Mongolia asks China to extend 24-hour border crossing after trial thrived

Resource exporter Mongolia has asked its top trading partner China to extend a 24-hour border crossing for truckers after a six-month trial period expired last week, according to an official in Ulaanbaatar.

“The Mongolian side has expressed its interest to extend the programme,” Tanan Ganbold, head of foreign relations under Mongolia’s Media and Public Relations Department, said this week. She added that China had not replied.

China’s port management office under the General Administration of Customs also did not respond to a request for comment from the Post.

Erenhot, with a population of 76,000, has experienced a boom in trade since the 24-hour freight crossing began as a way to ease truck congestion at the largest land link along the border.

The information office of the regional committee in China’s northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region said last month that trips in both directions along the Erenhot highway, and via its railway ports, had risen by 95 per cent year on year to 1.75 million this year until September 5.