Sumitomo CEO met with President of Bolivia

The President of Sumitomo Corporation, Kuniharu Nakamura, visited Bolivia on January 20, where he
met with the President of the Plurinational State, Evo Morales. During the meeting, they both discussed
the positive relationship between Japan and Bolivia, as well as the activities of Minera San Cristbal
(MSC), a Bolivian subsidiary of the Japanese business consortium.
During their meeting, Nakamura underscored that in its operations, MSC links its productive and
business operations to social activities, such as the creation of a human resources training center in the
community of San Cristbal, as well as joint efforts with the local population in different self-sustainable
projects that are independent of the mining production with a view to these communities building their
own future.
Within this framework, he also referred to
the corporations support for different
activities of national interest, including the
promotion of quinoa, of which President
Morales was the central promoter at the
United Nations. MSC has invested in
technical support for local growers in order
to increase quinoa production in the region
where it operates, southeast of Potos,
Furthermore, Nakamura mentioned MSCs support for the Bolivian government in organizing the Dakar
Rally 'a passing through Bolivia, particularly in the cleanup of 140,000 tons of garbage in the municipality
of Uyuni, and the preparations for receiving thousands of tourists and journalists who came here to
watch the race.
The executive also spoke with President Morales about Sumitomo Corporations participation in the
lithium project, in which it is working together with state mining company COMIBOL in development of
state-of-the-art technology for recovering this resource.
We are not yet in the investment phase but rather in the phase of research and pre-feasibility studies,
developing different technologies in order to find the one that is most adequate for the Bolivian
context, he pointed out.
As regards the reform of the mining law, Nakamura assured that Sumitomo wants to have clear
information about the rules and conditions to continue making investments in Bolivia.
Nakamura also underlined that the Japanese corporation has made a total investment of USD 1.8 billion
in mining in the country and that to date; MSC has generated more than 6,000 direct and indirect jobs in
Bolivia.