On October 14-15, William Hague, UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,
paid an official visit to Mongolia at the invitation of Foreign Affairs Minister L.Bold. The visit was hosted on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and Great Britain 17 years
after the official visit of UK Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind in 1996.
During the visit, official negotiations were held between Mr. Bold and Mr. Hague. Mongolia expressed its aspiration to forward bilateral cooperation with Britain in the fields of mining, infrastructure and international fiscal relations. The sides re-affirmed to support each other in the international arena. Furthermore,
Mongolia officially stated promoting an Initiative Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, initiated by Mr. Hague.
During the visit, a memorandum of understanding on Chevening Scholarships was signed between
the Ministry of Education and Science of Mongolia and UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The
memorandum of understanding on the construction of the Shivee-Ovoo coal mine-based power plant was
also concluded between Mongolian Erdenes MGL and British IM Power companies.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague met with President Ts.Elbegdorj and Prime Minister N.Altankhuyag.
PM N.Altankhuyag said that he was happy that the two countries relations and cooperation have been developing successfully in many sectors in the 50 years of diplomatic relations. He expressed hope that this visit would lead relations and cooperation of the two countries to a new level. PM N.Altankhuyag talked about the social and economic situation of Mongolia noting that the new investment law which recently passed, has created more favorable conditions for investment. Secretary William Hague said that he favors enriching bilateral cooperation with economic content and UK has the possibility to collaborate with Mongolia in the energy sector and new railway technology.
During the meeting with President Ts.Elbegdorj, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague emphasized that the
countries have a big opportunity to intensify their relations and cooperation and to bring them to a
new level, taking advantage of 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and UK. “I am
very glad the UK has widened diplomatic relations with Asia-Pacific countries and Mongolia is intensifying
cooperation with the UK” said Mr.Hague.
The President pointed out that Mongolia is an open country and welcomes any suggestions regarding
cooperation, investments and other issues, and to resolve them with public discussion. “Investment matters will also be resolved through this principle. Today, Mongolia faces difficulties in the economic and investment sectors. However, we are confident that the situation will not worsen anymore and will soon be improved said Ts.Elbegdorj.
“As seen from the experience of Britain, the best solution to attract investors is to be more open and to
provide investors with information”, Mr. Hague emphasized, adding that his country shares its methods with
the Mongolian government in making state actions and capital expenditures more transparent to the public by
utilizing the latest technologies. President Ts.Elbegdorj underlined that Mongolia is open to foreign investors and that the investors must respect Mongolian laws and human rights, and be transparent to the public.
“Mongolia borders with two big states, so we attach great importance to investments from the
‘third neighbors’ in order to keep an investment balance. We maintain responsible mining,” he said.
When UK Foreign Secretary William Hague met with press representatives, he emphasized that UK was one of the first western European countries who acknowledged Mongolia’s independence. “To further
develop bilateral cooperation, the UK aims to intensify activities of its Embassy and widen cooperation in Asia. I congratulate Mongolians for high economic growth since its transfer to democracy he said.
Responding to a question about progress on facilitating visa delivery for Mongolians, Mr. Hague said that
the UK welcomes the increase in Mongolian people’s interest to visit the UK and clear improvement is seen
in the visa issue. About 2000 visas were provided to Mongolian citizens between June 2012 to June 2013. That is a 10 percent increase compared to the previous year and it means 85 percent of all visa applications were approved (94 percent approval of business-purpose applications).
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| UK Foreign Affairs Secretary William Hague meeting president Ts.Elbegdorj |
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