U.Khurelsukh Shinzo Abe agree to expand partnership
After paying an official visit to Japan from December 12 to 15, Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh is back in Ulaanbaatar...
By T.BAYARBAT
After paying an official visit to Japan from December 12 to 15, Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh is back in Ulaanbaatar.
The main purpose of U.Khurelsukh’s visit was a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss the relations and cooperation between Mongolia and Japan.
After their talks, the two prime ministers witnessed the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between the Mongolian Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, and issued a joint statement about the meeting on December 13.
During their meeting, the two leaders agreed to further strengthen the strategic partnership being developed between the two countries. Both sides vowed to continue enhancing bilateral and multilateral cooperation to benefit the two countries and their people, and work closely on expanding bilateral cooperation at the regional and international levels.
The Mongolian prime minister reaffirmed that Japan is considered as one of Mongolia’s most important third neighbors.
Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh expressed his appreciation to the government of Japan and its people for their support and assistance to Mongolia's social and economic development over the past decades.
In return, the Japanese prime minister expressed his appreciation to Mongolia for providing 100,000 USD in humanitarian aid to Japan after downpours occurred in western Japan in July, which triggered massive flooding and hundreds of landslides and claimed hundreds of lives.
The two premiers welcomed the successful conclusion of the ninth consultative meeting of the Joint Committee of Mongolia-Japan Public and Private Sectors, and expressed their willingness to make more efforts to deepen bilateral economic, trade, and investment cooperation based on the mechanism of the consultative meeting.
During the joint press conference, U.Khurelsukh promised to launch operations of the new international airport in Khushig Valley, which is being built with Japanese financing, as early as possible.
The prime ministers discussed issues in terms of security, and the two countries agreed to enhance bilateral defense cooperation to make more contributions to regional and international peace, security and stability.
The Japanese side noted that Japan is interested in continuing its active participation in the Khaan Quest multinational peacekeeping exercise, which takes place annually in Mongolia in the summer.
In the joint statement, the sides announced that the two countries agreed to deepen bilateral defense cooperation, and noted that the Japanese Defense Ministry will continue providing support to the Mongolian Armed Forces to enhance their capacity building.
In addition, the Mongolian and Japanese premiers expressed their satisfactions with the recent positive progress being made on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, and noted the importance of resolving controversial issues in a peaceful way through negotiations.
Japan’s Kyodo News reported that during a joint statement Prime Minister Abe noted he received strong support from Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh to resolve the issue of past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea as Mongolia maintains friendly ties with North Korea. The Kyodo’s report also noted that Abe and U.Khurelsukh reaffirmed the importance of fully implementing United Nations Security Council resolutions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and missile development programs to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
As part of his visit, U.Khurelsukh visited the farm of Mongolian citizen A.Avarzed living in Japan’s Hokkaido. A.Avarzed, who was a veterinarian in Mongolia, is developing intensive livestock farming in Japan over the past years.
Farmer A.Avarzed has nearly 4,000 heads of livestock, including horses, sheep and cattle, and sell meat and dairy products to the Japanese market.
He hired more than 50 people, including five Mongolians, in his farm, and the average monthly wage of his employees is 4.3 million MNT.
A.Avarzed told the prime minister that Mongolia should develop intensive livestock farming.
He noted that Mongolian livestock population reached 70 million, which affects the spread of livestock diseases, and highlighted that keeping the number of livestock in an appropriate range will be of significant importance to improving livestock health across Mongolia.
The farmer will contribute to the development of Mongolian intensive livestock farming by sharing his experience and knowledge with other Mongolian farmers and teaching Mongolian young farmers his experience by hiring them in his farm.
During his visit, the prime minister also met with a number of Japanese entrepreneurs, who are doing business in Mongolia and are interested in starting their collaboration with Mongolian partners, to discuss investment and business opportunities in Mongolia.
Mongolian entrepreneurs have carried out several megaprojects in cooperation and support of Japanese partners, for instance, Japan’s Softbank Energy Company holds a 49 percent interest in Mongolia’s Clean Energy Asia Company, which is carrying out a project to build 50 megawatt wind turbines at Salkhit area near Nalaikh District, which was funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, and the company also built a 50 megawatt wind farm in Tsogttsetsii soum of Umnugovi Province.
...Prime Minister Abe noted he received strong support from Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh to resolve the issue of past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea as Mongolia maintains friendly ties with North Korea...