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16:23, August 27, 2009 |
President Dmitry Medvedev said at the end of his two-day visit to Mongolia on Wednesday, August 26 that Russia deemed it necessary to enhance or renovate bilateral relations and map out development plans in the near future, and he expressed satisfaction at the outcome of his visit to Mongolia.
The greatest outcome of the Russian leader's recent trip to Mongolia is the signing of a declaration on their strategic partnership development by the presidents of both nations.
Upon his arrival at Ulan Bator, President Medvedev was honored at a solemn ceremony held by Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj at the square of Sukhbaatar, which was followed by talks between the two heads of state. Then, they signed a series of agreements including a "manifesto to boost the strategic partnership". The two countries pledged to consolidate cooperation in railway system updating, uranium exploitation, and a big coal mine investment.
Afterwards, Mongolian Prime Minister Sanjaagiin Bayar and Parliament Chairman Damdin Demberel met with President Medvedev respectively.
On Wednesday, a front-paged article of the mouthpiece of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party noted that, according to the new Mongolia-Russia agreements, the two countries will set up a new joint venture named "Infrastructure Development Company (IDC)", which would be a force for improving railways system in Ulan Bator and join lines to link the big Tavantolgoi coalmine with the current railway in Mongolia. And a uranium mine and other cooperative enterprises would also be set up. This shows Mongolia and Russia will increase their cooperation further in the realms of mining resources development and infrastructure construction.
During his stay in Mongolia, President Medvedev conceded that Russia had all along not attached due importance to Mongolia and this was a massive miscalculation on the Russia side.
Some subtle, delicate changes have occurred in Russia-Mongolian relations in the last two decades or so. When the former Soviet Russia was collapsed in the 1990s, Mongolia turned to the process of transition to a market economy, and began to get closer or embrace the United States, Japan and other Western developed nations when the Mongolia-Russia ties experienced years of stagnation.
The first of the annual joint U.S.-Mongolia military drills took pace in 2003 and was extended in 2006 to multilateral military exercises. Meanwhile, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) gradually enhanced its eastern enlargement strategy, and the ultimate destination for the NATO eastern enlargement was Mongolia, as some analysts acknowledged.
Confronted with such a grim situation and in view of its overall strategy security interests, Russia has defined its goal of reunifying itself with Mongolia.
In the year 2000, then the Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Mongolia was culminated with a joint declaration – the Ulaan-baatar Declaration – containing 25 points, which laid a legal groundwork for the restoration of bilateral ties between the two countries.
The Moscow Declaration was issued during the state visit to Russia paid by Mongolian President N. Enkhbayar on December 4-9, 2006 and bilateral relations entered into a phase for an all-round resumption. From April 10 to 13 this year, Mongolian Prime Minister S. Bayar paid an official visit to Moscow and his trip opened up a new era for comprehensive cooperation between the two nations.
Mongolian Prime Minister S. Bayar visited Russia twice in 2009, and both Russia heads of government and state visited Mongolia in the year, and so Mongolian-Russian relations have ascended to a new historical stage.
Thanks to a decade of steady development, Mongolia-Russia bilateral ties have entered into a new period of growth. Politically, the frequent exchange of high-level visits between the two nations has deepened or increased their political mutual trust and both nations share the same or similar stances on many international issues.
With regard to bilateral economic and trade ties, Mongolian-Russian joint ventures built in early years have all along been the backbone firms in Mongolia, and the newly-formed railway venture and Mongolia-Russia uranium production joint venture have created conditions for Russia's future involvement in tapping mine resources and going in for infrastructure development in Mongolia.
The petroleum products Mongolia badly needs have all been practically imported from Russia. So, it can be said that Russia would also be one of Mongolia's most crucial strategic partners either at present or in the years to come. The volume of trade between Mongolia and Russia reached 1.6 billion US dollars in the January-May period this year, attaining ahead of time the one billion-dollar objective for the year 2010，as indicated by statistics released by the Mongolian Ministry of External Relations.
The signing of the declaration on strategic partnership development by the Russian and Mongolian presidents signifies the progress of vital importance scored by Russia's diplomacy toward Mongolia, noted critics and political analysts. Russia very much wants to enhance its position in Mongolia via its efforts to beef up economic cooperation with the Mongolian side, whereas Mongolia hopes to advance its economic growth through Russia's participation in the development of mining resources and infrastructure construction.
By People's daily Online and contributed by Huo Wen and Zhang Guangzheng, PD resident reporters respectively in Russia and Mongolia
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2009-08/27/content_328613.htm
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