Ecuador is the first stop on this South American tour, a small country on the Pacific coast that is only one-third the size of Colombia. However www.biquge.info this small country is rich in mineral resources because of its geographical location.

In the Gulf of Guayaquil, there are abundant oil resources, and in the Andes Mountains, which run through the country, there are a variety of rich minerals. There are mainly metallic minerals such as petroleum, gold, silver, copper, iron, lead and zinc and non-metallic minerals such as limestone, clay, gypsum, barite, asphalt, etc. In addition, due to the underdeveloped economy of Ecuador, there are still most areas, especially in the eastern region, where exploration work has not yet been carried out, and the exploration potential of new mines is huge.

In fact, the whole of South America is a treasure trove, and Chile is known as the land of minerals, a country that is home to nearly half of the world's copper mines. In addition, most of the South American countries, except for a few small countries in the East Coast Plain, are very rich in minerals.

However, because the United States has always regarded South America as its backyard, in order to control this region, it has used various means to curb the development of this region, resulting in this rich continent becoming a backward region after Africa for various reasons.

This is also the main reason why South American countries are bent on confronting the United States now.

The special plane arrived in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and was jointly welcomed by the Vice President of Ecuador, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Energy.

Zhou You's group of more than 20 people boarded the welcoming vehicle directly on the tarmac, and due to the personal arrival of Vice President Ortiz and the welcome of several ministers, Zhou You did not take his own bulletproof Rolls-Royce, but sat in their special protocol minibus.

The minibus was modified by a German modification car company, capable of carrying ten people, the body is very strong, and has a single-sided transparent glass, sitting in the car has a very good view, but not afraid of leaking privacy.

Accompanying Zhou You, the president of the South American branch, Arango, the deputy head of the intelligence department, Rhodes, and Zhou You's special assistant, Gracia, were the three key executives who arrived in Ecuador when Zhou Yu returned to Singapore.

On the Ecuadorian side, there are Vice President Ortiz, as well as the head of the President's Office and the Minister of Economy, Energy, and Commerce.

Ecuador was also once occupied by Spain, and almost all of South America, except for Brazil, was occupied by Portugal. From Florida in the south of the United States to the southernmost corner of the South American continent, all of them are Spanish-speaking countries except Brazil, so there is no need for an interpreter to communicate with each other.

In this informal setting, Zhou You's youth and ability have always been the main topics of conversation, and even with his cheekiness, he felt a little embarrassed by the praise of a bunch of old fellows.

They obviously have a full understanding of Zhou You, know Zhou You's character, and have endless good words, without the slightest consciousness of being in a high position.

However, as the leader of the small country of Ecuador, let alone them, even the president, there is nothing remarkable. According to the GDP of 2006, the country's GDP is only half of the wealth of Zhou You's personal wealth, and the gap is even greater when compared to the assets that Zhou You controls.

According to the statistics of 2006, the personal wealth of Zhou Yu is about more than 120 billion US dollars, which can be ranked in the top 40 in the global GDP ranking, more than 150 countries and regions.

Of course, GDP and personal wealth are not the same thing, but when calculated in terms of the total amount of capital controlled by the tour, this figure will be even higher, and the total wealth of the entire enterprises and companies related to the assets of the Nanyang Group has reached trillions of US dollars, which can enter the top 10 in the world.

If nothing else, Wal-Mart alone has a turnover of more than $200 billion and a market value of more than $200 billion, and the turnover of this company exceeds the GDP of Argentina, which ranks 29th in the world.

In terms of wealth, except for a few superpowers, there is no need to care about the attitude of those small countries. Only someone else will slap him, and he doesn't need to slap anyone else at all.

Quito is a mountainous city with an altitude of almost 3,000 meters, and although it is the closest capital to the equator, the average annual temperature is only 13 degrees, which is the smallest annual temperature difference in the world.

It was the capital of the northern part of the ancient Inca Empire, and its urban construction and natural environment were skillfully integrated, and in 1979 it was included in the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List.

Because the entire city is built between mountains and valleys, it is the second largest city in Ecuador, with a length of less than five kilometers from east to west and dozens of kilometers from north to south, with a population of 1.5 million.

The south of the city is the old town, the north is the new town, and the airport is located in the north, so the convoy passed through the whole new town before coming to the Independence Square, which is located in the middle of the north and south.

Although Zhou You had already learned some necessary information about Ecuador before coming, he was still shocked when the convoy arrived at the heart of the country.

Although Colombia's presidential palace and parliament building are also in the old city, the surrounding streets are narrow, but there is still a decent national center. But Colombia's presidential palace turned out to be just an ordinary two-story half-white building, and the ground floor on the first floor turned out to be a grocery store and a barber shop.

That's right, the first floor of the presidential palace is about two meters above the ground, and there is a row of facades on the ground floor, and the façade room is actually a small store and a barber shop, which is really eye-opening for him.

And, what is even more surprising is that the presidential palace is still open to the public. Both nationals and foreigners can visit the Presidential Palace for free as long as they apply with their own documents.

The convoy drove directly into the backyard of the presidential palace, which was guarded by a group of guards. It seems that because they arrived early, they waited in the courtyard for a few minutes, and after the presidential palace was temporarily cleared, they saw President Palacio personally greet them.

For President Palacio, Zhou You was not very impressed, because this man had been in power for less than a year and a half, but he was already about to step down. Ecuador has now started a new round of presidential elections, and although Zhou You can't remember the name of the president who will succeed him, he also remembers that he is a left-leaning leader who should not be very old.

With this impression, Rafael Correa Delgado, the former Minister of Economy and now candidate of the Sovereign Fatherland Union party, came into the sights of the tour.

