Chapter 308

I don't know when the crop production in the Soviet Union began to decline year after year. The collective farm system, which once played an important role in the period of the Wei war, gradually declined. This also prompted more and more farm members to abandon their land and rush to the big cities to make a living. The final result is that the population of big cities is increasing, but the food supply in stores is decreasing. Everything seems to be an inextricable cycle. As the Secretary of the Central Committee in charge of agriculture, Gorbachev is trying to reverse this bad situation.

Not long ago, Gorbachev just visited Canada, one of the world's major food exporting countries, to learn about and investigate Canada's advanced agricultural production and management experience. There is a reason why we chose Canada instead of any other place, because Canada and the Soviet Union have many similarities in dimensions, climate and so on, which are more referential. But just before Gorbachev's visit, US President Reagan accused the Soviet Union of being an evil country, which cast a shadow on this visit.

Originally, Gorbachev had to negotiate with the Canadian government about the grain import agreement when he went to Canada, but the attitude of the United States made Canada hesitant. Finally, Yakovlev won the import contract of 2 million tons of wheat per year for the Soviet Union by virtue of his personal relationship with the Prime Minister of Canada. Although Gorbachev's move has won him great prestige in the political arena, Gorbachev, who is in charge of agriculture, knows that this grain is just a drop in the bucket for such a big country. Before he put the Soviet Union's agricultural production on the right track, obtaining a stable source of food became Gorbachev's biggest problem. But now a piece of good news has come to his ears. The Moscow trading company under the Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League in Moscow has easily obtained Canadian wheat flour. How did they do it.

Yakovlev told Gorbachev the news. Yakovlev was originally invited by the Communist Youth League of Moscow to visit and investigate. Yakovlev accidentally found a commodity trading company called Moscow trading company, which was just established by the Communist Youth League of Moscow. Yakovlev asked to visit out of curiosity and interest. To his surprise, this humble trading company could import Canadian wheat on a large scale. Yakovlev, who participated in the whole process of Gorbachev's negotiations in Canada, was shocked at that time. Unexpectedly, their painstaking efforts in Canada were not as good as a collective enterprise under the Moscow Youth League Committee. What's the matter?

So Yakovlev immediately told Gorbachev the news. Gorbachev didn't believe it, but when he saw the name of the country of origin on the grain package, he had to believe it. After that, he sent people to several food companies cooperating with this enterprise to learn that the price of wheat and wheat flour sold by this enterprise is 10% lower than the price Gorbachev negotiated in Canada. Now Gorbachev was completely convinced. He really wanted to know how Mosco trading company did it.

Gorbachev did not condescend to visit Xie liaosha in person. He asked his secretary to give Xie liaosha an invitation, which was enough to make Xie liaosha feel honored. He did not expect that he would be able to attract Gorbachev's attention so soon. He did not know that his wheat business actually attracted Gorbachev's interest.

Gorbachev's meeting with shariosha took place at the White House in Moscow, where the new Supreme Soviet was built in 1981, and Gorbachev's office is also located. Xie liaosha was led in by the staff here and turned around in the maze like building for a long time before reaching the destination of this trip.

Gorbachev was sitting in his seat waiting for him when he walked into Gorbachev's office. Before he could speak, Gorbachev motioned him to sit in the seat opposite him. Xie liaosha carefully opened the stool and sat down gently. To be honest, he felt more nervous here than ever before.

"I'm here today to ask you how you got the Canadian wheat from Moscow trading company?" Gorbachev asked without expression. He thought that Gorbachev had found something, but he still forced himself to calm down and said: "we purchase through normal overseas trade!"

"But why is your price much lower than that of government procurement?" Gorbachev asked, still expressionless.

"What do you mean by government procurement?" Xie liaosha asked.

Gorbachev remembered that the contract with Canada had not been disclosed to the public, so as to avoid people's misunderstanding that food prices would rise or other rumors would cause panic. He opened the drawer, took out a copy of the contract from inside, turned to the price page, and put it directly in front of Xie liaosha!

When Xie liaosha took over the document, he first glanced at Gorbachev's expression. It seemed that he did not mean to ask for a crime. Then I took a look at the price list on hand. It involved the quotations of some agricultural products, mainly oats and wheat. However, the transaction price was really high and frightening. Moreover, the term of the contract was as long as 10 years, which was obviously being cheated.

"Secretary, the price..." Xie liaosha didn't know how to go on, because he knew that his words would offend the people who signed the agreement. So he thought about it for a moment, and continued: "the price is still very fair!"

"I want to know why your Moscow trading company can purchase agricultural products at such a low price?" Gorbachev asked gravely.

"The way we take with our partners is barter trade, that is to exchange domestic oil and cotton with each other for farm products of equal value! You also know that there is a huge interest margin between China's oil purchase price and international oil price, as is the case with cotton, but the price of grain is completely on the contrary, which is good for both sides! " Seryosa explained to Gorbachev.

"That's right!" Gorbachev nodded thoughtfully. Then he continued to ask, "which company is your overseas partner?"

"Romanov trading company based in Switzerland!" Xie liaosha simply replied.