On October 26, 2023, the third RCEP Steel Development Forum was held in Wuzhou, Guangxi. On June 2, 2023, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) entered into full force for the 15 signatories. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. The convening of this forum will promote domestic enterprises to better connect with RCEP dividends and promote industrial chain and supply chain cooperation; At the same time, summarize the practical experience of the tenth anniversary of the joint construction of the Belt and Road in steel, and seize the future opportunities from a new historical starting point.

The forum was jointly sponsored by the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Wuzhou Municipal People's Government and Metallurgical Industry Information Standard Research Institute. Jointly organized by Wuzhou Industry and Information Technology Bureau, Wuzhou Development and Reform Commission, Wuzhou Commerce Bureau, Wuzhou Investment Promotion Bureau, Wuzhou Industrial Revitalization Headquarters Office, Guangxi Wing Ji Steel Co., LTD., and World Metal Guide Newspaper. Wuzhou Yongda Steel Co., LTD., Wuzhou Jinhai Stainless Steel Co., LTD., Wuzhou Xinfeng Special Steel Co., LTD., Wuzhou Yima Hardware Products Co., LTD., Guangxi Beigang New Materials Co., LTD., Guangxi Shenglong Metallurgy Co., LTD., Guangxi Guixin Iron and Steel Group Co., LTD., Guangxi Guigang Iron and Steel Group Co., LTD., Southern Manganese Industry Group Co., Ltd. and many other Guangxi steel enterprises Industry has given strong support to the convening of the forum. With the theme of "Openness and shared prosperity and Butterfly change", the forum attracted more than 200 representatives from government departments at all levels, steel enterprises, industry associations, universities, metallurgy and construction enterprises, traders, financial institutions and other units to attend, and the live broadcast attracted nearly 30,000 people's attention.

Leaders and guests attending the forum are: Mayor of Wuzhou Municipal People's Government Li Zhenpin; Zhang Jianhua, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Investment Department of the National Development and Reform Commission; Qu Xiuli, Vice President of China Iron and Steel Association; Guo Zhiwei, former Deputy Director of the Foundation Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology and deputy director of the National Science and Technology Books and Documentation Center; Ke Mei, Deputy Director of Guangxi Department of Industry and Information Technology; Zhong Shaoliang, Deputy Director General of Worldsteel and Chief Representative of Beijing Representative Office; Zhang Longqiang, Deputy Secretary-General of China Iron and Steel Industry Association, Party Secretary and President of Metallurgical Industry Information Standard Research Institute; Yang Zhen, Vice Mayor of Wuzhou Municipal People's Government; Li Yu, Director of Metallurgy Department of Guangxi Industry and Information Technology Department; Qian 'an Jiujiang general manager Zhao Yu, etc. Fu Jing, Assistant president of Metallurgical Industry Information Standards Institute, and Liu Lanbing, Secretary General of the Intelligent Manufacturing Standardization Working Group of the National Steel Standards Committee, presided over the morning and afternoon agendas respectively.

Speech session

Li Zhenpin gave a welcome speech, he said that the metal new material industry is Wuzhou's leading industry. In recent years, Wuzhou anchor to build a hundred billion yuan metal new materials industry goal, give full play to their own advantages, actively undertake the transfer of the steel industry, with science and technology to accelerate the pace of transformation and upgrading, to create a short process stainless steel industry chain cluster, metal new materials industry has entered the high-quality development of the "fast lane".

Zhang Jianhua said in his speech that the steel industry should earnestly implement the "Belt and Road" initiative and make good use of the RCEP platform. First, strengthen upstream and downstream cooperation with the "Belt and Road" countries and RCEP member states in the industrial chain to strengthen the resilience of the industrial chain; Second, promote the development of overseas steel projects to be intelligent and green, and be a leader in the green and low-carbon process of the global steel industry; The third is to strengthen the international standardization work and improve the international influence; Fourth, improve the risk prevention and control mechanism and effectively guard against all kinds of risks in international cooperation.

