ERG: Fair, transparent cooperation benefits all countries

How has the ongoing supply-side reform changed China's economic growth and your company's business in the country?

Since 2016, China has implemented a series of measures to conduct supply-side reform, including cutting overcapacity and destocking. The measures have significantly improved the efficiency of resource usage, sweeping away the obstacles of economic development.

China's supply-side reform optimizes industry through technological innovation, injecting new vitality into the economy, which is now growing in a high-quality and highly efficient way.

The supply-side reform brings many opportunities for high-quality raw material suppliers, while also contributing to China's economic transition toward a greener economy.

As a supporter of supply-side reform, ERG has reaped great benefits from the nation's wisdom on economic adjustment.

China benefits from many advantages in project exploration, developing, design, construction, equipment and investment. With the nation's supply-side reform and its opening-up strategies, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, ERG has developed many overseas projects together with Chinese partners.

These include the construction of a new aluminium smelter module in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, which will more than double the facility's capacity; the reconstruction of two power generation units at the Aksu power plant, also in Kazakhstan; the construction of the Metalkol RTR project to decontaminate old cobalt and copper tailings in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and the development of BAMIN, an integrated project in Brazil.

China's economic transition toward a green economy is promoting the upgrading of the automotive industry. As one of China's largest cobalt suppliers, ERG is delighted to play a role in the development of new energy vehicles.

What is your comment on China's policy on foreign enterprises and foreign investment? How can the country further improve its business environment for foreign investors?

In recent decades, China's commitment to reform has enabled partnerships with other countries to attain common development goals. This has allowed the nation to take on a global leadership role and has brought many business opportunities for foreign enterprises.

China has built a good business environment for foreign enterprises, which is open, inclusive and friendly.

We appreciate China's policy on foreign enterprises and foreign investment. Because of China's strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative and increasing imports, ERG has been taking forward a robust portfolio of ambitious business development projects with its Chinese partners.

Meanwhile, China has been a key sales destination for the group, accounting for 20-25 percent of ERG's total sales volume.

We see China has taken a series of measures to improve the business environment, including encouraging imports and broadening market access. We expect those measures to further stimulate the vitality of the market economy and attract more foreign investors to do business in China.

How has innovation changed China's economic development and your company's business in the country?

China has emphasized innovation, setting a good example for other countries in technological innovation, cultural innovation, institutional innovation, and many other areas.

Over the past decades of reform and opening-up through continuous exploration and innovation, China has become the world's second-biggest economy, the largest merchandise trader and the country with the most significant foreign exchange reserves.

Just as President Xi Jinping said: "Innovation is the life of reform and opening-up."

China's innovative measures, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, have brought many business opportunities to companies all over the world. These help to build a channel for foreign companies such as ERG to communicate with Chinese partners.

How do you see China's role in promoting globalization and multilateral trade? What is your view on trade protectionism?

As a result of economic globalization and growth, the world economy has fostered an environment of openness and inclusion, creating an overall win-win situation. China has put forward an example of a credible and outward-looking vision, which is represented in its Belt and Road Initiative and the Going Global strategy.

Trade protectionism contributes to increased uncertainty in global trade. The world today is going through a new round of major developments and changes, with countries becoming increasingly interconnected in their economic and social development patterns.

As such, it is important for all parties to have a joint approach toward addressing new challenges. While every country may do what is in its own self-interest, only globalization and international collaboration can optimize the resources around the world. It is against this backdrop that countries should promote robust and coherent collaboration in the next decade.

Taking the new energy vehicle industry as an example, many countries including China have been investing heavily in battery technology and energy storage research and development.

Each country has its own strong points, including holding vast resources of strategic materials, such as lithium or cobalt.

Countries will benefit from a fair, transparent and mutually beneficial environment of global cooperation, which results in a positive spillover effect for the industry at large.

zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 02/13/2019 page9)