During a historic visit to the Republic of Mongolia, Pope Francis will meet with political authorities, he will address representatives of the Catholic Church and participate in an ecumenical and interreligious meeting, he will meet with charity workers and celebrate Holy Mass in a sports arena.

A statement released on Thursday by the Holy See Press Office lists the events that make up the Pope’s 43rd international apostolic journey.

The news that the Pope had accepted the invitation of the President of Mongolia and local Church authorities was announced in June, together with the dates of the visit: 31 August to 4 September 2023.

According to the schedule released by the Press Office on Thursday, 6 July, Pope Francis will depart from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport on the evening of Thursday, 31 August to arrive at Ulaanbaatar’s “Chinggis Khaan” International Airport on Friday, 1 September at 10 am local time when a welcome ceremony will take place.

The Pope will stay in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, throughout the visit.

The Programme

On Saturday, 2 September, the Holy Father will be greeted at a welcome ceremony in Ulaanbaatar’s Sukhbaatar Square before paying a courtesy visit to the President of Mongolia at the State Palace

Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh, also referred to as Khürelsükh Ukhnaa, is the 6th and current president of Mongolia, beginning his term on 25 June 2021 after winning the 2021 Mongolian presidential election.

Pope Francis will then make his first official discourse during a meeting with Authorities, civil society and the Diplomatic Corps in the “Ikh Mongol” hall of the State Palace.

Following this, he will meet with the Chairman of the State Great Hural (Parliament of Mongolia) and with Prime Minister, Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene.

In the afternoon of Friday, the Pope will meet bishops, priests, missionaries and consecrated persons as well as pastoral workers whom he will address in the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral.

On Sunday, 3 September, the Pope will participate, in the morning, in an Ecumenical and Interreligious Meeting in Ulaanbaatar’s “Hun Theatre.”

On Sunday afternoon he will celebrate Holy Mass in the “Steppe Arena” winter sports stadium.

On Monday, 4 September, the last day of the Pope’s visit, he will inaugurate a charity center – the House of Mercy – and meet with staff and volunteers of the organization, before bidding farewell during a Farewell Ceremony at the “Chinggis Khan” airport.

He is scheduled to depart at noon local time and arrive in Rome the same day in the late afternoon, making up for a six-hour time difference between Mongolia and Italy.

"Hoping Together”

Releasing the motto of the apostolic journey - Hoping Together – the Holy See Press Office explained that it was chosen to emphasize “the double meaning of the Holy Father's Apostolic Journey to Mongolia: that of a pastoral visit and of a state visit".

“Hope”, a purely Christian virtue, a statement added, is one that is also widely shared in non-Christian circles. “By associating it with the adverb ‘Together’, the motto “underscores the importance of bilateral cooperation between the Holy See and Mongolia.”

Hoping Together represents a common ideal and also an element that will characterize the journey.

"The presence of the Holy Father represents for this small portion of the People of God a sign of great hope and encouragement and on the other hand the Church that is in Mongolia, with its smallness and marginality, can offer a sign of hope for the universal Church", the Press Office said.

The logo

The Press Office statement also elaborated on the logo that features a map of Mongolia outlined in the red and blue, the colours of the national flag.

Within the borders is the shape of a ger (a traditional Mongolian dwelling), from which yellow smoke (the colour of the Vatican) flows upwards.

To the right of the ger is a cross. The ger and the cross are contained between two vertical inscriptions, in traditional Mongolian language, which echo the motto - "Hoping Together").

The first Pope to visit Mongolia

Pope Francis is the first Pope to visit the East Asian country that borders Russia and China. With just 3.3 million inhabitants it is the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign state.

After the collapse of China’s Qing dynasty in 1911, Mongolia achieved independence from the Republic of China in 1921 after which it operated as a satellite state of the Soviet Union.

After a peaceful Democratic Revolution and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the current social democratic Mongolian’s People’s Party reshaped the country’s political landscape and introduced a new constitution.