Qu Xiuli said in his speech that with the full implementation of RCEP, tariff and non-tariff barriers will be reduced, which is conducive to reducing the cost of China's steel import and export and promoting more smooth steel import and export trade. At the same time, the full entry into force of RCEP will enhance the connectivity of both international and domestic markets and resources, which will help improve the guarantee level of raw fuel supply such as iron ore and coking coal in China's steel industry, effectively utilize the new energy of member states, and promote the coordinated development of green energy and green steel. She mentioned that after decades of continuous development, China's steel output has ranked first in the world for 26 consecutive years, making positive contributions to global economic development and prosperity. At the same time, with the development of internationalization, benchmarking is world-class, which also promotes the substantial improvement of China's technical equipment, management and product quality.

She stressed that RCEP brings both opportunities and challenges for China's steel industry to better integrate into and serve the global market. After RCEP comes into full effect, the relaxation of market access will bring more intense international competition. Steel enterprises should fully grasp the opportunities brought by the full entry into force of RCEP and the worldwide expansion and extension of the Belt and Road cooperation, and achieve joint construction, win-win and sharing with all member states. China's steel is the "half of the world's steel", the world economy is inseparable from China, the world's steel is inseparable from China, China's steel development also needs international solidarity and cooperation. She pointed out that in the later period, the domestic and foreign market environment faced by the steel industry is more severe and complex, and the whole industry should implement the spirit of the Party's 20 major conventions, adhere to the new development concept, strive to adapt to the changes in demand structure, constantly strengthen the construction of the supply chain industrial chain, further improve the quality and efficiency of operation, and adhere to scientific and technological innovation, green, low-carbon and high-quality development.

Guo Zhiwei said that the National Science and Technology Library and Documentation Center, as an important platform for scientific and technological literature information resources in China, has been committed to providing comprehensive, accurate and timely scientific and technological information services for the majority of scientific and technological workers and decision makers. In the current context of economic globalization, openness and sharing have become an important way to promote the common prosperity of all countries. The National Science and Technology Library and Documentation Center will actively participate in international cooperation, establish extensive cooperative relations with scientific and technological information institutions of various countries, share resources, jointly carry out scientific and technological information services, and contribute to promoting the development of the global steel industry.

 The high-end, intelligent and green development of the steel industry has reached a new level. First, make full use of RCEP trade rules to explore the international market. Second, expand the level of opening-up of the industry and strengthen international cooperation on production capacity. Third, integrate into the development pattern of RCEP and promote comprehensive transformation and upgrading.

 Build a new development pattern of the steel industry for the "Belt and Road" and RCEP, further improve the level of opening-up and cooperation, promote industrial agglomeration, and strive to enhance the "double cycle" ability of the steel industry. It is hoped that the majority of steel industry enterprises will make full use of the policy dividends brought by the "Belt and Road" and RCEP, continue to deepen cooperation, and jointly make new and greater contributions to the high-quality development of the steel industry.

According to Zhang Limin, executive deputy general manager of Guangxi Wing Ji Steel Co., LTD., Wing Ji Steel was established in Wuzhou in July 2019 with a registered capital of 30 billion yuan. The total investment of the company is more than 40 billion yuan, and it is a "Wuzhou benchmark" project with an economic aggregate of more than 100 billion yuan. After the simultaneous launch of non-blast furnace ironmaking, LNG and other supporting projects have reached all, the annual industrial output value of Jiji Iron and Steel will exceed 75 billion yuan, annual profits and taxes will exceed 5 billion yuan, and directly create more than 10,000 jobs. Since its inception, Wing Ji Iron and Steel has always been adhering to the new development concept, actively implementing relevant policies, and continuously improving the level of enterprise development; Promote the deep coupling of the industrial chain and promote the high-quality development of enterprises; Promote product differentiation positioning, promote enterprise cluster development; Promote humanized management of enterprises and promote sustainable development of enterprises. In the future, in the face of a new round of challenges and opportunities, Jiji Iron and Steel will go against the trend, closely around the national development plan and related industrial policies, and show the new era of steel and steel power with sincerity and ingenuity!

Industry promotion

Yang Zhen introduced in the promotion of Wuzhou high-end metal new material industry that in recent years, Wuzhou has vigorously implemented industrial revitalization, built a development platform, optimized the business environment, and continuously strengthened the industrial development cluster trend, especially the new metal material industry, which continues to transform to digital, green and high-end, and the ten-million-ton metal new material base has been completed and put into operation. Stainless steel leading enterprises have invested more than 10 billion yuan in the implementation of technical transformation and upgrading, injecting strong momentum into the reconstruction of an "industrial Wuzhou".

