Promote energy cooperation in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor towards high-quality development.

At present, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has entered a new stage of high-quality development and its scale has been greatly expanded. Xiong Ying, head of the fourth group of the Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Construction, said: "Facing the new tasks and requirements in the new stage of high-quality development, energy cooperation as a key area of the corridor is duty-bound, and we must make persistent efforts to a higher level. First of all, we should enrich and further develop clean energy to achieve more kinds of more environmentally friendly green development. Second, we must expand, further explore upstream and downstream industries, and achieve deeper and broader all-round development. "

China Machinery and Equipment Engineering Co., Ltd. (CMEC) is an important participant in the energy project of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He has made outstanding achievements in the field of traditional energy cooperation, and has mature consideration and planning in the comprehensive development of energy projects and new energy development in the future.

Opportunities and achievements

China economic herald: What do you think of the significance and role of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative? Under what opportunity did your company participate in the specific project construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor?

Fang Yanshui: As a model project of "One Belt, One Road" construction, the construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has played an important role in enhancing regional connectivity, enhancing China-Pakistan economic development space, promoting the in-depth development of bilateral cooperation in various fields, and promoting the people of the two countries to share the fruits of prosperity.

Established in 1978, China Machinery and Equipment Engineering Co., Ltd. (CMEC) is a colleague of China's reform and opening up and a builder and witness of China-Pakistan friendship. As early as 1983, CMEC undertook the Pakistani Gudu thermal power station project, which is the first time that China enterprises have undertaken international engineering contracting projects by exporting seller's credit. Since then, we have continued to bring light to the Pakistani people through a series of energy projects such as Jamshoro and Muzafago.

In 20 13, when the construction of China-Pakistan economic corridor was officially launched, the energy management departments and infrastructure construction management departments of China and Pakistan took the initiative to contact CMEC and actively explored the feasibility of including CMEC development projects in the corridor list.

In 20 14, after full evaluation, an open-pit coal mine with an annual output of 3.8 million tons in thar coalfield II block of Sindh province and a 2x330MW coal-fired power station in Anglutar II block of Pakistan were selected into the list of "priority projects" of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which also laid a foundation for the company to continuously and deeply participate in corridor project construction.

China economic herald: What specific project progress and achievements have been made during the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor? What role does the project play in improving local people's livelihood and promoting economic and social development? Can you give me an example?

Fang Yanshui: Because there are many projects undertaken by CMEC, I will give you two typical examples to answer your question: one is the tar coal-electricity integration project team, and the other is the Nirum Jerum (NJ) hydropower project.

Tal coal-electricity integration project group is a corridor project group invested and constructed by CMEC. At present, the main projects include: Phase I 2x330MW coal-fired power station project, Phase I open pit mine project with an annual output of 3.8 million tons, TEL 1x330MW Kengkou power station project, ThalNova 1x330MW Kengkou power station project and Phase II coal mine expansion project with an annual output of 3.8 million tons to 7.6 million tons. The total investment of the project team exceeds $3.2 billion. CMEC is not only the EPC general contractor and shareholder of the above-mentioned projects, but also the operator of some of them, and also participated in the financing process of the project team all the time.

Tal coal-electricity integration project group has multi-level significance.

The first is the level of local economic development. The project team integrated the local coal mine resources and power demand, and designed the feasibility scheme of bringing coal by electricity and the technical scheme and financing scheme of the whole life cycle, which avoided the possibility of mutual shirking in the implementation process of different projects and laid a solid foundation for Pakistan to quickly and steadily implement the economic and social development goals based on local resource endowments. Since the first phase coal mine and power station project in Ta 'er was put into commercial operation ahead of schedule, the overall operation is good. Because of its low variable cost, it has improved Pakistan's resource utilization rate, met the needs of social and economic development, and reduced the pressure of foreign exchange payment, which has been recognized and appreciated by the local government.

Followed by local communities and people. While paying attention to the quality of the project, CMEC pays more attention to how to bring more benefits to the local people by practicing social responsibility. Up to now, the first and second projects of Ta 'er Temple have created about 5,000 jobs for local residents, and many former local shepherds have been trained to become skilled industrial workers and wealthy households in the community. CMEC arranged for 30 students to receive three-year training in the power plant; Invite 12 Pakistani youths to study in China; More than 20 primary and secondary schools have been built, some of which have been put into use; Donations to local hospitals and mobile medical buses are continuing to provide free medical services to residents in Tal.

The third is the level of domestic economic development. We say that the "Belt and Road" is a bridge and link for two-way communication, which means that the construction of the "Belt and Road" will benefit both at home and abroad. While promoting local economic and social development, CMEC continues to drive China's machinery and equipment and China's technical standards to "go global" through the TAR project team.

