Before I start, please allow me to express my condolence to those who lost their beloved ones in the past few months.

It is my honor to join you at China Daily's Vision China Talks.

At the moment, as the world is fighting COVID-19 together, Vision China Talks timely gives us a good opportunity to talk about enterprises’ social responsibility in fighting the virus.

And it is of much delight for me to take this opportunity to share with you the contributions and sacrifices made by Chinese central State-owned enterprises in this tough battle.

As is known to all, Chinese central SOEs are one of the most trustworthy and reliable forces of the state. At every critical moment, they've stepped forward and turned the tide.

And there are people and things I will never forget.

I will never forget Dr. Huang Xiqiu, an architect of Sinomach, almost 80 years old, the chief designer of Xiaotangshan Hospital in Beijing during SARS epidemic.

He worked tirelessly with his team, getting ready for the design of another one in Wuhan.

Once the request for help came, they worked out the design of Huoshenshan Hospital in merely 78 minutes.

I will never forget China State Construction, an enterprise mobilized tens of thousands of builders who worked around the clock and finished the construction of Huoshenshan Hospital and Leishenshan Hospital respectively in just 10 days.

Some people said it was a miracle. Yes. The enterprise and those builders, they made the mission impossible possible at the speed of China.

I will never forget the crew of Flight MU5000, China Eastern Airline.

On the Eve of Chinese New Year, when people all over the country were celebrating the festival, they were flying the first national medical team to the frontline — Wuhan.

And soon Air China and China Southern Airline joined in.

I will never forget Sinomach, AVIC, CSSC, Norinco, CEC and Genertec.

When medical supplies were in severe shortage, those six enterprises tried their utmost to manufacture machinery and equipment for producing face masks and protective suits from scratch in just a few days.

Neither will I forget Sinopec and Xinxing Cathay, which boosted daily production of face masks from 0 to almost 10,000,000 and protective suits to almost 200,000 within weeks.

It was for their contribution that our soldiers, those respectable doctors and nurses could be properly armed.

I will never forget, over 60,000 medical staff from hospitals owned by central SOEs worked relentlessly around the clock and showed their grand spirits of benevolence as they saved lives in the areas hit hard by the epidemic.

I will never forget Sinopharm, Genertec and China Resources who provided the frontline with sufficient ammunition ranging from testing kits to effective Chinese medicines.

And Sinopharm has made substantial progress in the research and development of inactivated vaccine, which gives hope to humanity to be shielded from the virus in the near future.

There are too many unforgettable people and things to share here.

What I want to stress is that what we face now is not only a battle against the epidemic, but also a fight for economic growth.

Central SOEs have exerted a strong driving force in economic and social recovery.

Now they have fully resumed work and production, leading the recovery of industrial chains and supply chains.

Apart from protecting the life and health of our people, central SOEs also stand for the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

They coordinated resources to strengthen international anti-virus cooperation by providing much-needed supplies and assistance to other countries within their capacity, boosting the international community's confidence in defeating the virus.

We are faced with a virus respects no borders.

As is said by President Xi Jinping in his statement at virtual event of opening of the 73rd World Health Assembly. We must always put the people first, for nothing in the world is more precious than people's lives.

In this regard, central SOEs have played and will continue to play their due role in rising up to occasions and safeguarding people’s life and health.

Central SOEs have fulfilled and will fulfill their social responsibilities as always. They are ready to offer whatever they can to help with disease control and disaster relief.

Whenever there is a need, whatever the need is, we can count on central SOEs.

To conclude, I’d like to thank friends from all walks of life and partners from all corners of the world for your support of and trust on central SOEs.

Let’s come together, stay with unity and work as one, making concerted efforts to protect the life and health of people on this planet.

So that our world can be a better place where people can breathe safely, move freely and live happily!

Thank you!

Ren Hongbin, vice-chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC)