On September 6, 2019, the China-Mongolia Economic and Trade Activities Standardization Forum was successfully held in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. The standardization forum was hosted by the People's Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, organized by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Administration for Market Regulation, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Institute of Standardization, and the Mongolian Standards Research Center, and co-organized by the China National Institute of Standardization and China Building Materials Test and Certification Group Co., Ltd. Attendees included Zhang Xiaogang, former President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO); Han Yi, Chief Engineer of the State Administration for Market Regulation; B. Biligun, Director of the Mongolian Agency for Standardization and Metrology; Chen Lu, Director of the Science and Technology Development Department of China Building Materials Academy Co., Ltd.; as well as leaders from various provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, standardization experts and scholars, members of the “Applicability Technology Research on Chinese Standards Going Global (Phase II)” project team, and media representatives. They gathered in Jining District, Ulanqab City, to offer suggestions for the concrete implementation of China-Mongolia building materials standardization cooperation and jointly witnessed the “China-Mongolia Building Materials Standards Exchange Ceremony.”

China and Mongolia enjoy generations of friendship, share a long border, and have closely interconnected interests. For a long time, the two countries have had long-term cooperation in trade, technology, and many other fields. China is Mongolia's largest trading partner, and Mongolia is an important cooperation partner along China's Belt and Road Initiative. In recent years, as the scope of trade between the two countries has expanded year by year, China-Mongolia cooperation in infrastructure and resource projects such as road transportation, mineral resources, and real estate has continued to deepen. It is expected that by 2020, the two countries will achieve the goal of bilateral trade volume exceeding USD 10 billion. Since China proposed the Belt and Road strategic development plan in 2013 and emphasized the subsequent development strategy of the “Steppe Silk Road,” Mongolia also proposed the “Grassland Road” policy initiative in 2014. Consequently, comprehensively aligning and coordinating the Belt and Road Initiative with the “Grassland Road” has become an important issue facing both China and Mongolia.

Standardization is an important process for improving the applicability of products, processes, and services, preventing trade barriers, and promoting technical cooperation. Standards are an important way to enhance scientific management, promote comprehensive economic development, and improve economic efficiency, and they serve as a bridge among scientific research, production, and use. With the development of science and technology, the degree of socialization of production is increasing, production scale is growing, technical requirements are becoming more complex, the division of labor is becoming finer, and production collaboration is becoming more extensive. This necessitates the formulation and use of standards to ensure that the activities of various production departments maintain a high degree of technical unity and coordination. The connecting and leading role of standards has made China and Mongolia realize the importance of standards going first in cooperation across various fields. In promoting mutual recognition of building materials standards, the two countries have a solid foundation and broad prospects for cooperation.

China is a major producer and consumer of cement in the world, and its cement output has ranked first in the world since 2002. To promote international cooperation among Belt and Road countries, China's cement industry has actively expanded overseas engineering contracting business, providing high-quality technical services to the building materials industries of countries along the Belt and Road. China United Cement, a subsidiary of China National Building Materials Group, built the Monxin Bayingala Cement Company near Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The plant was completed in two phases in 2015 and 2016, with a designed cement production capacity of 1 million tons and a clinker line of 2,500 t/d, easing the tight supply and demand situation for cement in Mongolia.

As a pioneer in standards internationalization, CTC has undertaken the NQI National Key Research and Development Program and, as the lead unit, is responsible for carrying out research on the applicability of key standards in the building materials field going global. To further promote exchanges and cooperation in cement trade and engineering construction projects between China and Mongolia, technical exchange meetings were successfully held in Mongolia and Beijing, China, in 2018, where the “Cooperation Agreement on Standards in the Building Materials Field” and the “Cooperation Plan for the Expert Working Group” were signed, and the “China-Mongolia Building Materials Standards Expert Working Group” was established.

To implement the cooperation agreement on standards in the building materials field reached at the China-Mongolia meetings, the two sides held multiple meetings to carry out Chinese-English, English-Mongolian translation and verification of eight transformed standards, as well as expert review. Ultimately, the Mongolian side deliberated and approved eight standards, including “Methods for Chemical Analysis of Cement.” These eight standards are the crystallization of technical exchanges, discussions, on-site research, exploration, and experimental comparison work between the two sides. Through China-Mongolia standards transformation, technical personnel from both countries learned from each other, drew on each other's strengths, improved the chemical analysis technical levels of both countries, and enhanced the friendship between China and Mongolia.

At this forum, experts from relevant institutions of China and Mongolia conducted in-depth exchanges on standardization technology and information, shared research results in areas such as standardization cooperation, customs clearance facilitation, mutual recognition of standards, and standardization talent cultivation, and further built a mutually beneficial, win-win, globally oriented exchange and cooperation platform in the building materials field. Under the witness of all attending leaders and experts, Han Yi, Chief Engineer of the State Administration for Market Regulation, and B. Biligun, Acting Director of the Mongolian Agency for Standardization and Metrology, led the exchange ceremony for the eight standards. The purpose is to take the joint research and exchange of standards in the building materials field as an opportunity to further promote standards and technical cooperation and innovation between China and Mongolia in the building materials field, implement the “Cooperation Agreement on Standards in the Building Materials Field” and the “Cooperation Plan for the Expert Working Group,” facilitate bilateral economic and trade relations, and support sustainable development.

The China-Mongolia Building Materials Standards Exchange Ceremony has laid a solid foundation for further cooperation between the two countries in other standardization fields and established a long-term communication and cooperation mechanism for strengthening technical exchanges and communication between China and Mongolia. It is believed that with the active efforts of all parties, China and Mongolia will carry out more pragmatic cooperation in more fields in the future.