The fourth is the company itself. Tal Project Group is an important expansion of CMEC to promote the integration of "investment, financing and construction" and to the high-end development of international engineering value chain. The integrated mode of investment, financing, construction and operation extends and prolongs the business chain of traditional engineering contracting projects, extends the project operation scope forward to the project development, investment and financing links, and backward to the project operation and maintenance links, which puts forward more complete, rigorous and detailed requirements for resource integration ability, pioneering and innovative ability and risk control ability, promotes the multi-level development and transformation and upgrading of the company's business, and further enhances the competitiveness of CMEC in the international market.

Challenge and anti-epidemic

China economic herald: What difficulties and challenges have China-Pakistan Economic Corridor encountered? How to deal with and solve it? Since the outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic this year, what efforts has your company made in the smooth implementation of specific epidemic prevention and security projects?

Fang Yanshui: Up to now, the related projects of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor are progressing smoothly. Of course, there are also some problems such as site safety, business environment and exchange rate fluctuation, but these problems are common in the process of overseas engineering construction. As one of the first "going out" members of the national team after the reform and opening up, after nearly 40 years of overseas market experience, CMEC has rich and mature experience in preparing plans, coordinating responses and following up every specific issue in time.

Therefore, it can be said that the biggest difficulty and challenge we have encountered is the severe impact of the sudden COVID-19 epidemic on international economic exchanges and cooperation. Nevertheless, with the command and help of the Embassy of China in Pakistan and the active cooperation of the owners, the company made every effort to ensure the safety of the project site and help maintain the safety of the community through comprehensive and meticulous arrangements and serious and effective implementation, and on this premise, made every effort to keep the project construction and operation progressing steadily as planned.

The strict epidemic prevention and production recovery practices we implemented at the project site mainly include the following contents:

First, the safety deployment of construction personnel has been strengthened. Affected by the epidemic, flights between the two countries have been reduced, and necessary isolation is needed before entry. To this end, we plan ahead and adopt the mode of batch isolation and batch arrival to ensure that construction personnel arrive at the site in time and safely. In addition to relying on commercial flights, the company also actively coordinates charter flights to meet the needs of on-site construction progress.

The second is to strengthen the safe transportation of export equipment. With the gradual easing of the domestic epidemic, the production capacity of various equipment manufacturers has fully recovered and large-scale delivery has begun. To this end, the company ensured that the key equipment and materials needed for construction arrived on time through the combination of various modes of transportation such as sea transportation and air transportation.

The third is to strengthen the safety protection of personnel entering the site. In order to ensure the safety of prevention and control, we have taken strict measures of "double 14 days", that is to say, people who enter the site from China need to be quarantined in the overseas representative office of the company for 14 days, and then quarantined after arriving at the site for 14 days without any abnormal symptoms before they can be released to work. For a large number of foreign workers on site, we also put forward the requirements of graded epidemic prevention according to their work nature.

The fourth is to strengthen the daily prevention and control of the project site. At the construction site, the project team also strengthened psychological counseling with the support and help of the company headquarters, and strictly implemented various forms of prevention and control measures such as wearing masks, measuring temperature regularly, catering management, office disinfection, and meeting management. Do not leave blind spots or dead corners, and make every effort to ensure the health and safety of all personnel on site.

We have always believed that the health and safety of personnel is the biggest driving force of project construction, and it is also the fundamental problem that cannot be mistaken. The reason why CMEC can stick to such safety and responsibility in the situation of global epidemic situation is not only the attention of the company level and the strong execution of the organizations at all levels, but also the tenacious optimism and selfless dedication of our "overseas defenders". Some of them gave up their personal vacations and spent more than 1 year overseas; Some are not afraid of risks and go to the project site when the epidemic is most severe, becoming the most beautiful retrograde; Some people hold multiple posts, and under special circumstances and conditions, they shoulder the responsibility of multiple posts, all for the smooth progress of the project construction.

"going out" and its prospect

China economic herald: In the process of participating in the construction of China-China Economic Corridor, are there any overseas project construction experiences that can be shared with more enterprises that are "going out" or about to "go out"? At present, affected by the epidemic situation and other factors, the international external environment has changed greatly, and the international situation faced by Pakistani enterprises going abroad is becoming more and more complicated. How do you think Pakistani enterprises should cope with the unpredictable external environmental changes in the future, including the construction of the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor?

