Hearing Qin Hai's request, Cui Hongchun smiled slightly and said: "As expected, the chief said, when we went to report the iron ore price increase to the central government, the chief said that Qin Hai would definitely take the initiative to ask for help for this matter.
, he even made a bet with our chief director."
"Uh..." Qin Hai sweated. The two central leaders made a bet for him. The scene was so beautiful that he couldn't even imagine it. After a brief moment of astonishment, Qin Hai asked: "Uncle Cui, iron ore
The matter actually alarmed the central leadership?"
Cui Hongchun nodded and said: "The increase in the price of iron ore can be said to be small or large. From a small perspective, it only affects an industry, although the increase in the price of upstream raw materials will bring about downstream products.
chain reaction, but the amount is less than 10 billion US dollars a year, and it will not have much impact on the national economy. But in a big way, iron ore can increase in price, copper ore, crude oil, timber, soybeans and other bulk commodities
They can also increase their prices. If we cannot explore a mechanism to deal with price fluctuations in the international market, we will be controlled by others on various occasions. This is a great risk for our country. Therefore, the central leaders of the iron and steel industry have
We attach great importance to the issue of rising ore prices and have instructed the National Development and Planning Commission, the Economic and Trade Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and other departments to actively respond to it."
"So, what do the central leaders mean?" Qin Hai asked again.
Cui Hongchun said: "The central government hopes that the Economic and Trade Commission can organize steel companies to unite and negotiate with Vale and BHP Billiton to obtain a reasonable price."
Qin Haidao: "This idea is correct, so what does the Economic and Trade Committee plan to do?"
Cui Hongchun said with a wry smile: "The idea is completely fine, but the specific implementation is not that simple. Every company has its own difficulties. The Economic and Trade Commission's jurisdiction over companies is limited, and it is impossible to use administrative orders.
Methods require companies to do things. A few days ago, I asked the following comrades to make statistics. At present, there are more than 500 steel companies and foreign trade companies in the country that are qualified to import iron ore. We need these 500 companies to act in the same pace.
It’s too difficult.”
"What should we do?" Qin Hai asked curiously.
Cui Hongchun smiled and pointed at Qin Hai and said, "No, we are counting on you to resolve this conflict."
"Me?" Qin Hai was stunned for a moment, then laughed. He said, "Director Cui, you guys are too bullying. I'm not from your Economic and Trade Committee. The Economic and Trade Committee didn't even pay me a penny of salary.
"Excuse me. I was asked to help renovate the small iron and steel industry before, and now you are asked to help preside over the iron ore negotiations. This is just trying to pull a strong man."
Cui Hongchun said with a fake face: "Didn't you take the initiative to do this just now? Didn't you forget it in the blink of an eye?"
"I'm just talking, do you take it seriously?" Qin Hai said shamelessly.
In fact, Qin Hai's words were just a polite word. From his heart, he really wanted to be the host. He knew that officials had too many concerns about doing things. In this kind of international business negotiation, if there is no firm will,
It is impossible to defeat the opponent. Many matters involving international cooperation in China have created opportunities for the other party due to internal conflicts of interests, and ultimately had to passively accept various unfavorable terms.
In contrast, Qin Hai is much more comfortable doing this. He has his own company as support behind him. When adopting various methods, he does not need to look forward and backward. Even if some things are done irregularly, he will not hesitate to do so.
There will be people who come to trouble him with clauses. Just like when he was managing Xiaogang, when he encountered troubles caused by the owners of Xiaogang and things exposed by the media, if he had been an official, he might have bowed his head long ago, but Qin Hai could not do anything about it.
If you are moved, you can even use more evil means to fight back.
Qin Hai took the initiative to take the lead in iron ore negotiations, of course, not necessarily because of overflowing patriotism. His own Daqin Group has an annual output of 50 million tons of steel, and its consumption of iron ore is also very large. The price of iron ore has increased.
It directly affects the interests of the group. Song Hongxuan made an estimate that if the price of iron ore rises by US$40 per ton, Daqin Group's annual expenditure on iron ore raw materials will increase by more than US$3 billion, equivalent to more than 20 billion yuan. In this way
A huge profit was worth Qin Hai's efforts.
"Uncle Cui, I would like to ask, if our Daqin Group is designated to lead the iron ore negotiations, how much authority can the Economic and Trade Commission give us?"
After saying those polite words, Qin Hai became serious and asked Cui Hongchun.
Cui Hongchun did not answer, but asked: "What kind of authority do you need?"
"First of all, iron ore import authority must be compressed. Just now you mentioned that more than 500 steel companies and trading companies across the country have import rights. I hope that the Economic and Trade Commission can coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation to re-examine the import and export authority of each organization, and
The iron ore import rights are reduced to 30 companies, so that they can coordinate and avoid fighting each other," Qin Hai said.