The end of religious repression in 1990 allowed for a rebirth of religious freedom and in the majority Buddhist nation, Catholic missionaries returned to rebuild the Church in 1992. There are currently some 1,300 baptised Catholics in the country, administrated by Italian Cardinal Giorgio Marengo.

By Linda Bordoni

Pope Francis travels to the periphery of Roman Catholicism later this summer when he becomes the first pontiff to visit Mongolia, a Central Asian nation squeezed between Russia and China with just 1,500 Catholics.

The visit is steeped in geopolitical significance as it will be closely watched by both Russia, which controlled Mongolia during the Soviet era, and China, which is seeking to exert its influence through the Belt and Road initiative.

No pope has visited either of those nations, and the pope is likely to choose to fly over China on his way, rather than Russia, which is waging war in Ukraine. Following papal custom, Francis can be expected to send a brief telegram to Chinese authorities in recognition, from which a word or two of meaning could be parsed, said Giorgio Bernadelli, editorial coordinator of the missionary news organization Asia News.

Francis has been trying to toe a diplomatic line with both countries, sending an envoy to Russia in a bid for a peace deal over Ukraine while seeking to keep relations on an even keel with China, which violated a 2018 accord over bishop nominations.

The Sept. 1-4 schedule released on Thursday is light by papal standards and includes a full day of rest upon arrival, which appears to be a concession to the 86-year-old pope’s recent health issues. Most recently, he was hospitalized to repair a hernia.

Francis will be welcomed on Sept. 2 in a ceremony in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, in a ceremony in the central Sukhbaatar Square, near an imposing statue of the infamous Mongol 13th-century Emperor Ghengis Khan — a symbol of Mongolia’s former glory.

Later that day, the pope will meet with Mongolia’s president, and other top officials, giving the first two of four papal addresses planned for the visit, one to a gathering of authorities, civil society and diplomats, and the other to a group of bishops, priests, missionaries and pastoral workers.

Mongolia has just 1,500 Catholics and 77 missionaries and just one bishop, Bernadelli noted, so it is likely that bishops and priests will attend from elsewhere in the recently-created Central Asian bishops conference, which also includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

The pope will say Mass on Sunday at the Steppe Arena in his major public appearance, after giving an address to an ecumenical and interreligious meeting earlier in the day. On the last day, he will inaugurate the charity “House of Mercy,” giving his final address before leaving.

The opening of a Catholic charity is a significant move, Bernadelli said, signaling the church’s path forward in the nation that was officially atheist under the Soviets and where Buddhism is the largest religion.

“It will be important for the Catholic community, which is very small and spread out, to be united around the pope,’’ he said.

Mongolia has strived to maintain its political and economic independence from both its Soviet-era patron Moscow — which supplies virtually all of its energy needs — and rising regional power China, which buys more than 90% of its mining exports, mainly coal and copper.

Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai paid an official visit to China from June 26 to July 1, with stops in Beijing, Tianjin, and Ningbo, home of the world’s largest port. During his trip, Mongolia and China finalized a number of cooperation agreements that have previously been discussed, further deepening economic ties, particularly in energy, and infrastructure.

The Mongolian delegation, headed by Oyun-Erdene, was welcomed by Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sun Weidong, Chinese Ambassador to Mongolia Chai Wenrui, and Mongolian Ambassador to China Badral Tuvshin. During his week-long trip to China, Oyun-Erdene held an official meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, attended the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Tianjin, and met with leaders of some Chinese state-owned enterprises.

On June 27, Xi received Oyun-Erdene and the Mongolian delegation at the Great Hall of the People. The high-level meeting between the two leaders, followed by one-on-one meetings with Chinese officials and industry leaders, revealed Ulaanbaatar and Beijing’s shared interest in enriching the two countries’ economic ties within the framework of their comprehensive strategic partnership.

According to the press release of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, during the meeting “Xi Jinping stressed that China and Mongolia should always stay committed to respecting each other’s national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, respecting the development paths independently chosen by the two peoples, and firmly supporting each other on issues involving their respective core interests and major concerns.”

