on september 15, zhang mengxing, deputy secretary of the party committee of mcc and secretary of the party committee and president of china mcc met with elias wohengu, permanent secretary for foreign affairs of papua new guinea at beijing mcc tower. the two sides had discussions and exchanges on further deepening business cooperation on the basis of the cooperation consensus reached during zhang mengxing's visit to the prime minister, minister of mining, minister of labor, and other government officials of papua new guinea in early august 2023.
zhang mengxing welcomed the visit of elias wohengu and introduced the basic situation of mcc. he said that mcc is the largest and strongest metallurgical construction contractor and metallurgical enterprise operation service provider in the world. in recent years, it has accelerated the transformation and upgrading by virtue of its strong technical advantages and business qualification advantages accumulated in the field of iron and steel metallurgy and made outstanding achievements and accumulated rich experience in the fields of engineering contracting, resource development, featured business, and comprehensive real estate. the ramu nico project is a model of friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between china and pakistan. after years of hard exploration, it has successfully achieved high, stable, and profitable production, and has been highly praised by the local government and the public. he hoped that the two sides will strengthen contacts and exchanges, further accelerate the upgrading and development of ramu nico project on the basis of the original cooperation, and strengthen investment and development cooperation in the field of mining resources to jointly create a new situation of cooperative development, mutual benefit, and win-win results.
elias wohengu expressed his gratitude to mcc for its long-term help and support for the economic and social development of papua new guinea. he said that as a strong and responsible chinese central state-owned enterprise, mcc has a long history of cooperation, profound friendship, and broad prospects with papua new guinea. over the years, the ramu nico project has made positive contributions to the local economic development and the improvement of people's livelihoods. he hoped that mcc will give full play to its strong strengths and advantages, actively participate in the medium-term development plan of papua new guinea and the construction of long-term development goals in 2050, expand the comprehensive development of high value-added projects in iron and steel metallurgy and other fields, and establish an exclusive economic zone to make new and greater contributions to reducing production and operation costs, developing downstream processing industries, and promoting social and economic development.
reuben enoch and sun jia, representatives of the ministry of foreign affairs of the people's republic of china and relevant departments of the embassy of the independent state of papua new guinea, zhu guangxia, member of the standing committee of the party committee of mcc and china mcc and vice president of china mcc, xu yongjie, and other heads of relevant functional departments and subsidiaries of the mcc headquarter, attended the meeting.
scene of the meeting