Great progress has been achieved in many respects of Sino-Mongolian relations in recent years and Mongolia will make continuous efforts to raise bilateral economic and trade cooperation to a new level, said visiting Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar Friday afternoon.

In a keynote speech during the Sino-Mongolian Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum, Enkhbayar said that Mongolia is ready to participate in the integration of the Asia-Pacific economy and trade, and is trying to enter the APEC, the influential regional organization for economic cooperation.

He said that Mongolia hopes to get more overseas investment in the future.

"Mongolia and China have made active progress in many economic fields, especially in the use of natural resources and infrastructure building," said Enkhbayar, highlighting that China has ranked first among Mongolia's trade partners and foreign investors in the past six years.

"Our statistics show that one third of Mongolia's total volume of foreign trade and 40 percent of foreign investment are from China", Enkhbayar said.

Enkhbayar stressed that Mongolia and China, both as members of the WTO, should intensify their efforts for further development of bilateral ties and try to raise trade and economic cooperation to a higher level.

"We should try to solve such problems as customs requirements and cross-border transportation", he said.

More than 50 Mongolian enterprises attended the forum.

After the forum, Enkhbayar attended the opening ceremony of the Shanghai Representative Office of the Mongolian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the signing ceremony of cooperation projects between enterprises from two countries.

At the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao, Enkhbayar arrived in Beijing last Sunday, kicking off his first foreign visit since he took office as president in July. Shanghai is the fourth leg of his China trip, after Beijing, Tianjin and Hangzhou.

On Friday, Enkhbayar also visited some local landmarks in Shanghai, such as the Oriental Pearl Tower and the Shanghai City Exhibition Center, and greeted the Mongolian students studying in Shanghai.

Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng had a meeting with Enkhbayar on Friday evening.

The latest official statistics showed that trade ties between Shanghai and Mongolia grew fast in recent years and bilateral trade volume in 2004 reached 20.37 million US dollars, up 88.68 percent over the previous year.

The figure increased to 42.93 million US dollars in the first ten months of 2005.

Source: Xinhua