Distinguished Municipal Secretary of CPC, the Hon. Li Hongzhong and Other Ministers, Mayor Zhang Guoqing, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Good morning!
Today, to everyone gathering in Tianjin to attend CHINA MINING Conference and Exhibition 2018,
I, entrusted by Minister Lu Hao and on behalf of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the People's Republic of China, feel great honored to express my sincere welcomes. And it is also my honor to express my warm congratulations to the opening of the splendid event!
The Ministry of Natural Resources is a department newly formed in the reform of Chinese government institutions. It exercises unified duties of the asset owner of all natural resources owned by the entire people, all land space use control and ecological protection and restoration. As the competent authority of mineral resources, we will support CHINA MINING as always.
Since CHINA MINING firstly being held in 1999, we have witnessed and experienced the changes in the world's mining industry over the past 20 years. We have undergone the ordeal of the steep fall of commodity prices in 2008 caused by the international financial crisis, and the transformation and differentiation of demanded minerals caused by new energy and new economy in recent years. Now we are building a green and efficient industry chain for the exploration and development of mineral resources by adopting more advanced technologies and concepts. The theme“New Pattern of Opening, New Model for Cooperation”embodies the implementation of the new development concept, the deepening of mining openness and the foundation of the new global mining cooperation model of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration.
Ladies and gentlemen, this year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up. In the past 40 years, China's mining industry has also continuously enlarged its foreign exchanges and development. China-foreign cooperation in the field of geology and minerals was ushered in at the very beginning of Chinese opening-up. Since the international cooperative exploration and development of Bohai offshore oil in the early 1980s, we have actively developed mineral resources through introducing foreign capitals, which not only satisfied the demand of rapid industrialization for mineral products, but earned foreign exchange through export and further laid the foundation of industrial modernization. With the sustained and rapid development of the national economy, China has become one of the foremost sales markets for global mineral products. Chinese mining companies have been increasingly active in the investment, merger and acquisition of overseas mining projects, which on the one hand supplemented the demand of Chinese market, and on the other hand made contributions to the economic and social development of target countries. Therefore, China's development could not be separated from the world’s prosperity and vice versa.
At present, the world economy has undergone an overall recovery, and the major economies have achieved simultaneous growth for the first time since the international financial crisis. Emerging economies have become the main engine of world economic development, and more and more developing countries have seen both growths in supply and consumption of resources.
In the first half of this year, China's economy grew by 6.8% and maintained a stable and positive trend. New driving forces for development continued to grow. In 2017, China's geological exploration investment was 78.285 billion yuan, and 42 important mineral resources such as coal, petroleum, manganese ore, gold ore and graphite were detected to have increased reserves. The output of 10 important non-ferrous metals such as gold continued to rank first in the world.
Ladies and gentlemen, In the past 40 years, China developed its economy under the condition of opening-up. Thereupon, In the future, China will widen its door for reform and opening up, and we will continue to impel investment facilitation, management modernization, trade liberalization in mining field so as to generate a new mining pattern of development and openness.
We are making efforts to optimize the environment, and implement reform measures of streamlining administration, delegating power, strengthening administration and optimizing service. We have carried out these measures in all respects and made sure administrative powers go into the list with none of them escape. In consequence, we merged and canceled nearly 80% of the administrative items of examination and approval related to mining rights, actively decentralized the power of examination and approval of them. We have also continuously improved the business environment in the field of mineral resources exploration and development, and promoted the standardization of management processes and transparency of information. Starting from November 1st this year, we would reduce import tariffs for 1,585 tax items involving a variety of non-metal minerals and rare earths. In addition to lowering tariff barriers in trade, we have also given higher levels of openness to service trades involving mining in assorted FTAs.
We persevere in completing the system and modernizing the capacity of resource management. We will establish an integrated management system for ecological environment of resources, build paid use system of resources and ecological compensation system reflecting supply and demand of market and resource scarcity as well as embodying ecological value and intergenerational compensation, improve the asset management system of national natural resources, and construct a legal framework suitable for the development of China's mining rights market by advancing reforms on management system and taxation expenses of mineral resources. We will also enhance the overall leadership of mineral resources planning, clarify market access targets, specify trading rules of mining rights, and formulate reasonable systems of compensation fee and environmental effects evaluation of mineral resources.
We will upgrade and reshape the sustainable development model of the mining industry. The exploitation and utilization of mineral resources require interaction between human and natural elements such as mountain, river, forest, farmland and lake. We will make overall plans to better deal with the relationship between mineral resources development and ecological environment protection: putting investigation first to scientifically evaluate environmental carrying capacity, prioritizing ecology, orderly withdrawing mining rights in nature reserves and taking multiple measures to promote green exploration, create green mines, and maximize the coordination of mining development and ecological protection.
We are leading the way with science and technology and providing new driving forces for the future development of geology and mining with the goal of “penetrating the earth, exploring resources and utilizing them safely”. We are advancing the major technology plan for Deep Earth Exploration aimed at 2030. Besides, wide-ranging and productive explorations has been conducted to solve the resource problems of future economic and social development: we conducted in-depth theoretical researches on basic geological prospecting in which the most complete Cretaceous continental deposit records has been obtained when “Songke-2” drilled through the 7018-meter deep stratum; remote sensing and geophysical exploration technical equipment achieved leap-forward development; the ore-forming theory and prospecting model of shale gas have been innovated; the pilot production of the natural gas hydrate in the sea area achieved success; the green exploration technology has been innovated, and the comprehensive utilization technology of mineral resources has been further applied.
Ladies and gentlemen, we summon the global discussion of major concerns in the mining industry, the strengthening of information communication and the sharing of successful experiences, to create a better policy environment for international mining cooperation. We appeal for joint improvement of global resource management capabilities, close linkage with the global flow of resources, complementation of international and domestic production capacity, the market stability and the reduction of risks for both suppliers and consumers.
We call on governments and mining companies to put a premium on fairness and responsibility, so that different countries, classes and groups of people can all benefit from the sustainable and green development of resources.
Look ahead, we will find the prospects are promising. The Ministry of Natural Resources is willing to join hands with the mining industry colleagues to contribute to the creation of a global mining destiny community and a new future for the mining industry!
Finally, I wish CHINA MINING a complete success!
Thank you all! (Translated by TLRHVC)
The Hon. Ling Yueming, Vice Minister, Ministry of Natural Resources China
About CHINA MINING
Since first held in 1999, the scope and influence of CHINA MINING has grown rapidly year by year. As a global mining summit forum and exhibition, CHINA MINING Congress and Expo has become one of the world’s top mining events, and one of the world’s largest mining exploration, development and trading platforms, covering all aspects of the whole mining industry chain, including geological survey, exploration and development, mining rights trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing, mining techniques and equipment, mining services, etc. playing an active promotion role in creating exchange opportunities and enhancing mutual cooperation between domestic and foreign mining enterprises.
CHINA MINING Conference and Exhibition 2018 Was held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin in October 18-20, 2018. We invite you to join the event and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of CHINA MINING with us. For more information about CHINA MINING 2018, please visit: www.chinaminingtj.org.