Keynote speech

Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, made a report on the topic of "RCEP: Creating a stage for the optimization of the steel industrial chain and supply Chain". In his report, he conducted an in-depth analysis and interpretation on the stable expectations and effective development platform brought by RCEP for the uncertain environment of global economic and trade cooperation, helping enterprises to understand the RCEP policies and relevant rules, and then obtain the agreement dividends. He said that China, as a steel country and a strong country, is playing an increasingly influential role in regional economic cooperation. The huge space created by RCEP has created space for the optimal development of the steel industry and enhanced its sustainable capacity, but also posed challenges. In order to grasp the opportunities and cope with the challenges, the following suggestions are proposed: 1) to understand the general RCEP agreement and plan the development path according to their own strategies; 2) Effectively extend the industrial chain and continuously improve the added value of products and services; 3) Focus on climate change initiatives and innovate to seek sustainable development models; 4) Adapt to the multicultural environment, do a good job in communication and reduce the risk of transnational operation.

In the report entitled "Changes in the World Steel Pattern and the impact of RCEP", Zhong Shaoliang pointed out that global steel production has entered the Asian era, and China continues to dominate the development of the global steel industry, but in the next few decades, India and Southeast Asia will be the main source of increased global steel demand. In view of the impact of RCEP on the steel industry, he talked about several views: 1) the free trade system between countries/regions is complicated, and the FTA between each other is more diversified and messy; 2) The existing multilateral free trade relations among RCEP member states are complex; 3) The tariff reduction rate of RCEP is no higher than that of other existing FTAs, and the impact is limited in the short term; 4) Other potential FTAs that could change the impact of RCEP, such as CPTPP; 5) The FTA does not prohibit anti-dumping and countervailing duties; 6) RCEP member states are in different stages of steel development: some are in the rising period, some are in the saturation period, and some are in the declining period; 7) The real impact of RCEP on the steel industry remains to be seen.

Chen Jin, director of the Modern Service Industry Research Center of the University of International Business and Economics and chief expert of cross-border e-commerce of the China Association of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Enterprises, made a report entitled "Opportunities and Challenges of the Digital Development of Global Trade under the Background of RCEP". He pointed out that global trade is ushering in new opportunities for the digital development of industrial chains. The full entry into force of the RCEP has significantly improved the level of liberalization and facilitation of intra-regional service trade and investment, and is conducive to investment in cross-border e-commerce, export industry chain, financial technology, logistics, advanced manufacturing and other related fields. At present, leading enterprises have initially completed the construction of steel ecosystem infrastructure, and realized the "four-flow integration" of information flow, business flow, logistics and capital flow on the platform, forming the ability to provide ecological services for the main participants in the industrial chain from interaction, matching, trading to delivery of the whole process. In the future, steel enterprises should seize opportunities while actively responding to the changes brought about by the digital transformation of trade to empower international development.

Many other experts also made special presentations at the Forum.

Special report

Zhang Longqiang, deputy secretary General of China Iron and Steel Industry Association, Party Secretary and President of Metallurgical Industry Information Standards Institute, made a report on "Green Development and Standardization of steel in the RCEP domain"

Wang Yuhui, general manager of Strategic Development Department of Hesteel Group and vice president of Strategic Research Institute, made a report on "Hesteel Practice: High-quality Co-construction of the" Belt and Road "Golden Card"

Liu Xiaofei, Minister of Capital Operation Department of Hunan Iron and Steel Group, made the report "Hunan Iron and Steel Group investment in Australia FMG case Sharing"

Zhou Jianhong, deputy general manager of Sinosteel Equipment Company and vice president of Design and Research Institute of Sinosteel Group, made a report on the "Belt and Road" construction Practice Sharing

Jessica Brown, Counsellor for Energy, Resources and Climate Change at the Australian Embassy in Beijing, delivered a report entitled "Australia: Building a low-carbon and Resilient Supply Chain to Become a Reliable Trading Partner for China and the Region"

Liu Lanbing, Secretary general of the Intelligent Manufacturing Standardization Working Group of the National Steel Standards Committee, made a report on the Prospect of the globalization application of intelligent technology in Steel Manufacturing and chaired the meeting

Fu Jing, assistant director of Metallurgical Industry Information Standard Research Institute, presided over the meeting

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