Eastern Mongolia

The Mongolian steppe

Mongolia is a landlocked country situated at the heart of Asia, bordering the Russian Federation in the north and China in the south. A number of topographic zones converge here: taiga forest extending from northern Mongolia to Siberia, mountain ranges in the west and north, steppe to the south and east, and the Gobi desert in the south. Average elevation is 1,580 metres. The population is 2.4 million, of which approximately 60% is urban. Ethnic minorities constitute approximately 10% of the population.

Eastern Mongolia comprises the aimags, or provinces, of Hentii, Dornod and Sukhbaatar. The provincial capitals are Undurhaan, Choibalsan and Baruun-Urt, respectively. Combined, the three aimags cover a surface area of 287,600 km². Eastern Mongolia's tempreratures range between -24 and +20 degrees centigrade. Humidity levels are very low.

Eastern Mongolia has a population of 222,500, approximately half urban and half nomadic herdsmen. Land in eastern Mongolia is predominantly used for raising livestock and for agriculture, mainly wheat and corn. Eastern Mongolia contains one of the largest - and last - undisturbed steppe ecosystems in the world, and is the core habitat of the Mongolian gazelle. Tourism is promising, thanks to the area's unspoilt natural beauty, cultural traditions and festivals.

Mongolia is connected to both China and the Russian Federation by road and rail on a north-south axis. Transit cargo capacity is about 3 million tonnes; the current volume is 1.5 - 2 million tonnes per annum. Traffic to seaports favours the 1,700 km Ulaanbaatar-Tianjin (China) route rather than the 3,200 km Ulaanbaatar-Vladivostok (Russia) route. However, because the southern route is more congested and expensive (changing to the narrow gauge Chinese rail tracks can cause delays of up to 17 days at the border), in practice the cost of the two routes is similar. The government intends to improve infrastructure access to the East Sea of Korea/Sea of Japan through eastern Mongolia.

The Mongolian Economy

Mongolia has been establishing a market economy since the collapse of the Soviet Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) system in 1991. At that time, aid from the Soviet Union contributed 30% of Mongolia's GDP. Real GDP declined 22% between its peak in 1989 and its low point in 1993, but has been growing each year since then until 2000, when growth slowed to 1.1% down from 3.2% in 1999.

Privatisation is proceeding. Livestock is now privately owned, enabling numbers to increase above Soviet era numbers. Agriculture and forestry contributed over 33% of GDP in 2000. Cereals and wheat are the most important crops. Transport and communications accounted for 10% of GDP in 2000, mining and quarrying for 9%, and manufacturing for 6%.

Nearly 60% of exports in 2000 were to China. 71% of total exports of goods and services went to Northeast Asia. Large-scale mining (copper, fluorspar and molybdenum) accounted for 40% of exports in 2000. Cashmere accounted for 16% of exports; Mongolia produces over a quarter of the world's cashmere. Strengthening Mongolia's capacity to process natural resources for export markets is a priority for the government.