Mongolia to hand over first batch of 30,000 sheep to China

ULAN BATOR - Mongolia is planning to give the first batch of its donation of 30,000 sheep to China in September, a senior official from the Mongolian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

"Following our president Battulga's visit to China, we have agreed with the Chinese side to organize the handover ceremony of 30,000 sheep after the COVID-19 pandemic calms down and the animals fully gain weight," Tuvshintugs Battsetseg, director of the department of neighboring countries under the ministry, told a news conference.

"It is not possible to hand over 30,000 live sheep at the same time. So, the first batch of sheep is planned to be handed over within September," said Battsetseg.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak in China, representatives of various sectors in Mongolia have expressed solidarity with China in its battle against the virus.

Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga, the first foreign head of state to visit China since the COVID-19 outbreak, offered the donation of sheep to China during his one-day visit there on Feb. 27.

China has managed to contain the domestic spread of COVID-19 and mitigate the impacts of the epidemic, while its neighbor Mongolia has taken various anti-COVID-19 measures, with no local transmissions or deaths reported so far.