When will I have a long tassel?

At this point, Tang Zifeng's attitude became serious. He thought for a while and said: "Old Zhou, what you said does make some sense. However, even if we want to help these developing countries develop their economies, we don't need to be too sincere.

"There are many ways to get them out of poverty. If we mobilize the people across the country to eat more imported bananas, pineapples and the like, we can also help a tropical country become well-off in an all-round way. Why do we have to help them industrialize?

"Africa has a population of 1 billion, and the proportion of young people is very high, and the labor force is extremely abundant. If they achieve industrialization, it will definitely create a competitor for us, and our export processing industry will completely lose its competitive advantage. .”

"Your concerns are reasonable." Zhou Heng said, "But helping African countries achieve industrialization is also reasonable. First of all, you mentioned the method of mobilizing people across the country to eat more imported bananas and pineapples, and It cannot truly solve the poverty problem in African countries. No matter how large the market for agricultural products is, it cannot be compared with industry. Without industrialization, African countries cannot truly get rid of poverty."

Tang Zifeng remained silent. In fact, even he himself didn't believe what he just said. Africa has a population of 1 billion. It is completely impossible to achieve poverty alleviation through agriculture.

The added value of China's GDP comes from less than 10% of agriculture. More than 80% of people's daily consumption is industrial products and services. Social investment is mainly based on industrial products, and the consumption of agricultural products is almost negligible. . How can one billion African people get rich if they can only produce products that account for less than 10% of GDP?

"Secondly..." Seeing that Tang Zifeng was silent, Zhou Heng continued: "You just see that industrialization in Africa will take away our traditional market, why don't you think that once Africa gets rid of poverty, it will cultivate an economy that is no less than China's big market.

"Our current exports are mainly to European and American countries, and there are great risks. If European and American countries join forces to sanction us and restrict our exports, our production capacity will have nowhere to be released.

"The country's proposal to engage in the Belt and Road Initiative includes the idea of ​​cultivating new markets along the Belt and Road Initiative. If the economies of developing countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia and Africa improve, how powerful will the purchasing power be? We occupy With such a huge market, we don’t have to worry about blackmail from Western countries.”

"So that's it!" Tang Zifeng suddenly understood.

If there is a new market with a population of nearly 3 billion in Asia and Africa, even if the per capita purchasing power is not as good as that of Europe and the United States, the total size of the market will be extremely considerable and can completely offset the losses caused by the West.

In order for developing countries in Asia and Africa to develop considerable purchasing power, they must first develop their local economies and help these countries achieve primary industrialization, which is a wise choice.

In addition to two hands, a person also has a mouth. As people in African countries become rich, they also need to buy refrigerators, color TVs, mobile phones and cars, and these things are all made in China. This is equivalent to China creating a new world for itself. Market, why not?

"Lao Zhou, how do you plan to cooperate with the Belt and Road countries in the field of machinery industry?" Tang Zifeng asked.

Zhou Heng knew that Tang Zifeng had figured it out. He nodded happily and said, "It's very simple. We need to help these countries establish some small and medium-sized factories, including various light industrial enterprises and a small number of machinery enterprises. At least let them form Basic mechanical maintenance skills.

“Some of our companies went to Africa to set up factories, but the machinery and equipment were damaged and they couldn’t buy any accessories locally. Even an ordinary gear had to be shipped from China, which seriously affected production.

"We are considering that companies in the machinery industry, such as yourselves, can go to the local area to establish some machine repair service stations, and at the same time help the local area establish some small machinery factories, at least to enable the local area to complete some of the most routine mechanical maintenance work."

"You mean, routine mechanical maintenance?" Tang Zifeng confirmed.

"Yes, it's just routine mechanical maintenance." Zhou Heng replied firmly.

"So you don't plan to let us help African countries build a large machine tool company like PATEO?" Tang Zifeng asked again.

Zhou Heng said with a smile: "It would be best if a large enterprise like PATEO could be built in Africa. However, we have to eat our food one bite at a time. With the industrial base of these countries, if we want to make it ourselves in one step, Mid- to high-end machine tools are unrealistic, so we don’t need to encourage them, right?”

"Director Zhou is wise!" Tang Zifeng quickly gave Zhou Heng a thumbs up as a compliment.

