President of Mongolia, Tsakhia Elbegdorj paid a State visit to the People’s Republic of China at the invitation of Hu Jintao, President of the People’s Republic of China from 28th of April to 3rd of May.

On the first day of his State visit, President Elbegdorj held a meeting with Wen Jiabao, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, holding discussions on the issues of bilateral relations and cooperation. President Elbegdorj and Premier Wen have agreed to strengthen bilateral political ties between the countries, and develop mutually beneficial economic relations, including an active cooperation on infrastructure, mining, and financial sectors, while noting of the similar stances of Mongolia and People’s Republic of China on major regional cooperation issues.

Official welcoming ceremony for President Ts. Elbegdorj in Beijing by China’s President Hu Jintao

The Chinese side expressed their support on President Elbegdorj’s bid to increase the flow of Mongolian export through southern ports by improving transit transportation facilities, and cooperating on the production of mining and agricultural products, and pledged to provide technical assistance in this regard. In particular, Premier Wen expressed eagerness to continue negotiations on transit transportation in an active and responsible manner.

In addition, President Elbegdorj mentioned creating a commercial loan channel from Chinese banks to Mongolian enterprises, while both sides have agreed on issues such as improving the requirements and conditions of previous loans from the People’s Republic of China, optimizing their uses, and carefully choosing the projects that receive such loans.

Political and business leaders of Mongolia and China assemble to strengthen bilateral cooperation

Prevention against disaster, cooperating on the fight against climate change and desertification were also among the top subjects of discussion, while ideas on strengthening cooperation in the region of Southeast Asia, and possibilities to work together on grand-scale projects were explored. Year 2009 coincided with the 60th Anniversary of Establishing Diplomatic Ties between Mongolia and the People’s Republic of China, and President Elbegdorj and Premier Wen have unanimously stressed that it was time to enrich the coming era of Mongol-Chinese bilateral ties with broader essence, while elevating it into a new level.

President Elbegdorj has extended his congratulations for hosting Expo, a world-level exhibition in Shanghai, first among developing nations, and added that the successful organization of this event demonstrates the development level and economic capabilities of the People’s Republic of China throughout the world.

China’s President Hu Jintao extended regal hospitality to Mongolia’s President Ts. Elbegdorj

A Forum of Mongolian and Chinese businessmen was held within the confines of the visit of the President of Mongolia to China. The Forum, held at the International Trade Promotion Society of China, convened over two hundred businessmen representing large Mongolian and Chinese firms and companies. President Elbegdorj said in his Opening remarks, “We are all witness, and studies and surveys indicate that Asia emerges as the main host of global production, trade and markets. All talk and write about the booming Chinese economy. Mongolia and China are immediate neighbors, therefore, Mongolia has ample opportunities to fully deploy and benefit from actively engaging with the Chinese economy. The moving engine for this cooperation is you, the businessmen, and the private sector. Mongolia upholds a consistent policy to improve the investment environment and do away with redtape. The leaders of the two countries have always worked to promote, enrich and expand our cooperation with economic content. Mongolia has declared this year as the Year to Improve the Business Environment and we have started working to reform business-related laws and legislation”. The year 2009 was a hard year for China, but thanks to prudent banking and financial policies, China was able to maintain its economic growth rates, which will further endeavor to be preserved, noted Chinese businessmen in their speeches. Chinese businessmen expressed interest to cooperate in mining, infrastructure and agriculture, and have also expressed support to the issue of creating a free trade zone. The Mongolian Government was represented at the Forum by officials from the Ministry of Minerals and Energy, Ministry of Road, Transportation and Urban Development, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry. They made informative presentations, introducing potentials for broader cooperation in these sectors. Forum concluded with a lively exchange of ideas and opinions of the participating businessmen. China is one of the major investors in Mongolia, and at the end of 2009, there were 4927 entities with Chinese investment registered in Mongolia, with an overall volume of 203 billion USD in investments. Last year, the volume of trade turnover between Mongolia and China accounted to 1.92 billion USD.

President Elbegdorj and First Lady Kh. Bolormaa also visited monuments of the Chinese historical and cultural heritage. Ts. Ganbaatar, Professor of the Mongolian State University, a doctoral candidate of Beijing University and Cinologist introduced, One outstanding cultural heritage related not only to Chinese but also to Mongolian history is kept in the ‘White Cloud’ temple in Beijing. ‘White cloud’ is a temple for the ‘Perfection True-Bumba’ religion which was the biggest stream of Oriental religion. Here, the original copy of Chinggis Khaan’s decree to the Manchu King is kept. Because Bumba religion widely spread and many people turned to this religion, Chinggis Khaan invited Chanchun Bumba to come to Mongolia. Chanchun Bumba extensively travelled throughout Mongolia and eventually met Chinggis Khaan. Later, scientists obtained the sutra witnessing this historical event, and now research is underway.”

