Foreign Minister signs letters of exchange with Japan

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Representing the Governments of Japan and Mongolia, Minister of Foreign Affairs D.Tsogtbaatar and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Mongolia Kobayashi Hiroyuki today signed the intergovernmental letters of exchange on “Economic and Social Development Support Program” and the “The Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS)” which will be implemented with the non-refundable aid of Government of Japan. The present at the signing ceremony were Minister of Health, MP D.Sarangerel and other relevant officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports, Ministry of Health and the Embassy of Japan in Mongolia. Expressing gratitude to the Government of Japan, a strategic partner of Mongolia, for providing practical support and assistance to Mongolia at a time when the world is fighting the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, Minister D.Tsogtbaatar underlined that the non-refundable aid of medical equipment worth JPY 1 billion is timely. The Government of Japan's Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS) aims to support development of human resources in countries shifted to market economy by providing scholarships to promising young civil servants at Japanese universities. The project will be implemented in 2020-2024 and the Government of Japan will provide JPY 249 million in the fiscal year of 2020 as part of the non-refundable aid to Mongolia. Within the program, in 2020, 16 employees of public and private sectors will receive scholarships for graduate degrees in top Japanese universities. JDS has been implemented in Mongolia since 2001. Up to the present, 360 students have studied at top Japanese universities in the fields of law, public administration, economics, business administration, international relations, and information technology and making important contribution to the development of the country.