Ulaanbaatar
Draft Resolution on Guidelines for Cross-Border Railway Project Agreement to Be Submitted
Politics
Ulaanbaatar, December 26, 2024 /MONTSAME/. During its regular session on December 25, 2024, the Cabinet of Mongolia decided to submit to the State Great Khural a draft Parliamentary Resolution on Approving the Guidelines for Concluding an Agreement between the Government of Mongolia and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Implementation of the Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod Cross-Border Railway Project.
Under the Prime Minister’s Order, a Working Group chaired by the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources of Mongolia was established and has been working in charge of organizing the implementation of the 1955 “Mongolia-China Border Railway Agreement” and the Resolution on Some Measures to Be Taken in Connection with the Construction of the Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod Cross-Border Railway. Moreover, Mongolian delegations led by Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Tuvaan Tsevegdorj, and Minister of Roads and Transport Delgersaikhan Borkhuu have held a number of high-level meetings with the Chinese side, and the “China Energy” Group has put specific proposals on ensuring a stable legal environment, guaranteeing conditions for the implementation of the agreement, long-term trade agreement, increasing the capacity of the coal deposits, and railway connections.
With the conclusion of the Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod Cross-Border Railway Agreement, export cargo by rail will rise by more than 30 million tons per year, coal exports from the Tavan Tolgoi deposit will surge to 70 million tons per year, and coal sales revenue will potentially grow to USD 1.5 billion.
In other words, the Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod Cross-Border Railway is strategically important for strengthening trade, economic and regional cooperation between Mongolia and China as well as cooperation in the sectors of mineral resources, industry, and infrastructure of the two countries, creating the condition to connect the Shiveekhuren-Sehe, Khangi-Mandal, and Bichigt-Zuunkhatavch ports by rail, and increasing the port's throughput capacity by 80 million tons by 2030.
