Mongolia hosts Xi, seeks port access 

Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, and his wife Peng Liyuan, are greeted by Mongolian Prime Minister Norov Altankhuyag

Landlocked Mongolia is hoping to secure better access to Chinese ports as President Xi Jinping becomes the first Chinese head of state in more than a decade to visit this sprawling resource-rich nation sandwiched between China and Russia.
Xi arrived in the Mongolian capital yesterday and was to meet with Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia later in the day. He also plans to meet today with Prime Minister Altankhuyag Norov, who is chairman of Elbegdorj’s ruling Democratic Party, and deliver a speech at the Great Hural, Mongolia’s parliament.
Faced with declining foreign investment and increased inflation and unemployment, Mongolia is desperate for more routes to export its mineral resources. Xi’s trip to Mongolia — the first by a Chinese president in 11 years — is expected to include discussions on infrastructure investment, as well deals to help Mongolia export minerals through Chinese ports including Tianjin and Dalian.
Four of 11 agreements under discussion have to do with ground transportation to Chinese ports, to better ship high-value minerals to South Korea and Japan, China expert Munkhtuul Banzragch said.
Mongolia is building a railway from one of its largest coking coal deposits to the Chinese border. Still undecided is the much-debated issue of whether to stay with Mongolia’s wide-gauge rail inherited from its time as a Soviet client state, or shift to a narrower gauge used in China.
Xi will oversee the signing of 20 cooperative agreements covering mineral extraction, infrastructure building, finance and diplomatic relations, the official China Daily newspaper said.
With several major mining projects in legal limbo, Western investment in Mongolia has fallen sharply, causing the country to turn increasingly to China and Russia to support its economy, which traditionally relied on animal herding.
China accounts for more than half of the country’s external trade and receives almost 90 percent of its exports, mainly copper, coal and animal products, while supplying 37 percent of its imports. Bilateral trade has soared over the past decade, reaching USD6 billion last year. AP

Ganbat Namjilsangarav, Ulan Bator