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For years, Mongolia's appeal to international investors has rested on the minerals beneath its soil. At the Mongolia Investment Forum: Shanghai 2026, a broader narrative took hold. The country's resource endowment remained central, yet the conversation extended to the energy, manufacturing, and technology required to build lasting value around it. Of the three agreements signed at the forum, two targeted renewable generation and battery storage and one established a heavy-industrial joint venture near Oyu Tolgoi, signalling a shift in Chinese engagement from mineral buyer toward long-term industrial partner. Read our coverage of the Mongolia Investment Forum in Shanghai.

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Last week, we hosted our first-ever Mongolia Investment Forum in Shanghai.

And honestly, this one felt different.

More than 300 participants from over 200 companies joined us at the Grand Hyatt Shanghai — from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Australia. We brought together investors, industrial groups, energy companies, technology firms, policymakers, and over 35 Mongolian companies and institutions.

But this was never just about hosting another conference in another city.

Shanghai was a deliberate choice.

The global conversation around Mongolia is changing. It is no longer only about mining. Increasingly, it is about how critical minerals connect with AI, clean energy, industrial modernization, and advanced technology.

And if that is the future, Mongolia needs to be where the capital, technology, and industrial capacity already are.

That is why we came to Shanghai.

Throughout the Forum, one thing became very clear: Chinese interest in Mongolia is evolving fast.

Not just as a buyer of minerals — but as a long-term partner in energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, and technology.

One of the strongest signals came from the deals signed during the Forum.

Huawei Technologies and Shunkhlai Holding agreed to jointly develop utility-scale solar and battery storage projects in Mongolia using smart grid-forming technologies designed for unstable power systems.

Envision Energy and MCS International signed an agreement to cooperate on renewable energy solutions and technology transfer.

And in manufacturing, Stairway and TZME of Tianjin launched a joint venture — Gobi Metal Systems — to bring heavy industrial fabrication closer to Oyu Tolgoi in Umnugovi.

Three agreements.

Two focused on green energy.

One focused on manufacturing.

Together, they pointed toward something bigger:

Mongolia moving beyond simply extracting resources toward building industrial and energy capacity around them.

That theme carried throughout the entire Forum.

Panels focused on mining and critical minerals, industrial modernization, energy transition, and emerging technology. BloombergNEF moderated conversations between executives from Huawei, AIIB, Envision Energy, and Mongolian business leaders on how Mongolia can modernize its economy while solving one of its biggest constraints: power.

Because today, Mongolia’s biggest growth bottleneck is no longer geology.

It is electricity.

Grid instability, shortages, and lack of infrastructure are increasingly becoming the limiting factor for mining, industry, and urban development.

And many Chinese companies see that gap not as a risk but as an opportunity.

What made Shanghai particularly meaningful was seeing both sides genuinely interested in building long-term partnerships.

Not transactional relationships.

Not short-term commodity trades.

But real industrial cooperation.

A day before the Forum, we visited Huawei’s global R&D center. For many in the Mongolian delegation, it was a glimpse into how rapidly technology, AI, digital infrastructure, and clean energy systems are advancing in China — and a reminder that Mongolia must think much bigger about innovation and productivity if we want to compete globally.

The Mongolian delegation was led by Members of Parliament Zoljargal Jargalsaikhan and Lodoisambuu Chuluunbileg, alongside Batkhuu Idesh, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Development, and Bold Dorjderem, Consul General of Mongolia in Shanghai.

We are deeply grateful for their support, along with our Global Partner Huawei; sponsors Rio Tinto, Envision Energy, and MCS International; and all our presenting partners and supporters who helped make this possible.

We started this global forum series in New York.

Then London.

Then Singapore.

Now Shanghai.

And after what we witnessed last week, we believe Shanghai will become one of the most important annual platforms for Mongolia in the years ahead.

Because the conversation around Mongolia is changing.

Increasingly, it is becoming a conversation not only about minerals but about energy, technology, manufacturing, and long-term strategic partnership.