President Moon Jae-in on Sept. 10 holds a bilateral summit with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh via videoconferencing at Cheong Wa Dae. (Yonhap News)
By Yoon Sojung
President Moon Jae-in on Sept. 10 held summit talks with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, agreeing to upgrade bilateral ties from a "comprehensive partnership" to a "strategic partnership."
Their hour-long summit held via videoconferencing started at 3 p.m. as the first meeting between the two leaders since the Mongolian leader's election in June last year.
Back in January 2018, then Prime Minister Khurelsukh held talks with President Moon in Korea.
Both leaders adopted a joint declaration on the development of a strategic partnership, agreeing to deepen and widen cooperation in five areas: economy, trade and investment; education, science and technology, environment, and health care; cultural, people-to-people and tourism exchanges; and cooperation on the global stage and within regions.
Korea is Mongolia's fifth-largest trading partner and Mongolia is a key ally in Seoul's New Northern Policy.
Mentioning these points, President Moon proposed continuously finding opportunities for collaboration in green energy and other eco-friendly sectors.
President Khurelsukh responded by saying both countries can create synergy through the combination of Korea's cutting-edge technologies with Mongolia's construction of green infrastructure and resource development.
Both sides agreed on cooperation to allow Korean companies to take part in energy supply, smart city creation, and the setup of distribution and logistics systems in Mongolia.
On national security, defense and foreign policy, the two countries agreed on holding strategic talks between their foreign ministries to stimulate dialogue. They also decided on regular exchanges between high-level officials and dialogue in defense to expand military and technological collaboration, hold joint military drills, and cooperate in and expand development of talented personnel.
For cooperation in economy and the New Northern Policy, they pledged to continue running a joint Korean-Mongolian government committee and efforts to start early negotiations on an economic partnership agreement.
The two countries will boost bilateral and regional cooperation in the New Northern region by linking the East Asia Railway Community Initiative proposed by Korea to the North-East Asia Regional Power Interconnection being conducted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
To deepen understanding between the people of both countries and widen cultural and human exchanges, the two leaders agreed to mutually support development of Korean studies in Mongolia and Mongolian studies in Korea. To this end, efforts will go toward fostering scholars and researchers on both sides specializing in the study of each other's country. Seoul also pledged to bolster Korean-language education in Mongolia.
arete@korea.kr