On the same day, President Elbegdorj visited the Chinese Fine Arts Museum. President Elbegdorj met with Chinese master of figure painting Liu Dawei. He once lived in Inner Mongolia and is now chairman of the Artists Union of People’s Republic of China. Dawei paintings feature Mongolian lifestyle and themes. His paintings are renowned not only in China but also worldwide, introducing Mongolian nomadic lifestyle and heritage of Mongolia to the world.

On April 29, the State visit of President Elbegdorj continued, arriving in Changchun, capital city of Jilin Province. Sun Zhengcai, Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and Chairman of the Provincial People’s Congress, and Wang Rulin, Governor of Jilin Province, greeted President Elbegdorj upon his arrival.

Secretary Sun expressed his gratitude for President Elbegdorj’s visit to the Province of Jilin, and proposed his ideas to promote bilateral relations in the province, while increasing business opportunities and investment. Specific issues were also discussed during the meeting, such as developing a transit transportation channel through Mongolia, connecting Asia and Europe, and building a paved road from Choibalsan city to Rashaant port.

In return, President Elbegdorj stressed that his visit to Jilin Province was not a coincidence. “Jilin Province is successfully setting development trends for the whole region of Northeast Asia, and I can apprehend the amount of attention your Government is putting into the development of this province. For Mongolia, a landlocked country, Jilin province presents valuable economic opportunities, and Mongolia will continue her active participation in the international exhibition taking place here, in order to increase the investment flow and economic cooperation from Northeast Asia,” he said.

“I am confident that agreements and negotiations held during this visit will pave the beginning of future successful cooperation and provide solutions for current issues,” the President added.

Following the meeting, G.Erdenebat, Governor of Darkhan-Uul Aimag of Mongolia, and Wang Rulin, Governor of Jilin Province of the People’s Republic of China signed a Memorandum of Understanding for establishing bilateral relations and cooperation between the provinces.

Within his state visit to the People’s Republic of China, the President got acquainted with the activities of some leading Chinese factories and plants. Businessmen representing over 40 companies and entities of Mongolia were among the business delegation accompanying the President. Most of these companies represented banking, mining, construction, transportation and agriculture sectors.

The official welcoming ceremony for Elbegdorj Tsakhia, President of Mongolia, who was paying a State visit to the People’s Republic of China, was held in the city of Shanghai on May 1. At the beginning of official talks, held after the welcoming ceremony, President Elbegdorj stated that developing good neighborly, friendly relations with the People’s Republic of China, while upholding an equal and mutually beneficial cooperation is one the priorities of the foreign policy of Mongolia. He also expressed his content with the broadening bilateral economic relations in recent years.

President Hu mentioned centuries of long, historic relations between the Mongolian and Chinese people, while noting that Mongolia was among the first countries to establish diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China, and of the successful celebration of 60th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between Mongolia and the People’s Republic of China, last year. He also stressed that developing mutually beneficial cooperation would suit the vital interests of both sides, and added that such cooperation would have a positive impact for overall regional development and progress. During the talks, President Hu announced the approval of an additional 40 million Yuans’ aide to Mongolia. Strengthening of humanitarian exchange and multifaceted cooperation, and more active participation in regional affairs was some of the requests from President Hu. President Elbegdorj talked of opportunities to supply mining and agrcultural final products produced in Mongolia to Chinese and other markets, while stressing the importance of facilitating means of transportation, and proposed to actively cooperate in this direction as well. The President of Mongolia stated that in order to strengthen mutual understanding and trust between the people, high regard and respect for respective history and traditional relics of both nations were of utmost importance, and appreciated the fact that cooperation in this regard has already started. Fields of cooperation proposed by President Elbegdorj also included environmental protection, fight against desertification and controlling natural disasters.

The two Presidents have exchanged views on regional cooperation, in particular, cooperation in Central and Northeast Asia. The People’s Republic of China expressed its willingness to cooperate to strengthen Mongolia’s nuclear-free-status.

At the end of the meeting, President Elbegdorj stated that bringing Mongol-Chinese bilateral relations to a new level is a common goal for both countries, and extended his invitation to President Hu to visit Mongolia at any time convenient. President Hu expressed his gratitude for President Elbegdorj’s invitation, saying he would be greatly pleased to visit Mongolia once again, and wished success for the rest of President Elbegdorj’s state visit to the PRC. President Elbegdorj’s state visit will continue from Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region.

A signing ceremony of some documents on bilateral cooperation was held after the official talk between President Elbegdorj of Mongolia and President Hu Jintao of the People’s Republic of China. An Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement between the Governments of Mongolia and the People’s Republic of China on official aide of 40 million Yuans granted during President Elbegdorj’s State visit was signed by G. Zandanshatar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and Chen Deming, Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China.

