On July 18 local time, Mr. Frank Ning, Chairman of Sinochem Group, attended the 1st US-China Business Leaders Summit held in Washington D.C., the first of the kind held by US and China business communities. During the summit, Chairman Frank Ning probed into candid discussions with business leaders from both countries on economic and trade issues that concerned both. He addressed the occasion on macro economy, and industry and agriculture. At the press conference, Chairman Frank Ning answered questions from domestic and foreign journalists relating to energy industry development, US-China trade and investment.
According to Chairman Frank Ning, overcapacity was an issue to be faced by different industries in every economic cycle. When establishment of capacity needed time, de-capacity would need more as it closely correlated with many factors including employment and credit repayment. The supply-side structural reform now going on in China was meant to breed more innovation and high value-added industries and products so as to finally address the overcapacity issue in a sustainable manner.
When it came to energy industry, Chairman Frank Ning noted that, the shale oil and gas revolution of the US changed the energy supply layout globally. Cost of exploration kept decreasing bound with dramatic reduction of prices. OPEC members did not reach consensus on production reduction. Oil producing countries such as Russia were seen with intensified competition at supply side. It was expected that oil and gas price would stay medium and low for a long time. However, China’s oil and gas exploration was relatively high in cost. Price fall would bring more drastic impact on China’s energy industry. Meanwhile, China’s oil and gas industry reform was allowing more private enterprises in. Competition would be aggravated. For Chinese energy enterprises, continued research on new technology to reduce cost was the only way to enhance self-competiveness. As for the agricultural issue, Chairman Frank Ning believes that China and US complemented each other a lot in product production and consumption structure.
The 1st US-China Business Leaders Summit was the prelude to the first round of US-China economic dialogue to be held soon. The Summit invited the most representative business leaders from both countries, including 8 from China, 12 from the US. Mr. Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce of US was present. The Summit concluded with Joint Statement, calling for enhanced communication on opening up of the two countries.