In response, Oyun-Erdene stated that “Mongolia is ready to work closely with China to continue respecting and supporting each other’s choice of development paths, promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, strengthen inter-party and youth exchanges, advance connectivity projects such as cross-border railways and port connectivity between the two countries, and deepen cooperation in economy and trade, investment, energy, green development, anti-corruption, and other areas.”

In the last five years, Mongolia and China have prioritized expanding economic ties in a wide range of sectors. Many of the developmental projects – such as the construction of major railways connecting Mongolian and Chinese trade ports, and the construction of roads and freeways – represent parallel growth with Beijing’s own development. The Oyun-Erdene administration, particularly, has been proactive in bolstering infrastructure agreements, which are a lifeline of Mongolia’s mining and export sector at large.

Oyun-Erdene’s visit to Beijing can be viewed as a follow-up to Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa’s visit to China in November 2022 – or rather a push to actually implement the development projects agreed to during that visit. During Khurelsukh’s meeting with Xi, the Mongolian president stated that Mongolia’s New Revival Policy and its long-term development policy paper, Vision 2050, can be a parallel development strategy of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This is something Oyun-Erdene repeated during his meetings with Xi and other officials.

According to the Office of the Cabinet, Oyun-Erdene pointed out that “Mongolia has completed the construction work of our site to connect Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod, Shiveekhuren-Sekhe, Bichigt-Zuunkhatavch, [and] Khangi-Mandal ports by rail.”

Currently, China buys almost 95 percent of Mongolia’s exports. It’s easy to see, then, why border ports such as Shiveekhuren-Sekhe carry strategic relevance to Ulaanbaatar’s economic security. Investment in these sectors is crucial for Mongolia to meet the demands of a quickly changing economic and geopolitical environment.

Facilitating faster movement through border ports has thus been a key goal for the Mongolian side. The Bichigt-Zuunkhatavch border was closed in 2021 amid China’s pandemic controls. It only resumed normal operation in July 2022. The construction of a 7.1 kilometer railway that links Shiveekhuren-Sekhe Port is expected to be completed in six months. This is part of Ulaanbaatar’s push for Beijing to accelerate the process of implemetning previously discussed projects.

Following his meeting with Xi, Oyun-Erdene met with the leaders of Chinese state-owned enterprises such as Power China, China Energy, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Power China, China State Construction Group, and Norinco. As the Montsame News Agency reported, “About 25 cooperation agreements, totaling three billion yuan [$414 million], were signed during the ‘Mongolia-China Trade and Economic Cooperation’ Forum,” which took place during his state visit.

Moreover, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Mongolian and Chinese agencies responsible for overseeing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) presages greater cooperation between the SOEs of Mongolia and China in renewable energy, technology and innovation, hydroelectric power plants, oil, and gas producing technologies. An important takeaway from the high-level meetings is the financing of mega projects such as the Erdeneburen hydropower plant and the Choibalsan power plant expansion project.

Coinciding with Oyun-Erdene’s visit to Beijing, China hosted the 2023 World Economic Forum’s “Annual Meeting of the New Champions” in Tianjin, sometimes dubbed the “Summer Davos.”

At the WEF, Oyun-Erdene showcased Mongolia’s progress in recovering from the pandemic and introduced his administration’s implementation of the New Recovery Policy. Addressing global leaders from governments and the private sector, Oyun-Erdene encouraged both the private and public sectors to invest in Mongolia’s science, information technology, and sectors that demand innovation and modernization.

Moreover, during a one-on-one meeting with Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, Oyun-Erdene discussed Mongolia’s challenge as a landlocked economy and the need for assistance and cooperation, with a particular focus on transportation and logistics sectors. Oyun-Erdene invited Schwab to attend the Mongolia Economic Forum, which will take place from July 9-10 in Ulaanbaatar.

Oyun-Erdene’s week-long official visit to China revealed both intent and motivation on Ulaanbaatar’s part to accelerate the two countries’ economic activities within the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership. Although Oyun-erdene’s visit centered around activating many of the bilateral projects that Mongolia and China have previously discussed, this was also an opportunity for Mongolia to seek investment and promote tourism.

