strategic cooperative relationship is of great significance to both sides. The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and China Minmetals need to further strengthen the cooperation and exchanges, explore more cooperation opportunities, and open up more space for cooperation. Bu hoped that China Minmetals would give full play to its advantages and transform the resource advantages of Inner Mongolia into economic advantages and development advantages to achieve the common development of both sides.

Also attending the above activities were Inspector Cao Xiaobin of the People’s Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Director General Zhang Liping and Deputy Director General Wang Fuyou of the Natural Resources Department of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Chairman Ma Lin of Inner Mongolia Mining Group, and General Manager Hu Ziqin of Inner Mongolia Geological and Mineral Exploration Group, as well as heads of relevant headquarters departments, directly-administrated enterprises and affiliated enterprises of China Minmetals.