Lavrov to discuss bilateral relations with Mongolia’s top officials

ULAN BATOR, April 14. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will pay an official visit to Mongolia on Thursday to discuss with that country’s leaders issues of closer strategic partnership between the two countries. Lavrov’s talks with his Mongolian counterpart Lundeg Purevsuren will focus on the current state and prospects for further development of relations in the context of the implementation of the agreements reached at the top level earlier. The ministers will also discuss most pressing regional and global problems and key issues of cooperation within multilateral format. The Russian foreign minister will also meet with Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj and Prime Minister Chimed Saikhabbileg. He is also expected to speak to representatives of political and academic circles. The visit will be crowned by the signing of the medium-term program of the development of strategic partnership the two countries leaders agreed upon in September 2014. "The document has a comprehensive character and is geared to overcome problem issues in bilateral economic ties that have piled up in the recent years, to further expand cooperation in the political, trade-and-economic, humanitarian and international spheres," the Russian foreign ministry said. Top-priority direction Moscow sees cooperation with Mongolia as a top priority of its foreign policy. The Russian foreign minister noted that contacts between the two countries have become regular after a break some time ago. "Today, regular dialogue is maintained at the top and supreme levels, close contacts have been established between the parliaments, various ministries and agencies," Lavrov said in an interview with the Mongolian, Japanese and Chinese mass media ahead of his visit. "The introduction of a visa-free regime for mutual trips of Russian and Mongolian citizens in 2014 has contributed to the significant intensification of exchanges, especially at the border and regional levels," the Russian foreign ministry said. Economy: good potential Russia attaches special attention to the development of trade-and-economic cooperation with Mongolia. Due to negative global environment, bilateral trade has been slowing down in the recent years. In 2015, trade dropped by 25 percent, to 1.16 billion U.S. dollars. "I am confident it is a temporary phenoment," Lavrov said. "We have a very good potential to bring trade back to an upwards track." Russia and Mongolia are looking at developing cooperation in the energy, transport and other sectors. "There are also favorable opportunities for increasing the supply of transport- and power engineering products to Mongolia, the involvement of Russian companies in the implementation of infrastructure and mining projects in Mongolia," the ministry said. Russia notes prospects of the trade and economic cooperation within the international integration processes and liberalization of the trade regime, primarily, in the Mongolia-EAEU format. "The first step in facilitating access of Mongolian products to the market of the Eurasian Economic Union was the signing of the Memorandum on cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Mongolian government on June 17, 2015," the ministry said. International agenda An important role is played by the Russia-Mongolia-China cooperation mechanism launched at a meeting of the three counties’ leaders in Dushanbe on September 11, 2014. "Practical implementation of the road map to develop cooperation between Russia, China and Mongolia in the medium term and other joint documents endorsed and signed ‘on the sidelines’ of the SCO summit in Ufa on July 9, 2015, by Vladimir Putin, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj and Xi Jinping is designed to open a new stage of cooperation between our countries," the statement says. "In December 2015, a specialized working group was set up to coordinate the program to create the Russia-China-Mongolia economic corridor. We believe that this document could be submitted for approval to the third summit, which is traditionally due to be held ‘on the sidelines’ of the forthcoming session of the Council of SCO member-countries this June." According to the Russian top diplomat, Moscow and Ulan Bator cooperate closely within the United Nations. He said Russia is thankful to Mongolia for its support to many initiatives in the General Assembly and other United Nations bodies. "For our part, we supported Mongolia in its bid to join the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). We hope for close coordination of actions in this international structure," Lavrov said. After Mongolia, Lavrov will head for Tokyo. One of the tasks of his Japanese visit will be to prepare Russian-Japanese top-level contacts which have been agreed by the two countries’ leaders. Read more