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From August 2-6, Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai paid his first official go to to the USA on the invitation of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. Throughout 5 days of high-level assembly with U.S. officers, together with Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin, Oyun-Erdene and his delegation made a major leap in advancing financial ties amid rising tensions surrounding Mongolia.
America and Mongolia established a strategic partnership in 2019, underneath the previous administrations of Battulga Khaltmaa and Donald Trump. Since then, not solely has the pandemic disrupted Mongolia-U.S. commerce, however the geopolitics and safety atmosphere of Northeast Asia have modified. It’s difficult for Ulaanbaatar to navigate the rising tensions, however, by versatile overseas coverage and third-neighbor financial mechanisms, the USA and Mongolia are slowly increasing and diversifying their relations.
On August 2, Harris obtained the Mongolian delegation headed by Oyun-Erdene on the White Home. In a Joint Assertion on the Strategic Third Neighbor Partnership between the USA and Mongolia launched after the assembly, the 2 sides applauded shared values in democracy, human rights, and worldwide legislation.
Furthermore, the Joint Assertion included three key areas for the connection: deepening financial cooperation, selling democratic ideas, and strengthening safety cooperation. With the signing of a brand new Bilateral Help Settlement, Washington granted $13 million in help to extend Mongolia’s entry to wash power, diversify its economic system, and strengthen democratic establishments and safety cooperation.
Since Mongolia’s democratization in 1990, USAID has contributed greater than $377 million in assist of varied packages, social improvement tasks, and financial help. Furthermore, the USA has bankrolled different improvement tasks such because the Millennium Problem Company-funded Mongolia Water Compact, which, thus far has spent $110 million out of a promised $350 million in water provide tasks like groundwater wells, water purification, and wastewater recycling infrastructure.
Throughout Oyun-Erdene’s U.S. go to, the 2 sides additionally signed a brand new Financial Cooperation Roadmap, which displays the present state of the strategic partnership between Mongolia and the USA throughout the framework of Mongolia’s third-neighbor overseas coverage. The roadmap updates and expands the earlier 2018 Roadmap for an Expanded Financial Partnership
The Financial Cooperation Roadmap will see the U.S. and Mongolia cooperate in numerous fields, from the mineral useful resource sector to e-commerce, commerce facilitation, safety of mental property rights, and the discount and elimination of tariff and non-tariff boundaries. On the digital economic system, particularly, Mongolia and the U.S. will cooperation on cybersecurity and the prevention of web crime, together with improvement on-line cost techniques and the e-commerce sector. America additionally pledged to help Mongolia in enhancing its institutional capability and authorized framework to foster good governance and a steady enterprise atmosphere. The local weather disaster figured prominently as properly, with a pledge to develop and implement a local weather change mitigation coverage a part of the roadmap.
One of many main financial objectives for Mongolia is to diversify funding, particularly in more and more vital sectors equivalent to vital minerals and science and know-how. Mongolia is in search of assist in coaching engineers, and selling analysis in outer space-related tasks. Final month, Mongolia signed an settlement with SpaceX to make the most of Starlink in an effort to additional digitalize the nation, in addition to appeal to funding within the science and know-how sector.
Along with enhancing the financial partnership, Oyun-Erdene’s official go to to Washington additionally marked the primary time a Mongolian prime minister visited the Pentagon, highlighting Ulaanbaatar’s rising position in regional safety issues.
Austin obtained Oyun-Erdene and his delegation – together with Overseas Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh and Mongolia’s ambassador to the USA, Batbayar Ulziidelger – on the Pentagon on August 3.
Throughout the assembly, Oyun-Erdene stated, “I emphasize that the USA isn’t solely our strategic third neighbor, however it’s also our guiding pole star for Mongolia’s democratic journey.”
Austin additionally underscored their shared values and safety outlook, saying, “Our two democracies share a typical imaginative and prescient for the Indo-Pacific area, and a elementary want for peace and stability.” He added, “As we speak’s historic assembly underscores our deepening… protection cooperation.”
Austin expressed appreciation for Mongolia’s continued assist of world peace and safety and its contribution to the U.N. peacekeeping missions. He stated the USA could be offering 20 joint mild tactical automobiles to Mongolia “to assist your vital U.N. peacekeeping mission.”
The assembly additionally highlighted Mongolia’s presence within the Indo-Pacific area, with one other Protection Division official saying that “Mongolia gives an outsized affect on world peace and safety.”
Mongolia-U.S. protection relations have advanced over time. As U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dragged on, Mongolian armed forces had been deployed within the safety and peacekeeping missions. America additionally commonly participates in Mongolia’s annual Khaan Quest peacekeeping workouts.
Mongolia’s first-ever invitation to the Pentagon symbolizes the deepening of Mongolia-U.S. protection relations but additionally sheds mild on the altering atmosphere of Mongolia’s geopolitics, amid U.S. tensions with Beijing, and the Russia-U.S. conflict over NATO and Ukraine.
Along with profitable high-level bilateral conferences with U.S. officers, the Mongolian delegation additionally met with Google directors. Google and the Authorities of Mongolia have launched a brand new partnership to spice up digital abilities amongst younger Mongolians and assist the expansion of the nation’s digital economic system. The brand new partnership will present 20,000 new Chromebooks for Mongolian academics, coaching for 10,000 academics throughout Mongolia, and 1,000 scholarships for Google Profession Certifications.
Moreover, so as to enhance people-to-people, business-to-business ties, Mongolia and the U.S. signed a brand new “Open Skies Settlement,” which paves the way in which for nonstop flights between the 2 nations. Additional air connectivity will unlock extra financial actions, tourism, and funding in sectors apart from mining.
In keeping with the Embassy of Mongolia to the USA, the present goal is for the primary direct flights to begin in 2024. Feasibility research are presently underway to find out which metropolis would be the first vacation spot. Previous to the pandemic, air journey between Mongolia and the USA peaked with 57,813 passengers in 2019, contributing a complete expenditure of $45 million. With a profitable Open Skies Settlement, Mongolia hopes to surpass this milestone.
A separate Memorandum of Cooperation will advance Mongolia-U.S. cooperation on “a number of modes of transportation, together with rail, highways, inland waterways, transit, aviation, and unsafe supplies security.”
Binderiya Sereenen assisted with analysis for this piece. She is a second-year graduate scholar at American College, majoring in public coverage.
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