Japan to provide JPY 7.5 billion for engineering education in Mongolia

On February 10, Foreign Affairs Minister L.Bold attended the Mongolia-Hokkaido cooperation workshop held in Sapporo, Japan. The event was co-organized by the Embassy of Mongolia to Japan and Hokkaido’s administration and international cooperation center with support of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The workshop was attended by over 180 delegates representing Hokkaido public organizations and business circles. At the workshop, Mr. Bold underlined

that having similarities in terms of nature and climate, Mongolia and Hokkaido are afforded wider opportunity for cooperating in the fields of agriculture, animal husbandry, construction, urban development, tourism, small and mediumsized

enterprises, and culture.

During the event, Japan’s Deputy Foreign Minister S.Kihara paid a courtesy call on Foreign Affairs Minister L.Bold. Saying that Japan will provide support for the implementation of a midterm strategic partnership program signed by Prime Ministers of the two countries last year and for the expansion of the Mongolia-Hokkaido cooperation which is stipulated in the program. Mr. Kihara stated that the Government of Japan made a decision to provide a soft loan of JPY 7.5 billion for the implementation of a higher education engineering development project in Mongolia.

“Japan will work actively towards the establishment of an economic partnership

agreement between Mongolia and Japan”, he added. The parties also re-affirmed their

commitment to support each other in elections of UN and other international organizations. In honor of Minister L.Bold, a dinner was given by Hokkaido Governor H.Takahashi. He pledged to make efforts for the development of

the Mongolia-Hokkaido cooperation stating that a working group has been set up at the Hokkaido administration charged to coordinate actions forthe development of cooperation with Mongolia.

In turn, Minister L.Bold expressed the willingness of Mongolia to participate in the Sapporo Snow Festival starting next year and study Hokkaido’s experience in developing tourism. Minister L.Bold visited Abashiri and Kitami cities of Hokkaido prefecture at the invitation of Tsutomu Takebe, former Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and President of East Asian Research Institute

(TOA).

In Kitami city, a Mongolian-Japanese cultural performance was staged under auspices

of the Foreign Ministers of Mongolia and Japan. Foreign Minister L.Bold invited Mayors of both cities to a conference scheduled this year in Ulaanbaatar for Northeast Asia’s cities.