Name: Darhan-Uul

Country: Mongolia

Area: 3,280 square kilometers

Population: 100,000

Darhan-Uul, located in northern Mongolia, is originally one of the two municipalities of Mongolia (the other being Ulan Bator, the capital). The average annual temperature in the province is minus 1.4 degrees Celsius, with the hottest in July averaging 20 degrees Celsius and the coldest in January averaging minus 27 degrees Celsius. The province enjoys a pleasant weather for seven months a year. It has an average annual precipitation of 280 mm, 70% of which is concentrated in the three months of summer, and 2,800 annual sunshine hours. 

Darhan-Uul is Mongolia's main agricultural province that grows wheat and potatoes in addition to animal husbandry. The provincial capital, Darhan (meaning blacksmith in Mongolian), is Mongolia's second largest city and an emerging industrial center. It is also one of the most economically robust regions in Mongolia. Darhan-Uul province is rich in natural resources such as coal, gold, copper and iron ore. It is also a major supplier of building materials like limestone, marble, sand, gravel and glue. The industrial zone in the south of Darkhan city has Mongolia's largest lime brick factory, cement factory, meat processing plant, flour mill, leather clothing factory, steel mill and so on. 

Industrial plants in Darhan-Uul include the building materials factories established by the former Soviet Union, the cement plant by former Czechoslovakia, the lime silicate brick factory by Poland, meat and sheepskin factories by Hungary, an open-pit coal mine and plants of flour, feed, milk and sugar. Its sugar production accounts for more than 90% of the country's total. The river-side open-pit coal mine supplies coal to the regions of Darkhan-Selenge and Ulan Bator, and the thermal power station in the mine generates electricity for the Darkhan-Selenge region. The high-voltage transmission lines between Darkhan and Ulan Bator power the three municipalities of Ulan Bator, Erdenet, Sukhe Bator as well as Selenge and other two central provinces.  

The province is well-connected to China and Russia by the Beijing-Ulan Bator-Moscow international train route. There is a railway of 66 km connecting Darkhan to the coal mine and an airport in the suburb. The province's postal and telecommunications facilities are quite well-developed.

Zhejiang and Darhan-Uul established friendly exchange relations in August 1998.