In addition, Yo. Otgonbayar, Minister of Education, Culture, and Science of Mongolia and Cai Wu, Minister of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement on Establishing Cultural Centers in Ulaanbaatar and Beijing, and a 2010-2013 Cultural Exchange Plan between the Governments of Mongolia and the PRC.

President Elbegdorj also met with Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), during his visit to Shanghai. At the onset of the meeting, Mr Jia Qinglin congratulated on successful official talk held by Mongolia’s President with Chinese leaders and expressed his confidence that the Mongolian President’s visit will be a significant impetus to the development of bilateral relations.

President Elbegdorj thanked him in turn and re-offered his deepest condolences regarding the deadly earthquake that happened in Qinghai Province, taking many lives and causing China to suffer a huge loss. The President told of Mongolia’s government resolution to render assistance to China and noted the people of the two countries mutually helped each other in times of difficulty.

“We are pleased that our State visit to People’s Republic of China has been significant and now initiates to resolve many important issues. It is the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between two countries and the countries have marked it with full ceremony. I believe that a new era of relations starts and new opportunities are coming up to expand cooperation. Bilateral relations of good-neighborly and mutually trusted partnerships will develop in sectors of health, education and humanity. Moreover, I am satisfied with intensifying political talks and regularizing high-level visits between two countries,” said President Elbegdorj.

Jia Qinglin thanked the Mongolian Government for rendering assistance to the country and expressed his agreement with President Elbegdorj’s expression about bilateral relations. “Despite the economic crisis that was experienced worldwide last year, China retained its economic indications of 2008. Even further, economy tends to grow intensively. China is still big investor for Mongolia in recent decades. A number of people who travelled between two countries reached one million, hitting a new record in the history. I unanimously agree with you on development of bilateral relations. Our country is ready to boost cooperation with Mongolia in mining and infrastructure. I support the speech you gave about producing mining and agricultural end-products and exporting to third markets that you made at the meeting with Wen Jiabao, Chinese Premier. We are ready to cooperate on bigger projects and render infrastructural and financial supports,” said Jia Qinglin.

The sides unanimously agreed that Mongolia and China need to collaborate by using their advantages. President Elbegdorj’s State visit to the People’s Republic of China drew immense attention from Chinese media and the press. The most respected newspapers of the country, China Daily and People’s Daily have published editorials assessing President Elbegdorj’s words at his meetings with President Hu Jintao, and Premier Wen, as well as his speech at Mongol-Chinese Business Forum.

In addition, President Elbegdorj attended “Talk with World Leaders”, a popular talk show of Hong-Kong based Phoenix Television, and spoke of bilateral relations and cooperation between Mongolia and the People Republic of China. The News channel of China Central Television also interviewed the President of Mongolia, covering broad aspects of bilateral relations.

Mongolian President’s state visit continued in Hohhot of Inner Mongolia. On May 2, President Elbegdorj, First Lady Bolormaa and their accompanying delegation attended an opening ceremony of Mongolian cultural festival in Hohhot. This event was organized within the cooperation agreement made between the Ministry for Education, Culture and Science of Mongolia and Media Information Department of Inner Mongolia.

The Deputy Minister for Education, Culture and Science of Mongolia, Ch. Kulanda said at the opening cultural festival: ”The bilateral cooperation of our two countries are developing intensively for the last years, and that is manifested by cooperation in cultural and arts sector. To date, two countries had courtesy towards their culture, tradition, national heritage and customs. We would preserve and enrich this mutual respect and cooperation in the future”.

The President’s state visit included visiting a number of locations and development projects

Mr. Ulaan, a member of the PRC Communist Party Standing Committee of Inner Mongolia emphasized during the opening ceremony that the country has been giving high importance to Mongolian cultural festival being organized for the first time in Inner Mongolia.

An honoring concert, movie days, and photo exhibition will be held within the cultural festival of Mongolia. In the honoring concert, a total of 82 actors will be performing classical music, and national traditional arts and cultural masterpieces. The photoexhibition opened today, displaying over 100 photographs showing Mongolian development, prosperity, Mongol lifestyle and events related to the 800th anniversary of Great Mongolian State.

Before ending his State visit to China on May 3, President Elbegdorj visited Erlian city of Inner Mongolia, where the President held a meeting with Erlian city’s Party Committee head Tao Shu Zhui, the city governor Meng Jian Dong, and deputy governor Wo Gang to exchange views on bilateral relations and cooperation, including development of border areas. After their meeting, the President returned to his home country by train, informed by Office of the President of Mongolia, Division of Public Relations and Monitoring.

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