Since he took office in 2021, the Oyun-Erdene administration has heavily invested in new infrastructure projects, specifically to bolster trade with China. It has undertaken major expansions to existing land ports on the border, establishing a comprehensive 3,000 km road network to connect border ports for efficient transportation, and doubling the number of active airports to alleviate pressure on ground-based infrastructure. Free trade zones such as Zamiin-Uud, which already handles 70 percent or more of Mongolia’s total trade volume, are also being established to provide tax and regulatory incentives for business and connect key parts of the transport network.

One major takeaway from Oyun-Erdene’s official visit to China is that both the Mongolian and the Chinese governments are willing to enrich their comprehensive strategic partnership and major development projects will involve state-owned enterprises. While it is paramount for the government to implement policies that can and will diversify the country’s economy, it is equally important to include the private sector in developmental projects.

On a bilateral level, considering Ulaanbaatar’s strong traditional ties with Beijing, the continued exchange of high-level visits entail a parallel growth between the two countries. Mongolia can combine a close relationship with China with greater openness to international investment in general, by diversifying sources of investment.

BY GUEST AUTHOR

Bolor Lkhaajav

Bolor Lkhaajav is a researcher specializing in Mongolia, China, Russia, Japan, East Asia, and the Americas. She holds an M.A. in Asia-Pacific Studies from the University of San Francisco.

China’s decision to control the export of two key metals showed it has some power to retaliate against moves by the US, Japan and Europe to cut Beijing off from advanced technology. But it also risks backfiring.

The new export licensing system unveiled late Monday highlighted China’s dominant position in global production of gallium and germanium, which are used to make chips, electric cars and telecommunications equipment. The announcement — just days before US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visits Beijing — appears timed to give China leverage as it pushes the White House to remove export controls that risk hobbling the nation’s development.

Yet the measure is a double-edged sword, and may simply accelerate efforts by those countries to reduce dependence on the world’s second-biggest economy. If Beijing did at some point uses these new rules to restrict shipments and cut supply to other nations, prices would likely rise and make it more economical to boost output in Japan, Canada, the US or elsewhere.

“It’s part of the tit-for-tat the PRC is playing with the US and its allies,” said Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore. He was referring to the country’s formal name, the People’s Republic of China. “There may be some initial shock to the markets and firms but over time, should these restrictions persist, markets and firms adjust.”

The move underscores the dilemma facing President Xi Jinping as he seeks to counter US efforts to prevent China from accessing the chips needed to dominate technology like artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Any reciprocal actions only give the US and Europe more ammunition to push for derisking, something Xi’s government has sought to counter.

“China always takes a tit-for-tat approach,” Roy Lee, Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister, said of the new measures, which he called a retaliation to export controls by the US and other democratic nations. These “will become an accelerator for countries including Taiwan, South Korea and Japan to reduce our dependence on China supply of those critical minerals and materials.”

Rare earth weapon

China’s previous efforts to restrict the sale of rare earths have only diminished its market share as other countries work to secure supplies of the metals that aren’t controlled by China.

China first introduced an export licensing system for rare earths in the 1990s while also gradually ramping up taxes, squeezing companies in Japan and elsewhere that relied on Chinese supplies. But the big shift happened in 2010, when Beijing temporary halted exports to Japan in reaction to a collision between a Chinese fishing boat and the Japanese coast guard near islands claimed by both countries.

That incident set off a race to find alternative supplies from China. Output in Australia and the US subsequently increased, pushing China’s share of mining output down to 70% of global supply in 2022 from a peak of 98% in 2010, according to the US Geological Survey.

China currently accounts for about 94% of the world’s gallium production, according to the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre. Still, the metals aren’t particularly rare or difficult to find, though China’s kept them cheap and they can be relatively high-cost to extract.

“Imposing export restrictions risks reducing market dominance,” researchers from Eurasia Group including Anna Ashton wrote in a note. “If implemented as is, China’s new export mineral restrictions could offer fresh impetus for foreign manufacturers to shift production out of China, accelerating the trend of supply chain diversification.”

