Ganqimaodu land port in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region resumes passenger clearance on November 13, 2023. Photo: Tao Mingyang/GT

Ganqimaodu, a land port that borders Mongolia in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, resumed passenger clearance on Monday, meaning that all land ports in the region have resumed cross-border passenger clearance. 

A ceremony for the resumption was held at the port. The resumption is essential for China-Mongolia communication and cooperation, and the Chinese side will make all efforts to upgrade devices and facilities for cross-border passenger clearance, and work with Mongolian side to ensure the stable operation of bilateral passenger channels, Kheqietl, a deputy director of the Ganqimaodu Port Administration Committee, told the Global Times.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ganqimaodu port suspended its cross-border passenger clearance channel on February 1, 2020. 

The passenger clearance channel can handle 1,500 crossings per day, officials with Urad Customs, which oversees the passenger and cargo clearance of the port, told the Global Times on Monday. 

Ganqimaodu was the last land port to resume passenger clearance in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region after China downgraded the COVID-19 response measures on January 8 this year, indicating that all land ports in the region have resumed clearing passengers, the Global Times learned. 

Chinese officials welcome Mongolian passengers at Ganqimaodu port on November 13, 2023. Photo: Tao Mingyang/GT

According to the Urad Customs, the port facilitated 183,695 cross-border passengers from both sides in 2019. A total of 91 passengers passed through the clearing area on the first day of resumption.

Before the resumption of passenger clearance, Mongolian personnel had to enter China for business and wholesale purchases via Manzhouli port or Erenhot port.

"It was too far for people living near Ganqimaodu and the long distance led to higher costs and inconvenience," Ulziikhutag Bayanmunkh, chairman of the Border Ports Administration, Mongolian Umnugobi Province, told the Global Times at the passenger clearance channel.

Bayanmunkh was one of the first Mongolian passengers entering China on Monday. He noted that the resumption will boost China-Mongolia business activity at the border, and greatly improve the economic growth of Mongolia and China. 

Ganqimaodu is one of the most important ports in China-Mongolia coal trade. As of Saturday, the port had handled 31.55 million tons of freight, up 119.52 percent year-on-year, becoming China's largest port for importing Mongolian coal and copper powder, as well as a connection hub for the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, the Mongolian Development Road program and the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor, said the administration committee. 

In order to secure the normal operation of China-Mongolia coal trade, Urad Customs maintained freight truck clearance procedures during the pandemic. A local official said the resumption for passenger clearance will help more Mongolian truck drivers to enter China for employment. 

China has been Mongolia's largest trade partner for years. According to Chinese statistics, bilateral trade in 2022 reached $12.2 billion, up by 34 percent year-on-year. In the first half of 2023, bilateral trade grew 62.6 percent.

During the China-Mongolia Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum held in Beijing at the end of June, Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene said that Mongolia welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest and do business and hopes to see practical results in bilateral cooperation in energy, science and other sectors.