The Japan Times Thursday,July11,2013 5

Mongolianationalday

Sodovjamts KhurelbaatarAmbASSAdor of mongoliA

Iwouldliketoexpressmyheart-feltgreetingstoall theJapanesefriendsontheoccasionofMon-golias Nationalday celebrationNaadam.

M o n g o l i ais an ancientcountry cel-ebrating the2,222nd anni-versary of thefoundationofhunnuitsear-liest statehood. Mongolia is ayoungcountryaswell,counting23yearssinceembarkingonthepathofdemocracyandreforms.Itsacountryofyouthwhere70percentofthepopulationisun-dertheageof35.

Mongolia abandoned social-ismin1990andsuccessfullyim-plementedsimultaneouspoliti-calandeconomicreforms,andhasachievedsignificantaccom-plishments and been broadlyrecognized as a model for theneworrestoreddemocracies.Inthis regard Mongolia has beenbestowed upon the honorabledutytochairtheCommunityofdemocracies.

youthful Mongolia with an-cient history and traditionshaskickedoff theintensivede-velopment. Mongolia is beingreferred to as the Paradise ofMineral resources. Indeed, anumber of the worlds largestdeposits of coal, coke, copper,shale oil, molybdenum, gold,silver, zinc, uranium and raremetals are found in Mongolia.Mongolia pursues a policy ofachieving the new develop-ment through utilization of theresources and development ofits infrastructure, processingindustryandhumanresources.The embarkation on the newdevelopment path has beenmetwithsuccess.Mongoliahasbeenenjoyinga13to17percenteconomicgrowthrateinrecentyears. Companies from morethan 120 countries worldwide,

including Japan, are investinginMongolia.rioTintoinvestedin the Oyu Tolgoi copper de-posit, while companies fromJapan, russia, China, the u.s.andsouthKoreahaveexpressedtheirwillingnesstoinvestintheTavanTolgoicokingcoaldepos-its.TheJapanesecompanysoft-Bank is planning to implementthe asia super Grid project inMongolia to build a 35,000-kmpower network to supply thecountriesinasiawithsolarandwind clean energy. Mitsubishistarted the construction of theNew ulaanbaatar Internationalairport while Marubeni, Ito-chu, sumitomo and sojitz areexpressingtheir interest inpar-ticipating in the 1,800-km rail-roadconstructionproject.sojitzistakingpartintheconstructionof the V Power Plant station.MarubeniandToyoEngineeringare planning to build a majoroil-refineryfactoryinMongolia.Therearemanyotherpotentialprojects such as building thecoal enrichment, coke produc-ing, iron processing factories,to name but a few. Thus, bydeveloping broad internationalcooperation, Mongolia intendsto make its own contributiontoEastasiaseconomicintegra-tion. There are vast opportuni-tiesforthat.

On the bilateral basis, con-crete steps have been taken toimprove the business and in-vestmentenvironmenttoexpandeconomic cooperation. agree-ment on an export credit linewas concluded with the JapanBank for International Coop-eration(JBIC)andaneconomicpartnership agreement nego-tiationisunderwaybetweenthetwonations.

Mongolia is not far from be-comingoneofthebigexportersofmineralresources,energyandecologicallycleanproducts,andimporter of cutting-edge tech-nology and innovations. In thisregard the Mongolian meetingof the World Economic Forum,namely davos meeting, is to be

heldforthefirsttimeinMongo-lia,inseptember.

Strategic partnershipsincetheestablishmentofdiplo-maticrelationsbetweenMongo-lia and Japan, this year the 41stsakurahasblossomed.Forthefirsthalfofthisperiod,possibili-ties of expanding the relationsbetween Mongolia and Japanwere limited due to the differ-encesinsocialsystemsandide-ologies. however, bilateral rela-tions expanded dramatically af-terthedemocraticchangestookplaceinMongoliain1990.

since its beginning Japan,more than any other country,has rendered consistent andfirm support to the Mongoliandemocracy. While supportingMongolia on a bilateral basis,Japan, together with the WorldBank,hasorganized10roundsofConsultativeMeetingsofdonorCountriesforMongoliainTokyo.Japancoversabouttwothirdsofthe foreign and internationalorganizations aid to Mongolia.Japaneseaidhasbeingexpand-ed to every field, such as food,energy, transportation, com-munication, education, health,culture, etc. The aid rendered

fromJapanandtheinternation-alcommunityassistedMongoliasignificantly in overcoming thefinancial and economic crisis,difficulties in the social life ofMongolianpeopleandintrans-ferring to the market economy,setting the foundation for thenewdevelopment.