There is an old Chinese saying that goes, "It is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish." Building the Belt and Road Initiative and realizing world harmony are China’s responsibilities and mission as a responsible major country. To help countries along the Belt and Road get out of poverty, we cannot rely solely on financial aid, but must teach them some wealth-creating abilities. The most critical of these is to help them cross the threshold of industrialization and learn to use industry to make money.

However, China's own interests must also be taken into consideration, just like the safety prompt on the plane: before helping others, please ensure your own safety.

China can teach brothers from developing countries in Asia and Africa how to fish, but China still has to take control of the manufacturing technology of fishing rods. As for consumables such as fishhooks and fishing lines, Made_in_China’s are also the most valuable. It’s cheap. Are Asian and African brothers interested?

Zhou Heng has always emphasized that he is only helping these countries to develop the most basic and conventional mechanical processing capabilities. In fact, he is teaching them how to fish. To form these processing capabilities, the machine tools required come from China, as well as molds, steel, etc., which are obviously inseparable from China. In this way, the market China gave up was not big, but what it got in exchange was a bigger market.

Of course, China has its own reasons for doing this. Not every country can form a complete industrial system like China. Many African countries, with a population of one million, are already good at establishing the most basic industries. How can they be self-sufficient in everything?

After understanding this, Tang Zifeng's mood rose. He asked Zhou Heng: "Director Zhou, just tell us what you want us to do when the opportunity arises."

Zhou Heng said with a smile: "I don't dare to take orders. I just have some work ideas and I would like Mr. Tang to provide criticism."

Tang Zifeng grimaced: "Director Zhou, please don't make things difficult for me. I won't dare to criticize you even to death. You'd better speak up quickly."

Zhou Heng then put aside the politeness and said: "Currently, the state has helped Belt and Road countries build many industrial projects through development loans, including textile factories, clothing factories, shoe factories, sugar factories, food factories, fertilizer factories, pesticide factories, etc." Factories, etc., and some private enterprises have also invested in the Belt and Road countries and launched various industrial projects.

"Our machinery industry provides working machines for all walks of life, and we cannot lag behind in this process. We are initially considering that we hope that domestic machine tool companies can go to these countries to help build some small machinery factories to meet daily equipment maintenance and manufacturing needs. Small supporting equipment is targeted.

"The main equipment of these small machinery factories is various machine tools. I invited you here today because I want you to take the lead when the opportunity arises and organize an event to bring machine tools to Africa."

Tang Zifeng said: "It is not difficult to treat the introduction of machine tools to Africa as an event. But if we want to achieve practical results, I really don't have any confidence. Operating machine tools also requires some cultural foundation. I am worried about whether I can recruit them in Africa." Enough machine tool operators.

"If the local black people cannot operate the machine tools, we need to send workers all the way there, which will put a lot of pressure on us. The profits earned by the local maintenance business may not even be enough to pay the workers' wages. This has been true for many years. If subsidies go in, no matter how big a company is, it will be brought down."

"When it comes to whether black people can operate machine tools, I remembered something." Zhou Heng said cheerfully.

"What's the matter?" Tang Zifeng asked.

Zhou Heng asked back: "Zifeng, I remember that there was a young fitter named Ning Mo at Linyi Machinery. It is said that he was your middle school classmate. Is this the case?"

"Yes." Tang Zifeng said.

"Do you know what Ningmo is doing recently?" Zhou Heng asked.

"He is in Africa." Tang Zifeng replied casually, and then added: "By the way, what Ningmo went to Africa to do was the mechanical maintenance business. Before he left, he even consulted me specifically. I strongly support him. of."

Zhou Heng said with a smile: "What you are talking about is already in the past, right? Do you know what business Ningmo is currently doing?"

Tang Zifeng was startled: "I haven't contacted Ning Mo for a while. What, Director Zhou, are you saying you know what Ning Mo is doing now?"

"That's right." Zhou Heng said, "Ningmo opened a machine tool school in Ethiopia to train local people to operate machine tools. His school charges very low fees, but the teaching is very strict and has trained many qualified machine tool operators. , won praise locally. The embassy reported his story back to China as an advanced deed of the Belt and Road Initiative. Because I used to be the factory director of Linyi Machinery, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also informed me of this matter. "

"No way!" Tang Zifeng was dumbfounded, "How could that fat man Ning Mo become a leader in the Belt and Road Initiative? He was good at running a maintenance company, so why did he suddenly switch to running a school?"