The agreement was reached during a recent meeting between Mongolian Foreign minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.

Tsogtbaatar made an official visit to Russia on May 16-18.

The two nations have already begun joint research on an FTA outline.

Mongolia and Russia expect the free trade agreement to bolster two-way trade and investment, and deepen bilateral ties.

Ranked at No. 9., Jack Ma's Alibaba has seen its brand value nearly double to $113 billion as the e-commerce company has expanded further into fields such as mobile payments and cloud computing.

Shenzhen-based Tencent (TCEHY) broke into the annual BrandZ top 10 ranking in 2017 and has gone from strength to strength over the past year. It now holds fifth place -- behind Google, Apple, Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) but above Facebook (FB) -- with a brand value of $179 billion, up 65% compared to last year.

Tencent specializes in online games, apps, instant messaging services and online payments. It boasts a market capitalization of $490 billion, making it worth more than America's most valuable bank, JPMorgan Chase (JPM).

Here's the list of the top 10:

Google
Apple
Amazon
Microsoft
Tencent
Facebook
Visa
McDonald's
Alibaba
AT&T

Google is the most valuable brand in the world. Alibaba and Tencent are also in the top 10 ranking.
Doreen Wang, the head of BrandZ, said the new ranking demonstrates that Tencent and Alibaba have overcome numerous China-specific hurdles to become global powerhouses.

"The challenges facing Chinese brands are by no means small," she said. "Limited brand awareness in international markets, a lack of trust due to historic quality issues and a reluctance by Chinese brands to invest in impactful global advertising campaigns has put them at a disadvantage with their more established competitors."

But the rise of China and savvy young consumers has created opportunities for smart entrepreneurs, she said.

"Attitudes are changing, particularly among younger consumers who are falling in love with Chinese brands," she said. "While penetration into US markets may still be at a preliminary stage for both brands, other regions are embracing them."

Alibaba is gaining ground in Brazil, Chile and other Latin American countries, where its online marketplace AliExpress "is rapidly becoming the leading e-commerce platform," said Wang. It also has a strong presence in countries such as Israel, Spain and South Korea.

Tencent has been gaining greater recognition in south Asian markets such as Thailand and Singapore, she said.

The BrandZ ranking is published annually by WPP (WPPGF) and Kantar Millward Brown. Google has been at the top of the ranking for eight of the past 12 years. Its brand is currently valued at $302 billion, up 23% from last year.

Gen. Wei said China and Mongolia are friendly neighbors, China upholds the peaceful foreign policy and practises the diplomatic concept featuring affinity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness in its relations with neighboring countries, and is willing to work with Mongolia to promote the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

The armed forces of China is also willing to strengthen pragmatic cooperation with the armed forces of Mongolia in areas of personnel training, joint drilling, international peacekeeping operations, anti-terrorism efforts and border control, so as to push the mil-to-mil relations to a new level, the Chinese defense chief said.

Enkhbold said Mongolia firmly upholds the one-China policy, supports the Belt and Road Initiative, and is willing to work with China to deepen pragmatic cooperation in all areas between the two countries and their militaries.

The two sides exchanged views on international and regional security situations.

Before their meeting, Wei held a welcome ceremony for Enkhbold and accompanied him to review the Guard of Honor of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The parties exchanged opinions on improving trilateral cooperation in various areas, the progress in implementing the roadmap of cooperation development and the Programme for building the Russia−Mongolia−China economic corridor.

Immigration officials told the BBC that he was interviewed last week at the Israeli embassy in Moscow. He has faced delays in renewing his UK visa.

His spokesman would not comment on reports citizenship had been granted.

Mr Abramovich, 51, would be the richest person in Israel.

His UK investor visa reportedly expired some weeks ago but the British government has refused to comment on his individual case.

The delay in issuing him a new one comes amid increased diplomatic tensions between London and Moscow after the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in southern England.

Israeli media reports say he has been given an identity card in Israel under the Law of Return, which allows Jews to become citizens of Israel.

