Newly approved China-Mongolia economic cooperation zone to boost China's opening-up

The State Council has recently approved the establishment of the China-Mongolia Erenhot-Zamyn-Uud Economic Cooperation Zone, which marks the third joint economic zone established by China and bordering countries.

The planned area of the cooperation zone is 18.03 square kilometers, with 9.03 in the China side and 9 in Mongolia.

In terms of industries, the China side will focus on international trade, international logistics, import and export processing, cross-border tourism and related supporting services with market, technology and capital advantages.

The Mongolia side will highlight the development of bulk commodity logistics, import and export processing, international trade, and cultural tourism with advantages on resources, location and policies.

The China side of the cooperation zone will also implement a number of relevant supporting policies to encourage R&D and application of new medical technologies and drugs, support banking institutions to settle in, promote private capital to enter the financial industry in the region, and so on.

The city of Erenhot in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region will take multiple measures in the future to achieve better connectivity and industrial development of the economic zone.

The approval of the China-Mongolia economic cooperation zone will accelerate practical cooperation between China and Mongolia in the fields of trade, logistics, manufacturing, tourism and services, striving to build a high-level opening-up platform for border areas and an important node of the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor, as well as setting a model for China-Mongolia friendship and cooperation, said Lai Xianghua, deputy mayor of Erenhot.

(Edited by Yu Huichen, yuhuichen@xinhua.org)