Mongolia will elect a new parliament this week hoping it can reverse four straight years of slowing growth, against a backdrop of concerns about an erosion of democratic values in a country sandwiched between autocratic China and Russia.

With just 3 million people, this remote land, best known as the birthplace of the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan, has stood as an oasis of democracy, surrounded by single-party dominated regimes.

Mongolia's political transformation since a peaceful revolution in 1990 has been a big plus for foreign investors eyeing up its rich mineral resources.