The Times of Israel said the interior ministry had confirmed Mr Abramovich arrived in Israel on Monday and that he had emigrated to the country.

He is a frequent visitor to Israel and bought a hotel in Tel Aviv in 2015 that reports say he has turned into a residence.

Israel passport holders are allowed to enter Britain without a visa for short stays.

Mr Abramovich is worth $11.5bn (£8.6bn), according to Forbes magazine. The move could pay off financially as new Israeli citizens are exempt from paying tax on foreign income for 10 years.

One of Russia's richest people, he bought Chelsea FC in 2003
He reportedly sold dolls before making his fortune in oil in the 1990s after the collapse of the former Soviet Union
Mr Abramovich was a one-time business partner of the late tycoon Boris Berezovky, an associate of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin
Critics say the two businessmen used their Kremlin "family" ties to acquire key state companies for below market value
Mr Abramovich served as governor of Russia's Chukotka region
He is believed to be close to current Russian President Vladimir Putin

On May 25, Ministers of the two countries signed on a grant agreement from National Defence Ministry of China to the Ministry of Defence of Mongolia.

Later, Vice Chairman of CPC Central Military Commission Xu Qiliang received Minister N.Enkhbold and the parties stressed the successful development of bilateral cooperation in defence sector.

Defence Ministries of the two countries have been developing the bilateral cooperation over the years. In 2013, a cooperation agreement in military and technical fields was concluded between the Governments. Under this agreement, Mongolian military servants have been studying at Military Universities of China and the Ministry of National Defense of China has provided financial assistance to the Ministry of Defense of Mongolia. In 1996-2014 over 260 Mongolian military servants were educated at the universities of Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing.

Moreover, the parties conducted multilateral military trainings in the two countries since 2009. Officials said that it has not only a good influence on friendly relations between the two countries, but also a big contribution to the regional peacekeeping and global peacebuilding operations.

B.Misheel

Last week, the MPP group backed an idea for launching an Initial Public Offereing (IPO) for 30 percent of the Tavan Tolgoi project. Subsequently, the Cabinet has demanded detailed bill over the Tavan Tolgoi project.

Mongolian People’s party won majority of seats in parliamentary election in July, 2016 which allows the party to make decision by own. Mongolia is planning to bring back to life the long-delayed and massive Tavan Tolgoi coal project.

Located in the South Gobi desert, Tavan Tolgoi is home to the world’s largest high-quality coking coal deposit used in steelmaking, with reserves estimated in 7.5 billion tonnes. According to the Mongolian government, the country’s untapped mineral wealth is worth about USD 1.3 trillion.

According to the office of the provincial governor, the construction of the 20 megawatts solar power plant will begin in the second half of this year. The project will be completed by the third quarter of 2019.

The project will reduce carbon emissions by around 25,000 tons and save up to 355 million liters of water annually.

Mongolia enjoys more than 250 days of sunshine a year. Meanwhile, the country's renewable capacity nearly doubled last year, reaching 155 MW, the Ministry of Energy said.

The Japanese electronics producer installed Mongolia's first large solar power plant, with a capacity of 10 MW, in the province in January 2017. The country's second wind farm, the 50 MW Tsetsii Wind Farm, also opened in October of last year.

Mongolia seeks to provide sufficient heat and electricity for its population, especially in rural areas, and renewable energy projects are seen as a possible solution.

'The oil products will be sold to 12 consumers, including the owners of major retail site networks such as NIK KOO, Magnay Trade KOO, Oin Birge KOO, and Sod Mongol Group by the Rosneft subsidiary Rosneft-Mongolia KOO on a take or pay basis,' the statement says, adding that the total value of these contracts is USD 2.1 bln.

Rosneft supplies gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, fuel oil, bituminous materials and liquefied petroleum gases to Mongolia. Contracts signed in 2014 allowed Rosneft to increase its presence in the Mongolian market to 80%.(Tass)