Trade turnover between Mongolia and China increases by 38 percent
Politics
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. On
June 21, an international scientific conference was co-organized by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bank of Mongolia under the theme ‘Current
state and perspective of Mongolia-China economic and trade cooperation’.
The
meeting was attended by Senior Advisor to Speaker of the Parliament D. Lundeejantsan,
Minister for Foreign Affairs B. Battsetseg, Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China Chai Wenrui, Governor of
the Bank of Mongolia B.Lkhagvasuren, Vice President of the Mongolian Academy of
Sciences G.Chuluunbaatar, and more than 50 officials from relevant ministries,
public and research organizations, and businesses.
During
the conference, the sides discussed the current state of trade and economic
cooperation between Mongolia and Chinese, challenges, directions and
opportunities for further cooperation.
They
also exchanged views on increasing the trade turnover in other areas aside from
mining, and expanding bilateral cooperation in agricultural sector. In the
first five months of this year, Mongolia has exported 5.7 million tons of coal
to China, which shows a decrease of 600,000 tons compared to the previous year.
Director of the Research and Statistics Department of the Bank of Mongolia, D.
Davaasukh emphasized that the coal export is expected to increase if border checkpoint
operations are resumed within the framework of the government's ‘New
Revival Policy’.
The
study has found that the share of China in Mongolia's exports has been stable
for the last 5-6 years, fluctuating between 70-90 percent. As of last year,
Mongolia imported USD 7.7 million worth of goods to China, and mining products
accounted for 93 percent out of total imports. The two countries' foreign trade
turnover has been growing year by year, showing an increase of 38 percent or USD
2.8 billion compared to 2020. Despite the decline in volumes of mining products
due to transportation and logistics in the face of the pandemic, revenues have
not declined considerably because of high commodity prices at international
markets. The volume of Mongolia's imports from China has increased by 31
percent in 2021.
Commercial
and Economic Counsellor of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China Sun
Xuejun said, “The Chinese government and all
investors are ready to engage in corresponding activities, supporting the
policy to develop the agricultural sector within the framework of the ‘New
Revival Policy’ being implemented by the Government
of Mongolia.”
Throughout
the world trade turnover has been declining due to the unpredictable factors
such as Covid-19 pandemic and international situation. At this time, Mongolia
is facing a big challenge in maintaining its volumes of exports and imports to
be made with China, a major foreign trade partner.
As
a result of the implementation of the goal set by the two countries to bring
the trade turnover to USD 10 billion in 2020, the amount of trade turnover
reached USD 10.1 billion (exports-USD 7.64 billion, imports-USD 2.49 billion)
in 2021. The sides expressed their commitment to enrich trade and economic
relations with new content, to coordinate the long-term development policies
and objectives of the two countries such as and Mongolia's long-term
development policy ‘Vision 2050’
and ‘New
Revival Policy’ with China's ‘The
Belt and Road’ initiative and ‘Global
Development Initiative’, as well as to
expand cross-sectoral cooperation.
In 2021, Mongolia exported to 64 countries and imported from 159 countries. China’s share in Mongolia’s total export accounted for 82.6 percent. In the total imports, China accounted for 36.4 percent.