State councilor's visit to boost ties with Mongolia

Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo's visit would boost the country's relations with Mongolia which were currently at the best time in history, the Chinese ambassador said on Tuesday.

During his official visit scheduled for Aug. 22-25, the two sides would explore ways to further promote the development of bilateral strategic partnership and advance mutual beneficial cooperation, Chinese Ambassador to Mongolia Wang Xiaolong said at a press conference.

Dai's visit aims to further promote mutual political trust, push forward economic and trade cooperation and increase humanistic exchanges, Wang said.

In recent years, China and Mongolia have maintained high-level mutual visits, with mutual political trust deepening continuously, Wand said, adding Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj and Chinese President Hu Jintao reached many important consensus during their talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Beijing Summit in June.

Wang highlighted the rapid development of bilateral economic cooperation. In the first half of this year, bilateral trade reached 3.3 billion U.S. dollars, up 21 percent year on year, he said.

Wang also lauded progress made in promoting cultural exchanges between the two countries, saying that in addition to successfully holding the Mongolia Week in China in April, Mongolia would embrace the China Month in Mongolia at the end of this month.

The Chinese ambassador pointed out that 2012 should be an important year for bilateral relations, citing a new Mongolian government to be formed within days and the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of China to be convened this autumn to elect a new party leadership.

It is crucial to strengthen high-level contacts and communication and outline a blueprint for bilateral cooperation so as to further develop the bilateral ties in a new period, Wang said.