Obviously, the real situation cannot be as simple as the legend suggests. If you can do business with the United Nations with just a phone call, you may be really a liar!

Through the telephone communication between Guò and the deputy representative of Rokens, Yang Zhi learned about the cause and effect of the incident. It turned out that about a year ago, according to the agreement reached by the leaders of many countries at the United Nations General Assembly, the United States, Japan, the European Community (renamed the European Union after the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993), Canada and other major Western developed countries will provide a batch of assistance to more than 20 poor and backward countries in Africa, mainly for agriculture and production machinery, to help these countries realize agricultural modernization and improve the level of agricultural planting, this aid action is called the "Stephen Plan". The United States and other countries are responsible for providing the funds needed for the Stephen Plan, while the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is responsible for implementing the work.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the world's largest multilateral agency responsible for technical assistance. It is a subsidiary of the United Nations and is headquartered in New York. The work of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is to provide technical assistance, training and equipment to developing countries, especially the least developed countries. We are committed to promoting the sustainable development of mankind, assisting countries to improve their adaptive capacity, and helping people create a better life.

Now that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has accepted the specific work of the "Stephen Plan", the search for suitable agricultural machinery suppliers began to be found after the funds provided by developed countries such as the United States began to be available. At the beginning, the United Nations Development Programme naturally focused on the brands and manufacturers of European and American countries. But after many comparisons, I reluctantly found a frustrating fact: the product quality, appearance and design of European and American countries are very good, but the price is high! You know, the "Stephen Plan" has been a large amount of aid projects in a single field of developed countries, with a total project fund of about 30 million US dollars, but the average unit price of large machinery from European and American manufacturers is about 1200 US dollars, and small and medium-sized machinery is about 500-800 US dollars. According to this price, including the cost of supporting parts and personnel training, a total of 14,000 units of various agricultural machinery can be purchased.

That sounds like a lot of money. However, the program covers more than 20 countries in Africa, with an average of less than 500 units per country. Such a figure is obviously too far from the original plan to achieve the expected effect at all. However, it is unlikely that developed countries will be persuaded to increase aid and increase the amount of aid in the short term. As a result, the "Stephen Plan" was temporarily deadlocked.

At this time, the Thai man Lang Kesu, then deputy administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and director of the Asian Development Bureau, came up with a new idea that seemed bold but somewhat reasonable: whether it was possible to look a little more broad, and the procurement objects did not necessarily have to be limited to European and American manufacturers, but could look for more cost-effective products around the world. This mention opens up a new way of thinking for the project!

Subsequently, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) began to re-select alternative machinery manufacturers. However, it sounds like it's all over the world, but it's simply not possible. Because the iron curtain of the Cold War had not yet fallen at this time, the two superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union were still fiercely vying for hegemony, and the corresponding two major military blocs, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, were also-for-tat. The Soviet Union co-opted other socialist countries of Eastern Europe to form its own economic cooperation organization to carry out internal economic and trade exchanges. The trade of these countries is effectively outside the mainstream world trading system. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 led to a sharp deterioration in relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. So, although the USSR and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe had strong mechanical production capabilities, among them the Soviet "Urals", the Polish "Lafamet", the Czech "Vera" were well-known all over the world. However, it is almost impossible for the United Nations and its subordinate agencies, which have always been dominated by European and American countries, to purchase products produced in these countries.

At this time, the United States, which was on the defensive because of the Soviet Union's aggressiveness on a global scale, entered an unprecedented honeymoon period in Sino-US relations out of the need to draw China against the Soviet Union (China and the Soviet Union began to fight each other in the 60s, and there were many border armed conflicts, such as the "Zhenbao Island" incident) and reduce its own strategic pressure. Naturally, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) turned its attention to China.

At that time, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) did not have a separate branch in China, and its operations were handled by the United Nations Representative Office in Beijing. As a result, the task of investigating whether there are suitable manufacturers and products in China fell to Rokens, who is known as the "China expert".

After learning about several major machinery manufacturers in China, Rokens was still a little undecided. At this time, he paid attention to China's machinery industry because of his work needs, and he was introduced to find the industry's most authoritative publication, "Machinery Daily". The above advertisement for the Dongfanghong 20 light tractor immediately caught his attention!

It not only clearly states the performance and parameter indicators of the product, but also the most impressive is the sentence "the national unified retail price is 548 yuan". You know, because of the foreign exchange management system, the RMB at this time is much more valuable than later generations, and the exchange rate of the US dollar against the Renming currency is about 1:3.2, that is to say, this product is converted into US dollars, as long as 171 US dollars, which is almost only one-third to one-quarter of the same product of European and American manufacturers!

The performance parameters basically meet the needs, but the price is so low, and as a manufacturer of a tractor, according to Rokenes, it is also the eldest son of Huaxia Machinery Industry. Rokens has a strong interest in this product and the manufacturer of Yituo. In his excitement, he did not use the most common methods such as sending letters at this time, but called directly according to the sales call on the advertisement.

Yang Zhi, who put down the phone, briefly introduced the cause and effect of the incident to Chen Weiguo and others. At this time, the people around him understood what was going on. And Gao Xunqi was already so frightened that his face changed, and when he saw Yang Zhi and the others preparing to leave, he hurriedly went up, stammering and saying something unclear: "Director Yang, this and this I" Yang Zhi, who was in a good mood because of the communication with Rokens Shun just now, didn't blame him too much, and patted him on the shoulder: "Forget it this time, I won't sue Manager Gong, but remember in the future, you have to be more meticulous in your work!" "Hmm, hmm" Gao Xunqi who heard the words was grateful, and still nodded fiercely after Yang Zhi and the others left.

"Yang Zhi, do you think our factory can take this United Nations order?" Wu Yanli also seems to be looking forward to it. Just kidding, not to mention the benefits that can be created for the factory, the object of this list is the United Nations!