STANDING COMMITTEE HEAD RECEIVES FRENCH DELEGATION

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Head of the parliamentary Standing committee on security and foreign policy Ts.Oyunbaatar Wednesday received a French delegation. It consisted of Brigadier-General Pascal Ausseur, a director of the French Defense Ministry’s Division of Arming for Asia-Pacific Affairs, and Mr Yves Delaunay, the Ambassador of France to Mongolia. Mr Ausseur noted that the two countries exchange every year their military officers to have them share experiences, and said he was appointed to his current position two years ago. France spends every year some USD 20 billion for the arms industry such as navy arming, military ships, helicopters and space techniques, he went on. France is the only country among EU nations to independently carry out this industry, he noted and expressed a willingness to cooperate with Mongolia in this direction. In response, Oyunbaatar said the Mongolia-France relations have hundreds of years history and that the 50th anniversary of our diplomatic relations will be celebrated next year. In its defence sphere, Mongolia uses Russia-made weaponry, Mr Oyunbaatar noted and emphasized an importance of introducing the latest hi tech to develop the frontier troops, "here, a reliable partner is needed". He went on that Mongolia’s Defense Ministry is implementing a ten-year programme on renovating the arms, to be completed in 2015, "now, the country is working out the next 10-15-year programme. After this meeting, the French delegation had talks with the Defense Ministry, National Emergency Management Agency and General Department for Border Protection.