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.