AKIPRESS.COM - Mongolia will supply critical metals to France needed for its energy transition, President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday during the first ever visit to Ulaanbaatar by a serving French president, according to Reuters.

"We decided to work together to boost our energy sovereignty through the supply of critical metals from your country, which has this resource," he told a news conference with the Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, who called France its "third neighbour".

A partnership with nuclear group Orano, which is working on developing a uranium mine in Mongolia, would be key, Macron added. Macron stopped in Mongolia on his way back from the G-7 in Japan.

Nearly 80% of Mongolia's total exports go to China, but the mineral-rich country is working to expand trade and mining relationships beyond its two big neighbours China and Russia and hopes to become a bridge between Europe and Asia.

Rare earth minerals are essential to many high-tech manufacturing processes and are used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, portable electronics, microphones and speakers.