Chairman of the State Great Hural of Mongolia Zandaakhuu Enkhbold Photo: Courtesy of Mongolian Embassy

This year marks the joint celebration of Sino-Mongolian relations, with 2014 being the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries, and the 20th anniversary of the signing of a bilateral friendship agreement.

In late October, Zandaakhuu Enkhbold, the Chairman of the State Great Hural (Parliament) of Mongolia, paid a visit to China, meeting with China's top leaders and sharing views over deepening diplomatic ties between the two countries.

As the head of the country's supreme legislative power, Z.Enkhbold's visit to China was a follow on from President Xi Jinping's much-publicized visit to Mongolia in August. According to the chairman, the main purpose of the visit was to advance certain cooperation projects that had been agreed between the two countries during President Xi's visit, as well as in deepening inter-parliamentary cooperation.

The Global Times (GT) set up an interview with Z.Enkhbold during his visit to China, who shared with us the latest updates on Sino-Mongolian relations.

GT: Could you share your insight into the Sino-Mongolian relationship now and in the future?

Z.Enkhbold: I am very satisfied with the current state of our bilateral relations. Both sides maintain frequent exchanges of high-level visits, meetings, and other forms of dialogue on a regular basis.

Today we witness an increasing cooperation and exchanges in virtually all fields of social life, including defence, economy, culture, education, health and humanities.

The state visit by President Xi to Mongolia this August opened a new page in the history of our bilateral relations. As a result of the visit, both nations have upgraded their level of bilateral ties by signing the joint Declaration on the Establishment of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and a further 37 documents between governments, public and private entities aimed to promote and enhance the mutual cooperation.

GT: Mongolia is scheduled to build a railway from one of its largest coking-coal deposits to the Chinese border, with a narrower gauge than is used in China. How is the project progressing?

Z.Enkhbold: In order to implement the issues agreed between Mongolia and China on railway and transit transportation, the State Great Hural of Mongolia decided at its plenary session on 24 October 2014 to build new railway lines of Tavantolgoi-Gashuunsuhait and the Khuut-Bichigt with 1435 mm-gauge. 

GT: Are there any misunderstandings between the peoples of China and Mongolia due to a lack of communication and interaction?

Z.Enkhbold: As this year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-Mongolian diplomatic relations, and the 20th anniversary of the signing of bilateral relations, both countries have agreed to declare 2014 as the "Year of Mongolia-China Friendly Exchanges."

Cooperation in cultural, educational, health and humanitarian sectors plays an important role in strengthening friendly relations between Mongolia and China, and in increasing the mutual understanding between the two peoples. As both Mongolia and China are Asian nations, we share some cultural similarities.

Therefore, I have a firm belief that there is a greater potential to promote cultural and humanitarian cooperation as well as exchanges in that field.

GT: Will there be any measures in the near future to create a more open market in Mongolia for Chinese investors?

Z.Enkhbold: To improve the investment environment and ensure its stability in Mongolia, we have undertaken concrete measures. According to the newly-adopted Investment Law, a favorable legal environment for investments has been formed to provide a stability guarantee to all investors. This new law provides a more liberalized environment for businesses and investments compared to the previous one. This is achieved by reducing red tape and providing common legal guarantees to all investors regardless of their foreign and domestic origin, as well as by creating a system that increases profitability and renders support on stable taxation toward investors. Furthermore, we place importance on creating a tangible mechanism for economic diversification.

GT: Last year, President Xi proposed the establishment of the economic tie on the Silk Road through which Chinese relations with neighboring countries will be tightened. Meanwhile, the Mongolian side also referred a proposal named "Grassland Road." How would the two proposals be connected?

Z.Enkhbold: During President Xi's visit to Mongolia, we reached a mutual understanding on certain cooperation issues, in particular linking Mongolia's Steppe Transit Route Project with the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative.

These two proposals would contribute to the development of not only our two countries, but also to the regional integration as a whole.

As is known, our two neighbors [China and Russia] are currently discussing the possibilities of coordinating the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative with the Russian, European and Asian railway networks. Moreover, at the Trilateral Summit Meeting in Dushanbe, President Xi proposed to create an economic corridor between Mongolia, Russia and China, which would make it possible to reach the 1+1+1 objective.

It is extremely important to intensify infrastructure construction linking the three nations by railway and auto roads. If we successfully coordinate and develop these projects, I have no doubt that it would play a significant role in the economic development of our three countries as well as in the North East Asian regional integration.