OREANDA-NEWS. May 16, 2008. A source from the Presidential Administration reports that Dmitry Medvedev and Nambaryn Enkhbayar will discuss joint ore mining projects in the territory of Mongolia.

The biggest Russian corporations (Basic Elemet, Renova, Severstal, Rosatom, Polymetal, Gazprombank) are showing interest in participating in projects to mine natural resources (coal, copper, silver, uranium) in Mongolia.

The presidents will exchange views on how to improve the work of the existing Russian-Mongolian joint ventures, first of all, the Ulaanbaatar Railway, operating since 1949.

The railway is the basis of the whole transport infrastructure of Mongolia and can serve as the major artery for supply of local natural resources to the world markets but it needs serious modernization. Russian Railways company is planning to take part in this project.

In the last years Russia and Mongolia have significantly intensified their trade and economic relations. In 2003 the Russian authorities decided to write off 98% of Mongolia’s debts on Soviet-time loans (\\$11.3bln).

In 2007 Russian-Mongolian trade turnover grew by 33% to over \\$785mln. Russia is the second biggest trade partner of Mongolia after China.

By 2010 Russia and Mongolia are planning to increase their trade turnover to the Soviet-time level — \\$1bln. This is stipulated by the Russian-Mongolian inter-governmental program for trade-economic cooperation.