OREANDA-NEWS. On December 08, 2008 Russian Railways and Mongolia’s Ministry of Road, Transport, Construction and Urban Development signed a Memorandum on Cooperation following a meeting of the Mongolian-Russian Working Group on Organisational and Legal Conditions for Cooperation in Developing Rail Transport, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

The document was signed on 6 December by Vladimir Yakunin, Russian Railways President, and Haltmagiyn Battulga, Mongolia’s Minister for Road, Transport, Construction and Urban Development, during a visit of a Company delegation to the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator.

Co-operation between Russian Railways and Ulan Batar Railways will lead to an improvement in the efficiency of Mongolian Railways, facilitate the technical renovation of rolling stock, introduce modern technologies and substantially increase transit traffic.

In the long term, shipments through Mongolia could become part of a transit corridor delivering container freight between China and Europe.

The strategic cooperation plan with Russian Railways will also provide Mongolia with sustained access to the sea via the Northern Route, enabling the country to export and sell its natural resources such as minerals to North-East Asia and make possible Mongolia’s equity participation in a port terminal in Russia or North Korea.

An important feature of the partnership between Russian and Mongolian railways is the possibility of economic integration with partners from third countries to improve the efficiency of joint activities. In particular, Mongolia’s government has received specific proposals from Japan, South Korea and Germany to participate in the project for transit shipments.