State Councilor and FM Wang Yi speaks by phone with Mongolian FM Damdin Tsogtbaatar

On 6 May, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi took a phone call from Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar of Mongolia.

Wang said that China and Mongolia are good neighbors and good friends. In the fight against COVID-19, the two countries have written another chapter of neighbors tiding over difficult times with solidarity and cooperation. When we were hit by the epidemic, President  Khaltmaa Battulga was the first head of state to visit China, a concrete gesture of his support to my country. During his visit, he offered on behalf of the Mongolian people 30,000 sheep to the Chinese people. It was much appreciated by the Chinese people and further strengthened the longstanding friendship between our peoples.

With painstaking efforts, China has put the epidemic under control and is resuming normal work and life while ensuring routine control measures. We are also happy to see that Mongolia has stemmed the spread of the virus within the country thanks to its early and robust response. The two countries need to keep up joint prevention and control, restore bilateral economic and trade cooperation in a well-conceived and science-based way, and consider restarting major projects. A "fast-track" arrangement may be set up under bilateral contact mechanisms between competent departments and between local governments to facilitate the flow of goods and necessary personnel between the two countries.

Wang stressed that COVID-19 poses a common challenge to mankind and requires a joint effort from the international community. It is a time for solidarity, cooperation and resolve. Any words or deeds out of tune with this spirit will be ill-timed; politicizing or stigmatizing is even worse. China is ready to work with Mongolia to promote anti-epidemic international cooperation and strive for an early victory against COVID-19.

Tsogtbaatar noted that China took prompt and vigorous measures when the epidemic struck and managed to contain the virus within a short period of time. This demonstrated China's strong mobilization capacity and its medical and scientific strengths. China's success has been a great inspiration to those combating the virus and its experience and expertise has been very helpful.

When President Battulga visited China in February, he and President Xi Jinping reached important consensuses on bilateral cooperation to fight COVID-19. Thanks to concerted efforts on both sides, there have been no imported cases between Mongolia and China both ways. Now that spring has come, Mongolia is ready to deliver its promise of 30,000 sheep by working closely with China. On the basis of ensuring the health and safety of both peoples, Mongolia is ready to explore with China a "fast track" under the joint prevention and control mechanism or other bilateral frameworks in order to improve the efficiency of logistics at land ports and restore economic and trade exchanges. Mongolia hopes to deepen coordination and cooperation with China to mitigate the impact and overcome the challenges brought by COVID-19 as early as possible.