Sushma visits Mongolia, strengthens bilateral engagement on IT, infra and energy

Ulaanbaatar: In what could be seen as India’s attempt to increase its political and diplomatic influence in the countries close to China’s border, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday arrived in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolian capital to firm up engagement between the two countries on energy, services, IT and infrastructure.
Sushma Swaraj is the first Indian External Affair Minister in the last 42 years to visit Mongolia, a land locked nation with majority of population following Buddhist religion.
“We share long historical links. Mongolia is well known in India for the valour of its kings and its strong Buddhist heritage. India was among countries, outside the erstwhile Communist bloc, to establish diplomatic relations with Mongolia,” the EAM said in a joint press conference with Mongolian Foreign Minister D Tsogtbaatar, after the sixth session of India-Mongolia Joint Committee on cooperation meet.
In the six decades of partnership between the two countries, she said that the bilateral relations have grown from “strength to strength.”
“This is reflected in our widening and deepening strategic partnership today, based on the common ideals of democracy and freedom, an enriched by mutual respect and trust,” she said.
Narendra Modi was the first ever Indian Prime Minister to visit Mongolia in 2015. Describing it as a “historic visit,” she said it provided a fresh impetus to the bilateral relations and qualitatively raised the level of the engagement.
Earlier, Sushma Swaraj who air dashed to Mongolia on April 24 after attending SCO’s foreign ministers meeting in China, asked Mongolian businessmen to seize economic opportunities arising out of “India’s growth. She also said that the two countries have agreed to remove institutional and logistical impediments to boost trade, tourism and people-to-people contacts.
She said the two countries have agreed to explore possibility of launching direct air connectivity between the two capitals. On the issue of capacity building programme for Mongolia, she said India is ready to support Mongolia in areas such as IT and English language, infrastructure development, energy and services.