The 5th Senior Officials’ Talks between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia was held in Ulaanbaatar on 9 April 2024. The meeting was chaired by Mr Ankhbayar Nyamdorj, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, and Ms Sarah Storey, First Assistant Secretary of the South and Central Asia Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia respectively.
During the Senior Officials’ Talks, the sides expressed their satisfaction over the dynamic state of bilateral relationship and cooperation that encompasses many socio-economic sectors including politics, defense, security, trade, economy, education, culture and agriculture within the framework of the Expanded Partnership. Also, the parties assessed the current state of relations and cooperation, noted the solemn celebration of the historic 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and underlined the strengthening of people-to-people links.
Furthermore, considering the ever-growing scope of relations and cooperation, both sides agreed to finalize the draft of the Comprehensive Partnership between Mongolia and Australia in the nearest future, elevating the level of bilateral cooperation and announce it during the upcoming high-level visits writing a new chapter in the relations between the two countries.
State Secretary N.Ankhbayar expressed Mongolia’s commitment to establish Air Service Agreement and Social Security Agreement as well as eagerness to increase the number of Australia Awards and Work and Holiday visa recipients.
First Assistant Secretary Sarah Storey underscored the importance of Australian Development programs including the Australia Awards scholarships that made invaluable contribution to Mongolia’s socio-economic development and the strengthening of the capacity building of human resources. She also expressed Australia’s willingness to continue excellent cooperation with Mongolia both bilaterally and multilaterally, and further strengthen cooperation in areas such as gender equality and climate change.
Within the Senior Officials’ Talks, the Memorandum of Understanding between the National Statistical Office of Mongolia and the Australian Bureau of Statistics was signed.
Senior Officials’ Talks between the Foreign Ministries of Mongolia and Australia was established in 2014 and this bilateral mechanism plays a pivotal role in exchanging views on the current state of relations as well as cooperation on international and regional arena.