Emmanuel Macron, present since Friday at the G7 summit in Japan, will go to Mongolia on Sunday for a brief visit, the first by a French president to this landlocked country between China and Russia for which Westerners are increasingly more interested.
On Sunday, after the final G7 press conference, the head of state will fly to Ulaanbaatar, where he will have dinner with President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, the Elysee announced. “The fact that Mongolia is back allows us to make this historic first by giving it a very special meaning,” explained President Macron’s entourage.
Help the country decarbonise its economy
The French presidency mentioned a “very important issue” about the “geostrategic plan”, which is part of Paris’ desire to “relax the pressure exerted on Russia’s neighbors and open up the choice of their options”. At the bilateral level, France considers that there are “very important possibilities for cooperation” since Mongolia, “dependent on 90% of coal for its electricity”, has a “problem” of “decarbonising its economy”.
Afin de réduire son problème de pollution, le pays offer des opportunités de développement d’energie renouvelable, que ce soit dans l’éolien ou le solaire, mais depend des investissements directes étrangers pour financier cette stratégie comme l’indique l’économiste Eve Barré inside The echoes.
France bets on uranium reserves
The Asian country has already been the subject of growing interest in recent years from the United States, as part of its strategy to thwart Beijing’s rise. Currently, 86% of Mongolia’s total exports, all goods combined, go to China. Half of these Chinese purchases are coal.
But France has also been present in the country for several years, in particular through a project with Orano (ex-Areva) which it supports and which aims to exploit the large uranium reserves that abound on Mongolian soil. The Elysée specifies that this uranium mine project is about to pass from the pilot project stage. Les Echos thus evokes a pilot test carried out in situ for the extraction of uranium from the Zuuvch Ovoo deposit between July 2021 and last December by the Badrakh Energy company, the result of a partnership between Orana and the national company Mon-Atom.
French exports to Mongolia have doubled in 10 years
In addition, uranium is not the only raw material that the Hexagon has in its sights, but the Elysium considers that other previous geological studies are necessary. In a completely different register, projects related to the agri-food industry could also be completed soon. Logical, since it is the second export post from France to Mongolia.
Because if Ulaanbaatar is a “small” partner for Paris, trade has been growing for several years, according to customs data. Total exports from France to the Asian country have almost doubled in 10 years and reached 34 million euros in 2022. Imports have tripled from 3 to 9 million.
It is mainly machines that France sells to Mongolia, ahead of exports from the agri-food sector, therefore, and cosmetic perfumes. In return, Paris imports almost exclusively textiles, especially leather.
Source: BFM TV
