Xinhua Daily:
What measures will the SASAC and enterprises directly under the central government take to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic? Also, for Mr. Peng, how do you think enterprises directly under the central government will perform in 2020? Will these annual indicators be adjusted? Thank you.
Peng Huagang:
Thank you for your question. Regarding the difficulties and challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, both the SASAC and enterprises directly under the central government are actively conducting relevant research in order to mitigate the loss accordingly. The CPC Central Committee has made some important deployments in this regard. Earlier on April 16, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting to analyze the current economic situation and make arrangements for economic works. In order to implement the decisions and requirements being made by the CPC Central Committee, the SASAC held a video conference on April 17 based on our existing investigation, which systematically made arrangements for our work in the next step. In general, we have put forward three major requirements: First, we need to face the challenges and mitigate the losses brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic to the greatest extent possible. Second, we need to proceed with confidence and work diligently. Third, we need to shoulder our responsibilities and work to bring about the continuous and healthy growth of the national economy.
The SASAC and enterprises directly under the central government will continue to remain "battle ready." While dynamically optimizing measures for pandemic prevention and control as well as improving the effectiveness of our work, we will also be fully committed to preventing a slowdown and achieving steady growth. The specific measures are as follows:
First, we will spare no effort to expand the market. We will develop and further expand the domestic market while also speeding up the construction and production of existing projects and orders. This will help to avoid late deliveries, loss of customers, and breaches of contracts. We need to seize the growth opportunity presented by the recovery period that will follow the pandemic subsides, and work in accordance with the national strategy for boosting domestic demand. We should work to meet local demands concerning investment and construction in order to effectively mitigate losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. We will also pay attention to world-wide business operations and work to implement major BRI projects through specific and targeted measures for each company in different countries. This will ensure normal business operations for the overseas project as well as the timely delivery of orders. We will support enterprises directly under the central government to further cooperate with enterprises of other ownership and learn from each other in terms of investment and shareholding, product cooperation, R&D collaboration and experience sharing. Enterprises directly under the central government should also lead SMEs so as to achieve mutual development.