China said the new licensing system for exports of gallium and germanium, along with their chemical compounds, was aimed at protecting national security — the same justification given by the US and it allies for their export controls.

The announcement nevertheless sparked concern in Europe about potential disruption to supply chains in the short term and is likely to spur discussion about how to reduce the bloc’s reliance on China.

The European Union announced a new economic security strategy last month and launched a Critical Raw Materials Act to ease financing and permitting for new mining and refining projects, and also to strike trade alliances to reduce the bloc’s dependence on Chinese suppliers. If the new rules were used to restrict exports, that escalation of tensions could threaten the bloc’s ability to transform its economy to become more environmentally friendly.

The immediate effect of the changes seems to be limited, according to a statement from the Korean industry ministry on Tuesday, which noted that there are other supplies of the two metals.

However even if China doesn’t use this new rule to limit exports at some point in the future, it arguably has more to lose than the US, particularly as its mounting economic challenges raise questions about whether it will ever take over as the world’s biggest economy.

Beijing’s most effective tool to sanction others is to cut off access to its huge market, or limit exports of strategically important goods. But this further drives the decoupling from China that Beijing wants to avoid, as it would undermine its stated goals of ensuring the nation is dominant in new technologies and essential in global supply chains.

At the moment, however, the growing ideological struggle between the US and China is taking precedence over globalization, Morris Chang, the founder of chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., said at an industry event in Taipei on Tuesday.

“Right now national security and technology and economic leadership take priority over globalization,” he said. “The relations between US and China are more about competition than collaboration.”

(With assistance from Rebecca Choong Wilkins, Betty Hou and Jennifer Creery)

Mongolia plans to increase its number of 24-hour ports and transport links along the border with China, pinning economic-growth hopes on the post-Covid recovery on its southern neighbour, according to a high-ranking Mongolian official.

Port recovery is “one of the pillars” of Mongolia’s economic development, according to the minister in charge of road and transport development, Byambatsogt Sandag, and the country “intends to expose all ports, connect them by road and rail”.

“In the future, we will make Gashuunsukhait, Hangi, Bichigt and Bulgan ports 24-hour operational, which is important for the further expansion of trade and economic cooperation between [China and Mongolia],” he said in a written response to the Post.

Sandag was one of the ministers of the Mongolian delegation that visited China by joining the World Economic Forum held in the northern port city of Tianjin between June 27 and 29.

During the visit, Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene and Minister of Border Port Recovery B. Tulga met with director general of the General Administration of Customs, Zhao Zenglian, and they discussed the 24-hour operation of the Zamin-Uud and Erlian ports.

All-day operations will also extend to other ports on the 4,700km (2,920-mile) land border between the two countries.

Both governments aim to develop ports, which Sandag described as an “air vent” that opens occasionally now but will become more akin to a “door” that is always open.

The closer bilateral economic relations came as Mongolia launched its “New Recovery” policy in 2021, which aims to spur investment in areas such as energy, border ports, industrialisation, urban and rural recovery, green development, and public sector efficiency.

Total trade value from Mongolia to China reached US$4.2 billion for the first quarter, surging 1.7 times year on year, according to Mongolian official data. Coal comprises 63 per cent of Mongolian exports.

During the Mongolian prime minister’s visit to China, the contract for the eastern region railway construction was signed for US$1.8 billion, according to Sandag.

“Within the framework of the development of the eastern railway corridor, a major construction project is being started to renovate the railway line from the Russian-Mongolian border to Ereentsav-Choibalsan, and to construct a new railway from Choibalsan to the Mongolian-Chinese Bichigt-Zunkhatavch port,” he added.

“In this regard, the eastern railway corridor connecting Mongolia-Russia-China will be created, and our country will have the second railway corridor connecting Asia and Europe.”

Mongolia’s railway in the eastern region is planned to be 420km long, running through Choibalsan, the fourth-largest city, to the Khuut coal mine and Bichigt, the border-crossing station.