Throughout the run-up to the negotiations, Gracia has been giving Correa strong support, as Zhou You'd told, and Correa is now leading the other candidates by a wide margin in the polls.

However, the election will not begin until November, and it is not 100% sure who will be elected now, and who will not remember who the future president of Ecuador is!

Therefore, the current president Palacio still needs to maintain good relations for the time being, and more importantly, he must maintain good relations with all walks of life in the parliament.

After a few words of greeting with President Palacio, the relevant leaders of the two sides shook hands with each other and saluted, and President Palacio personally led the way into the courtyard.

The courtyard is in a strong Spanish style and is surrounded by a two-storey white building with a verandah, with a small square fountain in the middle.

A marble-floored staircase went up to the second floor, where the room at the end of the second floor was the president's office, but instead of entering the president's office, they entered the opinion room next to the stairs.

The meeting room is small in size, less than four meters wide and about twelve or thirteen meters long, with a long mahogany table in the middle, flanked by twenty leather sofas made of the same mahogany.

Zhou You sat in the middle of the east side, with Arango and Rhodes on the left and Gracia and Sánchez on the right. President Palacio sat directly across from the tour, and the other officials lined up in turn.

After sitting down, Zhou You realized that the armrests of this leather sofa made of mahogany were actually the image of a traditional Chinese dragon, and the armrests on both sides were two dragons.

Seeing Zhou You and taking two glances at this kind of sofa, President Palacio said with a smile: "This is one of the batch of aid donated by the Chinese government after the establishment of diplomatic relations with us in 81 years, and at present, these chairs have become a historical witness to the long-lasting friendship between Eritrea and China." Mr. Zhou is also Chinese, and we hope to work with Mr. Zhou to carry forward our historical tradition of friendship and continue the friendship. ”

Zhou You nodded with a smile and said: "Carrying forward the past and forging ahead into the future, friendly development is the mode of getting along between countries. As a businessman, I am more willing to carry out more in-depth cooperation with your country in the field of economy and trade, industrial development, and financial services, and economic development is the project that I attach the most importance to. ”

He also said with a smile: "Yes, the development of historical tradition and scientific and technological progress is the most important basic condition for a country, and we are willing to work together with all countries in the world, including major entrepreneurs, to create the most suitable foundation for the friendly cooperation between the two sides and create the best environment." Although Ecuador is inferior to other countries in many basic conditions, we are ready to work towards that end. ”

Zhou You nodded and sighed: "We at Nanyang Holdings have been seeking a development path that adapts to the different environments of various countries, from Colombia to Venezuela and then to Ecuador, Nanyang Holdings has been exploring. The different realities of each country have different conditions for cooperation at all levels, and we are willing to work with Ecuador to come up with a development plan that best suits Ecuador's actual situation. ”

He laughed and said, "This is our common goal." ”

After a short opening statement, the negotiations entered the formal phase of mutual understanding. At this time last year, the two sides had already begun formal contacts and entered the preparatory stage for negotiations. One year is also enough time for both parties to conduct the most detailed investigation on the development issue.

Although the development model of Nanyang Holdings is very attractive, the environment of each country is different, and when cooperating, it is not possible to be rigid and rigid, otherwise, the failure to adapt to the water and soil will lead to the failure of cooperation.

Colombia is undeveloped because of the civil war, and with the exception of a few areas in the north that were exploited by American companies. However, since many of the minerals discovered by European and American companies in various parts of Colombia have not entered the development stage, the conditions for cooperation are relatively mature.

But Venezuela is different. Venezuela's economic development is actually very good, but because Chávez is firmly on the opposite side of the United States, when the time is ripe, Venezuela nationalizes its domestic resources to take back control of European and American companies.

Subsequently, Venezuela vigorously introduced mainland enterprises, handed over oil fields and mines to mainland enterprises, and sold most of its crude oil to mainland companies.

In order for the intervention of the company, Venezuela gave a large part of the sales rights to the company, and with this part of the profits, the company invested heavily in integrating all the industrial bases.

Ecuador is much smaller than Colombia and Venezuela, and has much less domestic resources, so the solutions that work for those two countries may not necessarily be suitable for Ecuador.

The negotiating teams of the two sides spent a year studying the situation in Ecuador in detail, with the aim of finding a more suitable path for the development of Ecuador.

The meeting lasted from noon to afternoon, and both sides were open and honest about all the realities and development responses.

The parties presented their own proposals, and then stated the reasons for implementing each clause. The two sides then debate around these.

The meeting went on until the evening, but the negotiations between the two sides had not yet reached the first major issue, the conditions for the development of the oil industry, and at this pace, it was impossible for the negotiations to end in less than half a month.

So, the next day, Zhou You and President Palacio set a general framework for the negotiations between the two sides, and then neither of them participated in the specific negotiations.

Leaving behind the main staff of the negotiating team, Zhou You did not stay in Ecuador forever, but took Arango and Rhodes with them and set off for Peru.

The situation in Peru is somewhat different from that of Ecuador, mainly because Peru has much more minerals than Ecuador, but the exploration situation in this country is not so satisfactory, with 60 percent of the country not being explored and 90 percent of the country not being carefully explored.

Therefore, to develop in Peru, the first condition is not the difficulty of the terms of negotiation, but the uncertainty of the cooperation project.

However, cooperation in Peru is the easiest, because all the development can be entrusted to the traveling company, including exploration, and the traveling company can also use these exploration projects to subcontract out, so as to promote the development of the Peruvian mining industry, and then drive the economic development of the whole country through the development of the mining industry, as in Colombia.