Cui Hongchun frowned and said: "There is no problem in reducing import rights, but it may be difficult to reduce it to only 30 companies. Let me calculate for you, can't we do without the dozen or so large foreign trade companies in the central government? There are nearly 30 companies in the country.
Can the 20 large steel companies, including Daqin Steel Company, which belongs to your Daqin Group, not have the right to import iron ore? Each province, municipality, and city under separate state planning must retain at least one trading company with import rights, so that
After counting, there are more than 30 companies. Including some special types of enterprises...at least, more than 120 companies must be retained."
Qin Hai grinned, showing a sarcastic smile, and said: "This is your government's problem. You have to consider this and take care of that. In the end, nothing can be done."
Cui Hongchun said: "There is no way to do this. The central government can't just talk about it. If you want various departments and local governments to do things, you have to take care of their interests, right? If you let it be too lenient, it will easily lead to chaos; but if you control too much, the system will be damaged.
That is to say, it is rigid. If nothing else, if I deprive your Daqin Steel Company of its import rights, would you be happy?"
"Okay." Qin Hai lost. What Cui Hongchun said makes sense. As an entrepreneur, Qin Hai himself is also willing to have more autonomy in his hands. It is up to him to push others. Major steel companies and provinces and cities hope to have some authority.
It is also a reasonable request. The Economic and Trade Commission would rather lose the iron ore negotiations than embarrass the lower units on such an issue.
"Even if they retain their import rights, they are required not to sign iron ore import agreements with foreign businessmen without authorization within this year. All agreements must be reviewed by the Economic and Trade Commission before they can be signed. Isn't this a high requirement?" Qin Hai asked.
Cui Hongchun thought for a while, wrote down a note in his notebook, and said: "I need to discuss this matter with several leaders. I can only say that I will do my best. Now the country emphasizes streamlining administration and delegating power, and we should not go too far.
Intervene more in the business operations of enterprises.”
"This is the price of marketization." Qin Hai sighed.
The unified planning system has its rigid side, but when it comes to matters such as iron ore negotiations, it still has its advantages. At least it can avoid the behavior of various companies trying to undermine each other. As a private enterprise
As an entrepreneur, Qin Hai does not want the entire system to return to the planning model, but at this time, he misses the way where the central government has the final say.
Feelings of emotion, Qin Hai knew that he was unable to reverse the historical trend. All he could do was to use his intelligence and wisdom to do the best possible job under the existing system.
"I hope the Economic and Trade Commission will give me a name so that I can negotiate with various steel companies alone. Otherwise, if the name is not correct, my words will not go smoothly, and people will not even be interested in meeting me." Qin Hai demanded.
"When you, Chairman Qin, visit a steel company, everyone will have to go out of their way to welcome you, right?" Cui Hongchun made a joke, and then said: "It's not difficult to get a name. We are considering setting up an iron ore import coordination group.
, if the central government can approve it, you should continue to be the deputy team leader."
"It's another working group." Qin Hai smiled, "Can't you be a little creative and call it something else?"
Cui Hongchun also smiled and said: "If you have any good ideas, you can suggest them. We old-minded people can only come up with such a name."
"Well, forget it. It's good to call a working group." Qin Hai also had no interest in innovation. He nodded and agreed, "Then I will continue to be the deputy leader."
It is a common practice of the government to refer to various agencies that carry out comprehensive coordination work as "working groups." Let alone a small matter such as iron ore negotiations, even the important development of the western region in the new century and the revitalization of the old industrial base in the Northeast
For major projects such as projects, their leading bodies are also called “teams”, and national leaders often deign to serve as team leaders.
This kind of conventional name is more familiar to officials within the system. If Qin Hai said something different, it might be superfluous. Facts have proved that Qin Hai always carries a "
When someone with the title of "Deputy Team Leader" goes to work in a local area, it really makes people feel a little unclear.
After the status issue was finalized, the next step was to formulate policies, issue documents, establish a multi-department coordination mechanism and other issues. Cui Hongchun discussed with Qin Hai one by one. Qin Hai came prepared, with many well-thought-out ideas.
Cui Hongchun put forward revised opinions on these ideas based on his own work experience and the requirements of central government work. Both parties are acquaintances, and there is no need to be taboo about face. Various opinions are put forward candidly, which also saves the cost of communication.
When he came out of Cui Hongchun's office, Qin Hai already held a Shangfang sword. However, he also knew that the sword in his hand could not be used to kill people casually. If he wanted others to cooperate with his work, the most fundamental thing was
The method is to convince people with virtue. (To be continued.)