Sumiya Chuluunbaatar, a non-resident fellow at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of International Studies, said the construction of railways in these southern regions of Mongolia is one of the most critical factors in becoming “a land-connected country”.

“During the epidemic, the Mongolian people felt the importance of building infrastructure and customs-clearance capabilities,” he added.

Chuluunbaatar explained that a work delegation from China’s Liaoning province paid a visit to Mongolia recently, as they want to turn Liaoning ports such as Dalian and Jinzhou into “Mongolia’s new Tianjin Port”, which requires railway construction in eastern Mongolia and a connection with Northeast China.

There is a great need for Mongolia, Russia and China to expand their road and rail corridors … to learn from China

Byambatsogt Sandag, Mongolian minister

Sandag said in his written response that the development of the road and transport sector is the “lifeblood of the economy” because the development of other sectors depends on the “infrastructure, accessibility, quality of services, transparency and speed”.

“In terms of new infrastructure, there is a great need for Mongolia, Russia and China to expand their road and rail corridors, to have new corridors, to connect their ports, to learn from China’s urban planning and infrastructure experience in reducing congestion in Ulaanbaatar, and to attract investment in this area,” he noted.

Trade between China and Mongolia via Ganqmod Port in Inner Mongolia – the largest highway port between China and Mongolia – cleared nearly 8 million tonnes worth of goods in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of more than four times from last year, Xinhua reported.

The volume of imported coal from Mongolia was 7.68 million tonnes, up 525.4 per cent year on year, the Chinese media added, while imports of refined copper powder grew by 12.2 per cent year on year to 201,200 tonnes.

“Trucks and food shipments from China to Russia are increasing,” Sandag said. “We are inviting both Russian and Chinese sides to the construction of the Eastern Region Railway Corridor.”

Kh. Baatarkhuu, a Mongolian author and one of the participants of the delegation to China joining the World Economic Forum, called the resolution on operating checkpoints along the border between both countries “very important”.

“If there is an increase of specific railroads to connect the ports, the amount of coal exported from Mongolia will at least double in size,” he added.

The supply chain subsidiary of Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group, one of largest state-owned coal and chemicals producer in China, reported the successful customs clearance of its first batch of Mongolia coking coal, about 30,000 tonnes, through Ceke border crossing on June 27, marking a solid step for the company in the field of international trade.

China is the largest destination of coal exports from the landlord country, but the major coal producer itself hasn't imported coal from Mongolia before.

Since the coal cross-border transportation resumed at Ceke port on February 10, the company has quickly sent teams to the port and also Ganqimaodu port to gain a thorough understanding of transportation, warehousing, and sales conditions, in order to accelerate the progress of importing Mongolian coal.

This coal trade also marked the first usage of Chinese yuan for settlement. By prioritizing the use of the local currency, the company not only enhanced the yuan's internationalization but also facilitated the achievement of budget targets and ensured the smooth operation of business activities and risk management.

Ceke, as an important transportation hub connecting Northwestern China with Mongolia, plays a crucial role in coal trade. The company's strategic focus on expanding the Mongolian coking coal import scale is in line with China's Belt and Road Initiative and the "China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor."

(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Emma Yang)

For any questions, please contact us by inquiry@fwenergy.com or +86-351-7219322.

On June 29 and 30, Mongolia’s Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh hosted foreign ministers from France, Germany, Indonesia, Liechtenstein, and South Africa as well as representatives from international organizations in Ulaanbaatar. They discussed issues related to gender equality, including ways to tackle the climate crisis and food insecurity, resulting in the “Ulaanbaatar Declaration.” Mongolia, which recently joined the “Feminist Foreign Policy Plus Group” at the United Nations – an alliance of countries engaging in the topic – says it will hereby contribute to promoting feminist and gender transformative approaches to multilateralism and foreign policy.

Feminist foreign policy wants to strengthen the rights, resources, and representation of women and marginalized groups, in the proven knowledge that more inclusive decision-making leads to more sustainable diplomatic and peace processes. Germany’s government became the seventh country to commit to a feminist foreign policy (FFP) in late 2021. Since then, more states have announced their commitments, including Chile and the Netherlands.

