Mongolia-india Ties Strengthen With Lok Sabha Speaker's Visit

By E.OYUNDARI

Speaker of the Indian Parliament's Lower House, the Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan arrived in Ulaanbaatar to attend the 9th Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership Meeting, and held bilateral talks with her Mongolian counterpart yesterday.

Z.Enkhbold, Speaker of the Parliament of Mongolia, officially welcomed Speaker Mahajan at Chinggis Square yesterday. Shortly after the welcoming ceremony, the counterparts signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the State Great Khural and the Lok Sabha.

Under the inter-parliamentary MoU, the legal grounds for inter-parliamentary cooperation have been strengthened, and the two nations believe that pleasant conditions are being created to expand future collaboration. The signed document is also a step toward Mongolia and India offering each other mutual support in the international and regional arenas.

Beginning official talks, Speaker Z.Enkhold underlined that Speaker Mahajan's visit was the first official visit from a high-level Indian official since the relations of two countries were upgraded to a strategic partnership at the end of 2015.

Mahajan noted that relations and collaboration between the two countries have been developed and enriched in recent years with new forms of collaboration. She added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Mongolia in 2015 was a significant event in the history of bilateral relations between Mongolia and India. "The Mongolia-India relations and cooperation, based on historical and cultural ties, on common values of democracy, on bilateral aspiration to keep regional and international peace and stability, have been intensively developing under the strategic partnership principle," noted Z.Enkhbold. He noted that the very first visit of the Indian Prime Minister to Mongolia in 2015, conducted on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations, brought bilateral cooperation in information technology, renewable energy, industry, agriculture, culture, and education to a new stage.

Speaker Z.Enkhbold pointed out that the Mongolian Foreign Affairs Minister plans to pay a visit to India later this month to sign a general credit agreement for a one billion USD soft loan granted by India, adding that Mongolian Parliament is to discuss authorization of the signing of the government's agreement this week.

Speaker Mahajan noted that one of the main policy directions of India is to support Mongolia in all spheres, noting that...