ULAN BATOR, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Mongolia hosted on Thursday a reception to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Chinese aid workers arriving in Mongolia.

Present at the event were over 100 distinguished guests, including Chinese Ambassador to Mongolia Shen Minjuan, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia Lkhanaajav Munkhtushig, former Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar and other Chinese and Mongolian officials who have witnessed the history of construction aid in Mongolia.

On this day 70 years ago, on May 8, 1955, the first batch of Chinese construction workers arrived in Ulan Bator to help Mongolia. Since then, more than 27,000 Chinese aid workers have crossed the Gobi desert and came to Mongolia and worked side by side with the local people. More than 120 of them have died here. They have built not only buildings and roads, but also bridges of spiritual connections between the Chinese and Mongolian people, Shen said at the reception.

"At this special historical moment of the 70th anniversary, we have reached a consensus with the Mongolian side to build a cemetery memorial for aid workers in Mongolia in the Nalaikh district of Ulan Bator," Shen said.

"This is a profound tribute to the most revered historical monuments and contributors. Moreover, it means of inheriting the friendship between China and Mongolia," she added.

Munkhtushig expressed his sincere gratitude to the Chinese government and Chinese aid workers for helping the Mongolian people build major livelihood projects.

He said that since the 1950s, with the help of China's aid and preferential loans, and with the hard work and dedication of Chinese aid workers, Mongolia has completed a large number of projects that have played an important role in the country's social and economic development and people's lives. ■