Rio CEO Delivered Speech On China Development Forum 2008

Beijing, March 24—The annual meeting“ China Development Forum 2008”last from March 22 to March 24 in Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing with the subject “China towards 2020: Development Goals and Policy Options”. Rio Tinto chief executive officer Tom Albanese delivered a speech on “China towards 2020: International View” unit yesterday, stating his optimism towards the mining sector in China. He expressed that China should strengthen her partnership with the world to shifting from “economic giant” into “economic power”. Albanese said China’s continous rapid growing and achievements within a limited years impressed him a lot, and China has become the fastest developing economic entity in the world within hitting the fastest growing rate in economy last year, realizing a consecutive five-year double-digit increment. China’s industrial production and urban investment rose 18.5% and 2% respectively, which means a powerful demand for metals and minerals in the future. The CEO also indicated that the economic depression in America will not bring much affect on Chinese steel and copper. He raised a few issues concerned with strategies: 1. Whether the world could bear the environment and carbon emission effect brought from China’s growth 2. Whether there are enough resources to support the growth 3. How can China adjust itself to meet the growing demand As for the first issue, Albanese said the only choice is to conduct sufficient investment and make essential sacrifices to avoid environmental destruction. As for the second issue, Albanese is confident that the resources are enough, since there are a good deal of copper, iron ore and aluminum mines, however, industrial players must make innovations, they must pay more concerns about environment as well as coming up with a new way in exploring minerals. As for the third issue, Albanese said his advice in strengthening brand advantage is to take a leading position in overseas investment, including capital and investment in technology and management. Another key point is to reinforce sustainable development, as well as building up a responsible corporate image. While referring shareholders, Albanese said the best way to promote value for shareholders is to upgrade a company’s achievements, saying Chalco’s buying into Rio plays a vital role in the latter’s business development and future prospects. He said China will be a stable anchor of the global economy, which provides a good chance for Rio to partner with large-size Chinese invest houses to expand resources mining. However, it costs much more to construct infrastructure and mine in the remote areas, but cooperating with large-size Chinese enterprises， Rio will achieve its goals as well as Chinese companies’.