On October 17, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Mongolian counterpart Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 3rd Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. This meeting was attended by ministers from both nations, transportation ministers, the Vice-Premier of the Russian Federation, the head of the Russian Economic Development Ministry, and the CEOs of three significant Russian corporations: Russian Railways…

On October 10 Mongolia’s president, Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh, landed in Paris. Upon arrival, as he stepped onto the boarding ramp he was formally welcomed by the French Ambassador to Mongolia, the Mongolian Ambassador to France and the French Minister of Energy. On October 11, the Mongolian president had a meeting with the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. Among the matters they touched on during their meeting were a number of the most pressing issues affecting Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital…

If railway transport in Mongolia made a qualitative breakthrough and had many ambitious endeavours in 2023, the country’s road transport had a symbolic moment that took place in 2022. We are talking about achieving an epoch-making transport and communication task, namely the final connection by asphalt roads the administrative centres of all parts of the country, 21 aimags with the country’s capital, Ulaanbaatar. However, the preliminary results for 2023 in the field of road transport are slightly brightened up by such a significant event for Mongolia. 2023 brought about a breakthrough in the field of transit…

The first article in the series on the development of transport infrastructure in Mongolia described Mongolia’s projects in the field of railway transport implemented in 2022-2023. This second article provides a brief overview of the projects of Mongolian colleagues in the same field, which are currently being developed and have not yet reached the construction stage. The Mongolian long-term rail construction program up to the year 2030 is included in the country’s overall development programme “Long-Term Vision – 2030”, which, in turn, is a more detailed and structured part of the “Long-Term Vision – 2050” program. As part of the 2030 program (the projects described in the previous…

The onset of the first autumn cold weather is a sign that we can begin to summarise the first results of the various undertakings of 2023. This article is a brief overview of the Mongolian government’s preliminary results in the field of railway construction. It is worth noting that Mongolia has made significant progress in this sector this year. According to the medium-term state development programmes, 1,820 kilometres of railways are planned to be built in the country between 2020 and 2024. Already in 2022 and less than ten months from 2023…

On September 25, 2023, the visit of Vyacheslav Volodin, the Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to Mongolia, was concluded. In its content, Mr. Volodin’s visit to Mongolia was similar to the recent visit of the Speaker of the Mongolian Parliament, Gombojav Zandanshatar, to Russia, and marked the logical development and completion of those endeavors that had been outlined by the two Speakers back in Moscow. In addition to meeting with his Mongolian counterpart…

From the very beginning of its democracy, Mongolia has sought to define itself as an East Asian state, sometimes even fitting into the Asia-Pacific region (despite being a landlocked state). Recently, however, despite the continuation of the same trend in the country’s “geographical self-image,” Mongolia has begun to actively develop relations with Central Asian states as well. Although diplomatic relations between most Central Asian countries and Mongolia were established as early as 1992, they have not been very active. The only exceptions are Mongolia’s relations with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan…

The Pope’s journey to Mongolia concluded on September 4. This was a spiritual as well as a state visit, and the Pope was not only visiting Mongolia as the head of the Catholic Church. In addition to preaching, inaugurating a Charity House, and meeting with members of the Catholic community, Francis met with Mongolian dignitaries, including the President of Mongolia, Prime Minister, and Speaker of Parliament. Despite a pretty unusual agenda and expectations of equally unusual remarks and outcomes from this journey…

Mongolia has virtually always had to operate far from major global political and civilizational centers, both geographically and culturally. Looking for economic partners and political allies that are physically remote from Mongolia has historically been a hugely popular concept in the nation. The Mongol rulers of the “imperial period” dispatched ambassadors to distant states such as Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Pope of Rome. The early twentieth-century theocratic Mongolia likewise began…

When the word “Mongolia” appears in media reports from the past two or three weeks, the reader is typically directed to numerous headlines about the recent visit of Mongolia’s Prime Minister, Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, to the United States of America. What’s even more intriguing and potentially productive is that the Mongolia-US talks have recently taken place within Mongolia. For instance, the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue was held in Ulaanbaatar in the first half of June this year. The Ban Ki-moon Foundation and Shorenstein APARC collaborated to organize the event. Its stated goal is to coordinate SDG action through establishing new research…

Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun- Erdene visited the United States on the invitation of US Vice President Kamala Harris from August 2–6, 2023. The Mongolian Prime Minister met with numerous members of the American political establishment during his tour, in addition to the leaders of numerous significant businesses and technology giants. In particular, aside from the Vice President of the United States Oyun-Erdene met with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Defense, NASA leadership, and officials from firms…

In the official statements by senior representatives of the United States Mongolia is generally presented as a friendly nation and US partner. Ever since 1991, when US Secretary of State James A. Baker described the US as “Mongolia’s third neighbor”, official statements about Mongolia have been impressively consistent and unambiguous. For example, during his 2011 visit to the country, Joe Biden defined Mongolia as “an emerging leader in the worldwide democratic movement, and … a close friend and partner of the United States.” The US currently sees Mongolia as an “Important Partner…