Here are the highlights from the last two weeks in Mongolian foreign policy news, including: Elbegdorj’s trip to North Korea and L. Bold’s attendance at the recent UNESCO forum.
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Asia Pacific
President Elbegdorj made an official visit to North Korea, where he was met by the head of the People’s Parliament, Kim Young Nam and Mongolia’s Ambassador to North Korea, M. Ganbold. Official talks were later held between Kim Young Nam and President Elbegdorj. In the second day of the visit, Elbegdorj was invited to a number of non-military locations and paid his respects to the mausoleum of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Later in the trip he had an audience with the North Korean Prime Minister, and with the head of North Korea’s Upper House of the People’s Parliament. He concluded his trip by giving a lecture at Kim Il Sung University. During his lecture, he spoke about Mongolia’s commitments to human rights and multilateral engagement with the international community. During the trip, an agreement on increased economic cooperation was signed. For Bloomberg’s analysis on this agreement, click here. The Diplomat also offered analysis of the visit, here. Foreign Policy noted the oddity that President Elbegdorj was not able to meet with Kim Jong Un during the first visit by a foreign head of state to North Korea since he took over command. Finally, Julian Dierkes and Otgonbaatar Byambaa published a piece in East Asia Forum of the possibility of Mongolia mediating on the issue of North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens.
Mongolia became an official member of the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement Negotiations.
Deputy Director of the Mongolian Parliament R. Gonchigdorj participated in the Bali Democracy Forum VI.
Central Asia
Z. Enkhbold met with a the director of the Kazakhstan-Mongolian Parliamentary Forum and his accompanying delegation in Ulaanbaatar, to mark the 20 year anniversary of the Agreement on Friendly Relations and Cooperation between Mongolia and Kazakhstan.
Europe
Z. Enkhbold along with the director of the Mongolian-German Parliamentary Forum received the German Ambassador to Mongolia. During the meeting, Z. Enkhbold congratulated the Ambassador on Germany’s successful parliamentary elections.
A.Ganbaatar, Mongolia’s newly appointed Ambassador to Latvia, presented his credentials to the Latvian President.
On the invitation of the Mongolian Ministry of Defense, Hungary’s Minister of Defense made an official visit to Mongolia. The brief trip finished with the signing of an MoU on mutual cooperation between the two ministries.
At UNESCO, L. Bold presented on the importance of literacy education.While attending the UNESCO meeting, L. Bold met with the French Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also marked the 851st birthday of Chinngis Khaan with Mongolian expats in France.
L. Bold visited Serbia, where he was received by Serbian PM Ivitsa Dacic. During the visit he participated in the Mongolian-Serbian Business Council and discussed ways to refresh the traditional friendship between Mongolia and Serbia.
Middle East
Z. Enkhbold received Turkey’s Ambassador to Mongolia to express his appreciation for the historical and cultural connections between their two countries. Later in the meeting they turned to joint development projects and economic relations.
Africa
The Vice President of South Africa made an official visit to Mongolia, where he met with the Deputy Director of the Mongolian Parliament, R. Gonchigdorj. The primary purpose of the visit seems to have been to discuss how to strengthen cooperation in the mining sector.
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For previous postings of the Foreign Policy Roundup in 2013 CLICK HERE
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