Fang Yanshui: At present, the international economic situation and business environment are undergoing profound changes, and the competition pattern of industries and markets is constantly adjusting. China's "going out" enterprises may not have "empiricism" to use intact. However, combined with our judgment on the trend and our understanding of our own advantages, there are indeed some "going out" enterprises in China, especially in the process of implementing the "Belt and Road" and creating "meticulous painting", the basic principles that must be followed are:

The first is a clear positioning. Enterprises that "go global" should have "two overall situations", one is the strategic overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and the other is the unprecedented change in the world. On this basis, based on the enterprise's own resource endowment and ability, we can accurately recognize changes, respond scientifically, take the initiative to seek changes, and rely on the country's strategic deployment to build a new pattern of "double cycle" development, gestate opportunities in the crisis and open up new opportunities in the changing situation. Since the beginning of this year, the working goal of "stabilizing the outside and cultivating the inside" put forward by CMEC is to consolidate the company's development foundation and lay out its development potential under such a pattern of close combination of macro, meso and micro.

The second is deep cultivation. The root and soul of "going out" enterprises are in China, but the "heart" must be closely connected with the government and people where the project is located. This is also the core project of the "Belt and Road" construction policy communication, facility connectivity, smooth trade, capital financing and popular support. We should really understand and tap the real demands of the people in the country where the project is located, give full play to our advantages, plan and design around this central idea, look for opportunities, create projects, and truly achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

The third is to strengthen risk control. Doing overseas engineering projects requires very high risk identification ability of enterprises themselves. We treat every project with a cautious and responsible attitude, from early planning to operation, to late implementation and even operation and maintenance, all in order to improve the performance ability and ensure the implementation quality. Especially before "going out", it is necessary to do full country research and due diligence, have a comprehensive and sufficient understanding of the security, economy, law, taxation and foreign exchange of the country where the project is located, make clear the objectives, and make plans to avoid risks.

The fourth is cooperation. Overseas engineering construction is not an isolated self-sufficient project, behind which is a complete industrial chain, capital chain and technical standard service chain. This requires us to do a good job in internal and external cooperation, not only to cooperate closely with domestic and foreign suppliers, industrial enterprises and financial institutions in the landing of a project, but also to actively promote third-party cooperation between enterprises in China, investment countries, developed economies and other economies, so as to achieve mutual complementarity and win-win results.

The fifth is to establish a brand. Compared with international multinational companies, the time for China enterprises to "go global" is not too long, and the accumulation is not too much, especially our brand is not loud enough. Therefore, building an internationally renowned brand of high-end engineering construction should be the key for China enterprises to build their "going global" soft power. It is necessary to combine brand building with engineering quality construction, overseas market development, enterprise compliance work, social responsibility work and cross-cultural management, so that brand building can better connect with enterprise center work.

Of course, as far as each enterprise itself is concerned, it must be problem-oriented, reform and innovation as the starting point, closely combine its own construction needs, firmly establish the concept of market economy, constantly mobilize and stimulate micro-vitality, and constantly improve its professional ability, so as to build and continuously improve its core competitiveness in the increasingly complex and changeable external environment.

China economic herald: What are your plans and expectations for the promotion of specific projects in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the layout of related overseas businesses in the future?

Fang Yanshui: In the future, we will continue to maintain the relationship of "old friends" and establish and consolidate contacts with more "new friends" through active, earnest, innovative and effective work, so as to make CMEC's China-Pakistan friendship by going up one flight of stairs.

To this end, we should focus on the following four aspects:

One is high quality. We should not only maintain the high-quality engineering standards created by CMEC in Pakistan for many years, but also promote "high-quality" cooperation at a higher level, including smoother supply chain construction, more cooperative industrial chain construction and higher-level value chain construction.

The second is double circulation. We should take CMEC projects as a bridge and institutions as a platform, and build a benign interaction mechanism to adapt to the new pattern of "double cycle" development by strengthening cooperation with foreign owners, relevant institutions and organizations, domestic local enterprises, leading enterprises in the industry and technological frontier enterprises.

The third is multi-level. In terms of power and energy, we will actively match the actual power development needs of Pakistan and actively participate in the development of various power stations and new energy power stations in Pakistan. At the same time, we will deepen development in the fields of people's livelihood and industry such as agriculture, environmental protection, housing construction, water supply, power grid and distribution, intensify innovation, and bring newer and better services and solutions to the local market.

The fourth is to focus on innovation. We should actively follow up the digital transformation of infrastructure in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in new infrastructure, e-commerce network, smart grid, smart factory construction and digital technology according to Pakistan's technological level and development level, and contribute to the construction of the digital Silk Road and the innovation of the Silk Road.