A news conference titled, “COFCO Reorganizes Xinjiang Tunhe,” was held in Urumqi July 8. The event was jointly staged by the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the People’s Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and COFCO. COFCO formally took over operation and management of the Xinjiang Tunhe Investment Corporation and completely cleared Xingjiang Tunhe’s debt of over 90 million yuan owed to tomato growers for raw materials. This totally removes Tunhe, which is the first enterprise in the Delong system to make a turnaround, from the perils of the crisis of Delong before the new production season arrives.
Wang Lequan, member of the Central Political Bureau and general secretary of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, expressed his thanks to COFCO for coming to the aid of Tunhe with 400 million yuan to resolve the company’s crisis and help it through last year’s production season and for thereby contributing to the stability of Xinjiang. He also congratulated COFCO on its successful reorganization of Xinjiang Tunhe. In addition, he expressed his hearty approval of COFCO’s decision to enter Xianjing, with its excellent agricultural products and resources, and expressed the hope that COFCO would make further contributions in the future to the development of the agricultural processing industry in Xinjiang.
Ning Gaoning, COFCO chairman, indicated that COFCO’s reorganization of Xinjiang Tunhe was only the opening act for COFCO’s investment and development in Xinjiang. While working to strengthen and improve the three existing major industries of Xinjiang Tunhe, COFCO will also be looking for opportunities to get into other agriculture-related industries in Xinjiang to strengthen and enlarge the cereal, oil and foodstuff processing industries of Xinjiang.
In addition, COFCO also donated 5 million yuan to establish the COFCO Scholarship Fund at the Xinjiang University of Agriculture, mainly to help the children of tomato, beet and fruit growers go to college and to reward outstanding students in agriculture-related majors.
Other officials and dignitaries attending the news conference included Simayi Tieliwarti, chairman of the People’s Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; Aisihaiti Kelimubai, chairman of the people’s political consultative congress of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; Zhang Qingli, executive vice chairman of the People’s Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; Yang Gang, general secretary of the Urumqi Municipal Party Committee; Fuqiang, secretary-general of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; Chen Lei and Qian Zhi, vice chairmen of the People’s Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; Wang Yousan, former vice chairman of the People’s Political Consultative Congress of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; Wang Huimin, assistant to the chairman of the People’s Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; and Ma Rong, member of the standing committee of the Party committee of an army unit. A number of COFCO officials were also in attendance, including president Liu Fuchung; Wang Junjie, vice-secretary of the leading Party members group; board member Sun Zhongren; vice-presidents Dong Zhongxin, Yu Xubo and Shi Zhuowei; Liu Ding, head of the discipline inspection committee of the leading Party members group; chief economist Zheng Hongbo; Qu Zhe and Zhang Dongfeng, assistants to the president; and the responsible persons of concerned functional departments.