ThereisasayinginMongolia,a friend in need is a friend in-deed.TheaidandassistanceofJapan reached everyones heartin Mongolia and brought for-ward radical changes in the at-titudeandevaluationofMongo-lianpeopletowardJapan.Mon-golia,alongsidewithamultitudeof asian countries, had sufferedfromtheinvasionsofthemilita-rist Japan, therefore theattitudetowardJapanwasnotgood,withhistorical issues to overcome.Nevertheless, the developmentof relations between Mongoliaand Japan worked as a proof ofthe possibility of mending thepastwrongdoings if therewasasincere desire in doing accord-ingly. Mongolia, which used tobeperceivedasthenearyetdis-tant neighbor, became a closepartnerofJapan.

since the mid 90s Mongoliaand Japan have been develop-

ing a comprehensive partner-ship, which currently is beingelevated to the further level ofstrategicpartnership.

The strategic partnershipbetween Mongolia and Japandeclaredbyh.E.TsakhiaElbeg-dorj, the president of Mongolia,duringhisvisittoJapanin2010,consistsoffivemainpillars:TrustworthypoliticalrelationsCooperationontheissuesof

foreign policy, security, defenseandregionalaffairsThemutuallybeneficialand

complementaryeconomiccoop-erationBroad exchange in the fields

of culture, education, arts, sports,humanitiesandlocalcommunitiesMutualassistanceonthein-

ternationalagendah.E. Prime Minister shinzo

abe, during his official visit toMongoliainMarchthisyear,hasput forward a proposal to de-velop the Erch initiative, bor-rowing the Mongolian word forvitality,aimedatexpandingtheMongol-Japan strategic partner-ship under the following threespirits:spiritofpeacespirit of freedom and de-

mocracyspiritofmutualassistanceThe initiative aims at the de-

velopment of investment andbusinessenvironment,andcoop-erationforMongoliassustainableeconomic development, includ-ing fostering human resourcesand improvement of the infra-structurebasisfordevelopment.

Within the framework of theintensification of bilateral rela-tions in accordance with theabove-mentioned areas, certaincooperation issues will be dis-cussed during the upcomingvisit to Japan by h.E. Norov al-tankhuyag, the prime ministerof Mongolia. during the courseof this high-level visit the Mid-termactionPlanfordevelopingthe strategic Partnership be-tween Mongolia and Japan willbesigned.

during the visit to Mongolia

byh.E.PrimeMinisterabe,h.E.PresidentElbegdorjputforwardaproposaltoinitiatetheulaan-baatardialogueonthesecurityissuesintheNortheastasianre-gion,namingitanabe-Ebiini-tiative(Ebiisashortenednameof President Elbegdorj). Theproposal suggests the restartingof the six-party dialogue on thedenuclearization of the KoreanPeninsula,holdingbilateralandmultilateraldialoguesandmeet-ingsinulaanbaataronthewiderange of issues related to thesecurity and cooperation in theregion, in particular appealingforholdingthe1.5trackmeetingbetweenthegovernmentexpertsandresearchersofthecountriesin the region. The Japan-NorthKorea bilateral meeting couldalsobeconsideredasanintegralpartoftheabovedialogue.

Mongolia initially put for-wardaproposaltoestablishtheNortheastasiadialoguemecha-nism in 2002, and it also de-clared its territory as a nuclear-weapon-free-zone. Five nuclearpowerstates issuedastatementin recognition of our countrysnuclear-free status and a spe-cialresolutioninthisregardwasadoptedbytheu.N.Generalas-sembly,thussecuringourstatus.

The example served as animportant model for the inter-national community, by high-lighting the possibilities of en-suringthesecurityofthecountrythroughpoliticalanddiplomaticmeans.

In conclusion, I would liketo convey the warm greetingsof h.E. Tsakhia Elbegdorj, thepresidentofMongolia,whowonthepresidentialelectionscarriedoutinMongoliaonJune26andwas sworn-in as the presidentof Mongolia for a second termon the July 10, and deliver thepresidentsbestwishestoallthereaders,wishesofwell-beingandprosperity to the country andpeople of Japan, and of furtherdeepening and expanding therelationsbetweenMongoliaandJapan.

dynamically on the path of rapid economic growth

Strategic partnership: Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj welcomes Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Ulaanbaatar on March 30 during his visit to Mongolia. EmbASSy of mongoliA

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