They have joined a reform-minded club – one that promotes a sharp new understanding of security that puts the interests of people, rather than states, at the center. For governments, this means aiming at status quo assumptions, national interests, and relations with other states. While FFP’s implementation and focus may vary from state to state, it is still a commitment to fundamental transformation.

The ceremony of handing over the standard management plan for the closure of the Salkhit silver and gold mine was held yesterday at the "Tuushin" hotel.

The mine closure pilot plan is to improve land use, to provide a healthy and safe living environment for the people in the mining area, and in general, to improve the social and economic benefits when the mine is closed. It is a complex activity to liquidate the infrastructure of the mine, restore the environment, and carry out environmental monitoring. Rehabilitating areas affected by mining activities in order to enable them to be used again sustainably has a positive effect on local communities and ecosystems.

Erdenes Silver Resource LLC, a daughter company of a group of state-owned mining companies Erdenes Mongol, was handed over "Mongolia: Enhancing Resource Management through Institutional Transformation" (MERIT) Project, implemented with the funding of the Government of Canada and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country. The project was fully implemented in two phases from September 2021 to June this year.

Erdenes Silver Resource LLC operates in the Salkhit silver and gold deposit located in Gurvansaikhan soum of Dundgobi aimag. Despite the fact that the exploitation of the Salkhit silver and gold deposit will continue for the next 8-10 years, the closure plan has been developed and presented. By accepting the standard mine closure management plan, the company assumes the responsibility of implementing the laws and regulations related to mine closure and rehabilitation and working as a pioneer in the further development of responsible mining. Ambassador of Canada to Mongolia Mrs. Catherine Ivkoff noted in her opening speech, "In advanced mining countries, closure plans are developed before the operations begin. Actually, the closure management plan goes hand in hand with the mine operations."

Mining industry participants in the ceremony emphasized that the management plan for the closure of the Salkhit mine will be a world-standard model that can be used in other mines in Mongolia.

Quite a number of mines have been closed in the past in Mongolia. However, first of all, the closures were done in different ways for a certain period of time due to various conditions of the mines, such as depletion of resources, and financial and economic conditions, as pointed out by the legal adviser of the MERIT project G. Surakhbayar.

In a sense, the mining sector of our country has developed intensively in the last 30 years with foreign and domestic investments, still, there is no history of closing mines based on rational, correct, and theoretical concepts. However, he emphasized the significance of this closure management plan as it is being implemented in Mongolia in accordance with world norms and standards.

During the visit of the Prime Minister of Mongolia L. Oyu-Erdene to China, Minister of Environment and Tourism B. Bat-Erdene met with representatives of 22 leading companies, including Chinese tourism group North China Region, CTG Travel Service Corporation Ltd., China Gaund Tourism Group, Ctrip International Travel Service, UTour Group Co., Ltd., and Tuniu Tour, etc., and introduced them new activities and events in the Mongolian tourism industry. The parties agreed to carry out the following activities between the two countries. They include:

• Reviving the tourism activities of three countries in the scope of the "Great Tea Road" ;

• Cooperation in border tourism;

• Cooperation with the online "Ctrip" agency to import and trade Mongolia's travel products;

• Providing comprehensive tourism support within the "Belt and Road" economic corridor;

• Cooperation with the TOP 22 Chinese tourism entrepreneurs in receiving Chinese tourists;

• Supporting investment in the tourism industry.

As part of the "Visit Mongolia Years" being implemented by the Government of Mongolia, our country aims to receive 400 thousand tourists from China.

The Head of China's Beijing Foreign Cultural and Trade Association, Pan Ching Lin, expressed support for collaboration and coordination between Mongolian and Chinese tourism companies for realizing the goal of receiving "One Million" tourists this year, specifically 400 thousand tourists from the southern neighbor. In addition, both sides emphasized that the Silk Road or "Belt and Road" project is an opportunity to start new relations in the field of tourism between the two countries.