Chapter 2666
Fu Li's current job is affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but he also shoulders responsibilities in many fields such as trade, intelligence, culture, education, and even the military. Therefore, his performance appraisal, job promotion and promotion are all managed vertically by the Executive Committee. There is no need to be responsible to Donghai Region.
Zhu Zian's matter was jointly handled by the Northern Region and the Donghai Region. Fu Li only provided due assistance in the Seoul area. The effectiveness of this matter was not something he needed to consider. Moreover, even if Zhu Zian is retained in the future, due to his status, it is unlikely that he will be sent to North Korea to serve in the future, so Fu Li does not have to worry about maintaining a relationship with him.
After briefly talking about Zhu Zian, we moved on to the third topic, which is the impact that the new agreement reached by the two countries through talks will have on North Korea.
The new agreement between the two countries is mainly about the industrial upgrading of existing cooperation projects. To put it bluntly, Haihan now needs more primary industrial products produced in North Korea for the large-scale infrastructure plan to be implemented in the Hangzhou area. In particular, relatively scarce minerals such as coal and iron in Jiangsu and Zhejiang need to be supplemented by existing industrial production capacity in the Datong River Basin.
Fu Lidao: “In accordance with the opinions of the Executive Committee and the Ministry of Industry, we require North Korea to increase the export of high-quality coal by 50% in the next three years, double the export of steel products, and there are similar requirements for other minerals. . But such a request is difficult to achieve solely by increasing production capacity. It will probably take away some of the products originally supplied to North Korea. North Korea’s opposition is mainly focused on this point, believing that my country’s request will make North Korea originally formulated. Some good development plans have stalled.”
Tao Hongfang added: "So the Executive Committee also proposed conditions for technological upgrading of these cooperation projects. For North Korea, the value of this condition is difficult to measure in terms of money. Moreover, the increase in production capacity will bring benefits to North Korea." More employment opportunities are also of great benefit to North Korea.”
Fu Li nodded and said: "In the end, the other party was willing to accept the content of the agreement. A large part of the reason was considering the long-term benefits that the conditions we proposed would bring to them. It is not always possible to exchange primary industrial products for industrial upgrading. opportunities. What’s more, with the increase in jobs, the number of industrial workers in North Korea will also increase significantly. Li Zhen should know what this means.”
During his studies in Haihan, Li Zhen inspected almost all industrial production units on Hainan Island. Naturally, he was very aware of the huge role of industrial workers who have mastered production skills in the process of industrial development. The industrial project cooperated with Haihan is one of the few places in North Korea that can train industrial workers.
According to the agreement between the two countries, these workers are free to leave their jobs as long as they have worked in the cooperative projects for eight years. Therefore, in some of the industrial projects that North Korea is currently trying to run on its own, almost all of the people appointed will change jobs after working in the cooperative projects for eight years. skilled workers, greatly reducing the difficulty for North Korea to develop independent industrial projects.
Sacrificing the acquisition of industrial products in exchange for opportunities for industrial upgrading and personnel training is undoubtedly a cost-effective exchange for North Korea. But for the related vested interest groups, the pros and cons are more complicated.
Those industrial cooperation projects in the Datong River Basin are important industries related to the lifeblood of the country, such as salt, iron, shipbuilding, etc., so the franchise rights have been taken back to the government, but the specific operating channels are subcontracted to certain powerful individuals. or business group. Behind these operators are all powerful upper-level figures in North Korea.
Haihan now needs more production capacity from cooperative projects to be supplied to the Donghai Region and other places, which will inevitably reduce the proportion of supply to North Korea, and this will directly affect the income of relevant operators. Therefore, the real difficulty in this meeting is to convince these vested interest groups in North Korea to accept Haihan's arrangement.
"All we can do is compensate from other aspects." Fu Li said calmly: "Fortunately, things went smoothly and there were no unforeseen incidents." Shi Chengwu said: "This is all thanks to Master Fu's hard work. Please mediate, otherwise this matter may have to go through several rounds of negotiations before there is any hope. After this matter is over, I will submit a letter based on the facts and ask for credit.”
Fu Li smiled and said: "This is where the responsibility lies."
If we wait until the beginning of formal talks to figure out how to implement these below-the-table operations, it will inevitably delay the negotiation process, so the relevant work on Fuli's side has actually been underway several months in advance.
During this period, he had to meet and contact relevant people from all walks of life to discuss transaction conditions that were acceptable to both parties. Haihan's payment may be a franchise of a certain product, a plantation located somewhere overseas, or a special place for a certain official's son to study in Sanya, as well as political support commitments, etc.
The conditions acceptable to each negotiating partner may be different. Such negotiations are often very cumbersome and require continuous follow-up by the person in charge, which is not an easy task. But this was an order given directly to Fuli by the Executive Committee, so he naturally had to spare no effort to complete the task.
By the time the mission arrived in Seoul, Fu Li had actually reached an agreement with all interested parties, and he only had to wait for formal talks to go through before signing the agreement. This was actually a disguised form of clearing the way for Shi Chengwu and others to go on a gold-plated mission. Shi Chengwu knew this very well, so he expressed his thanks.
For ordinary people, of course they have no access to these inside stories. The public information they know basically comes from the announcements of various government offices in the imperial court and relevant reports in the Peninsula Times.
For the people, the results of this meeting are undoubtedly some exciting good news. For example, The Peninsula Times has revealed that major industries in the Datong River Basin will recruit a large number of workers, and it is expected that there will be tens of thousands of new jobs. The income and career development prospects of these positions can be regarded as the goals that ordinary people aspire to. .
In addition, the cross-sea transportation industry between North Korea and Haihan will also expand its scale of operations. It is expected that in the next three years, hundreds of cargo sailing ships will be added to the Daedong River alone between the two countries. Thousands of high-paying sailor jobs are waiting for young North Koreans to sign up.
Haihan also promised to increase the purchase of some agricultural and forestry products from North Korea year by year, which means that the farmer group, which accounts for the vast majority of North Korea's population, is expected to benefit from it. Of course, this also has a prerequisite, which is to continue the consistent practice. Farmers or farm owners first sign relevant contracts with Haihan, plant the crops required by Haihan, and use the seedlings provided by Haihan. But few people realize that Haihan is actually gradually controlling North Korea's agricultural production through such means.
(End of chapter)