Speaker receives Vice-President of Japanese House of Councillors

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On October 2, Parliament Speaker M.Enkhbold received the Vice-President of the House of Councillors of Japan Gunji Akira, who is paying visit to Mongolia. At the beginning of the meeting Speaker M.Enkhbold said “I am delighted that the friendly relations and cooperation with our third neighbor have been successful in all fields. As a result of bilateral efforts, our relationship reached the strategic partnership level. I believe that this visit will be important stimulus to further improvement of bilateral relations and cooperation.” Speaker expressed his deepest appreciation of parliamentary cooperation and mentioned his visit to Japan, Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan T.Oshima’s visit to Mongolia in 2017 and visit of the Parliamentary Deputy Speaker L.Enkh-Amgalan to Japan in June 2018. “Parliament plays an important role in addressing problems in bilateral cooperation and in supporting the legal framework,” emphasized the Speaker and expressed his gratitude to the Government of Japan for the support in being engaged in the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility and approving the USD 850 million soft loan under the program. In return, Mr. Gunji Akira expressed his gratitude to the Speaker for the reception and for the humanitarian aid from the Government and people of Mongolia in conjunction with the flooding occurred in western Japan in July. “We are delighted that the bilateral relations have been rapidly expanded since the transition of Mongolian economy to the market system and reached the strategic partnership. Our visit is turning a new page in the history of parliamentary relations,” noted Mr.Gunji Akira. Mr. Gunji Akira noted that the members of the House of Councillors are supporting Mongolian athletes who are to participate in the 2020 Summer Olympics by providing them with opportunity to train in Japan and that Mongolian sports shooters will train in his hometown, Ibaraki Prefecture. He also requested to support Japan’s proposal to host the World Expo 2025 in Osaka. Parliament Speaker M.Enkhbold expressed his gratitude for supporting Mongolian athletes and said that the people of Mongolia hope that our athletes will achieve great success in the 2020 Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo. In addition, he noted that Mongolia has not yet finalized its position regarding the World Expo host country.