President hopes to seize opportunities of regional cooperation

Following his return from the fourth Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok, Russia this past week, President Kh.Battulga held a meeting with representatives of media to provide information about outcomes from the forum.

At the beginning of the meeting, President Kh.Battulga pointed out that President of China Xi Jinping participated in the forum for the first time, who was accompanied by a large business and media delegation. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also arrived in Vladivostok with a delegation, which shows that leading regional

countries are paying attention to the forum.

It is obviously that Mongolia cannot afford to fall behind on significant progresses and changes being made in the region, and should not miss new opportunities.

The forum’s key delegates emphasized that promoting the Northeastern Asian security is important, and putting regional economic cooperation and development first without dealing with crucial challenges will not move regional prosperity forward, implying that all countries in the region need to work together to deal with security challenges on the Korean Peninsula. This is especially significant for Mongolia, the poorest country in the region, as it needs to make efforts in the promotion of regional security.

As Mongolia plays an important role in this issue, the country can benefit from collaborating with its partners in the region, including Japan and South Korea, which obviously have huge interests in this matter. Therefore, Mongolia should actively participate in the region’s main activities including regional security and economic cooperation.

During the forum, the president discussed with the forum’s key delegates ways to cooperate with their respective countries to enhance Mongolia’s value-added exports in the areas of agriculture, tourism, and mineral resources. For instance, during meetings with South Korean and Japanese premiers, Kh.Battulga talked with them about Mongolia’s interest to supply energy in the establishment of the Northeast Asian energy super grid by generating energy using Mongolian coal by producing liquid fuel from coal.

A good outcome from the forum was that China, Russia and Mongolia signed a memorandum of understanding on establishing a joint mechanism to advance the trilateral economic corridor, which help speed up trilateral cooperation projects. The three countries’ officials have been discussing proposed projects at separate meetings as the countries don’t have a joint mechanism yet. If the parties establish such a mechanism, Mongolia will be able to hold regular meetings with Russia and China to discuss issues surrounding the implementations of the proposed projects. The signed memorandum was an important step for the trilateral cooperation.

During a meeting with the Chinese state head during the forum, President Kh.Battulga talked about Mongolia’s long-standing proposal to pass Chinese and Russian gas pipelines through Mongolian territory, which was supported by President of Russia Putin, and President Xi Jinping replied Kh.Battulga that he will study the proposal.

As the Russian Ministry of Finance’s conditions for a loan of 100 billion RUB from Russia are tough for Mongolia, the government of Mongolia cannot take out this loan. During a meeting iwth President Putin, Kh.Battulga asked him to review this matter. The Russian side said that if Mongolia makes a tariff decision as prompted by Russia, the ongoing discussion on the loan will be negotiated further.

During the forum, the Mongolian deputy prime minister, and ministers of mining and heavy industry; and food, agriculture and light industry, some lawmakers and government officials discussed this matter with Russian officials. If Parliament approves a decision regarding a tariff facility during the upcoming fall session, Russia might lower the terms and conditions of its loan. The Russian loan is to be used for renewing thermal power plants and Ulaanbaatar Railway.

As the population of Khalkh Gol soum of Dornod Province where the Battle of Khalkhyn Gol occurred has been decreasing in recent years due to lack of development, a plan to develop the soum has been created, which is worth nearly 10 million USD. President Kh.Battulga presented President Putin with a proposal to carry out the plan, which asks for Russian support on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the victory of the battle.

The two countries signed a railway transit transportation agreement between the governments of Russia and Mongolia that gives Mongolian companies an opportunity to be provided with a flexible tariff policy for 25 years, but Mongolian companies have not taken advantage of this opportunity so far due to lack of experience in transit and maritime transportation operations. The business delegation that accompanied the president are interested in exporting their products to the global market, and decided to focus on improving their capabilities and gaining experience in the areas of transit and maritime transportation, and collaborate with Russian companies on this issue.