China, Russia, Mongolia endorse development plan on economic corridor

Chinese President Xi Jinping (C), Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (R) attend the third trilateral leaders' meeting of the three countries in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, June 23, 2016.

China, Russia and Mongolia inked a development plan on Thursday to build an economic corridor linking the three neighbors. The corridor aims to further boost regional collaboration by increasing transportation connectivity and economic cooperation in border regions.

The plan was signed in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, after a meeting of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian president Vladimir Putin andMongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj.

During their meeting, President Xi reviewed the achievements the three countries have madein implementing their mid-term roadmap for cooperation formulated in 2015, saying progress and positive results have been made in such areas astoday they are reaping the fruitstrade, economy, culture, transport, tourism and sports.

Xi also urged intensified trilateral collaboration by aligning of China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, Russia's development strategies, especially its transcontinental rail plan, and Mongolia's Steppe Road program.

The signing of the development plan, as the official launch of the first corridor of multilateral economic cooperation under the framework of the China-proposed “Belt and Road” initiative, also marks a new chapter for China-Russia-Mongolia cooperation.

Based on the development demands of the three countries, the economic corridor aims to expand their cooperation space, tap their potential, pursue common prosperity and improve their competence.

In the plan, the three countries clarified the specific sectors for cooperation, its sources of capital as well as the operation mechanism of the corridor.

The three countries’ cooperation in the corridor will give priority to infrastructure connectivity, port construction, industrial capacity, investment, trade and economy, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and environmental protection.

The three countries also plan to accelerate regional cooperation by building a new growth engine for Asia.

The trilateral meeting among the three heads of state, ahead of an annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), was the third of its kind. The first was held during the Dushanbe summit in 2014.

Sun Zhuangzhi, Secretary-General of the Center for Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, explained that though holding huge potential for greater cooperation, China, Russia and Mongolia still need to improve their transportation, laws and policy adaptation, as well as the complementarity of their economic structures.

In order to remove obstacles to cooperation and achieve win-win results, each side must strengthen high-level policy coordination and implement long-term and top-level plans for bilateral relations and regional cooperation, Sun underlined, adding that this is another reason why their trilateral meeting is in need.