The 12th round the Annual Bilateral Consultations (ABC) between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and the Department of State of the United States of America was successfully held in Ulaanbaatar on January 20, 2016.
Mongolian delegation was headed by Mr. Davaasuren Damdinsuren, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the US delegation was led by Mrs. Susan A. Thornton, Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asia and Pacific Affairs of the Department of State.
From Mongolian side, the meeting was attended by delegates from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Light Industry, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Health, National Emergency Management Agency, and Institute for Strategic Studies of the National Security Council. The delegates from the US Department of Agriculture, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, and U.S Agency for International Development have also participated at the meeting.
During the meeting, Mongolian side gave an update on the current political and socio-economic situation; actions were taken by the Government related to the implementation of the IMF’s “Extended Fund Facility”, measures taken in attracting foreign investment and re-gaining the foreign investors’ confidence.
The sides jointly noted that in 2017 the bilateral relations and cooperation have been actively expanding within the framework of the celebrations of 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and the United States. For instance, the sides highlighted achievements such as the reselection of Mongolia as an eligible country for the Second compact development by the MCC’s Board of directors; launching the of the 10 mln USD project to support the meat export; organization of the inaugural Energy cooperation dialogue; re-establishment of Mongolia caucus in the U.S. Congress; Mongolia’s participation at the H2” visa program; and successful implementation of the youth exchanges such as “LEAD Mongolia” and “FLEX”.
During the meeting, the two parties discussed issues of bilateral trade, economic cooperation, particularly attracting of U.S support and investment in Mongolia; expanding cooperation in the fields of defense, peacekeeping, agriculture, energy and security; MCC’s Second compact development; and coordination over successful implementation of the “H2” visa program.
The heads of the delegations also exchanged views on the current issues of international relations, including the security of the Asia Pacific region, and recent developments around the Korean peninsula. The US side also shared its vision of the India-Pacific region concept.
The ABC between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and the Department of State of the United States of America has been organized annually in Ulaanbaatar and Washington D.C. since its inaugural meeting in 1999. During the meeting, the two sides traditionally give an assessment to the relations, and discuss the future cooperation opportunities and prioritize the areas of cooperation.
