Oleg Deripaska, CEO, Basic Element (and UC RUSAL and president of En+ Group), and Zhang Guoqing, president of China North Industries Corp., signed a cooperative agreement for the joint implementation of projects in the engineering, mining and metal sectors. Basic Element and Norinco plan to boost the value of their economic and trade cooperation to more than $1 billion within three years.
In particular, UC RUSAL has undertaken to expand its export of aluminum products to China through sales to North United Aluminum (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., a joint venture company established by the partners in China on the basis of Shenzhen North Investments, a Norinco subsidiary trading company with 15-year experience in Chinese non-ferrous metals market. UC RUSAL will also study the feasibility of inviting Norinco to supply anode production equipment for the Taishet aluminum smelter which is under construction.
En+ Group and Norinco agreed to discuss Norinco’s participation in a project to create Russia’s largest aluminum rolling mill on the basis of the Krasnoyarsk metal plant. In addition, the parties agreed to develop a long-term cooperation mechanism for resource development, including the joint development of nickel, copper and other resources in Russia and abroad. Norinco and Russian Machines will enhance their cooperation in the field of engineering through sharing technological developments and their certification. This is expected to lead to a gradual extension of cooperation from the supply of components for railway wagons to the joint design, manufacturing and provision of maintenance services. The agreement also provides for the purchase of up to 15,000 sets of wagon components from Norinco by Russian Machines.
“We’ve reached a new level of cooperation with Norinco, not only by means of expanding the scope of our joint projects, but also by investing in high-tech and innovative production which we intend to develop jointly,” Deripaska said. “This agreement represents another step forward in the development of our economic relations with China, one of the most strategically important markets for Russia. Sino-Russian trade turnover is already worth more than $80 billion. I am sure our new projects will help this figure to grow further.”
“Sino-Russian cooperation has a great future: not only are we neighbors, we are connected by a long history of relations based on mutual understanding and respect,” Zhang said. “Our projects, in sectors that are important for both countries’ industries, will provide a solid foundation for the further development of mutually beneficial partnerships between our two countries.”
