On September 20, commencing at 1:10 p.m. local time (2:10 a.m., September 21, Japan time) for approximately 1 hour, Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, visiting New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, held a working lunch with H.E. Mr. Ukhnaa KHURELSUKH, President of Mongolia. The summary of the working lunch is as follows.

1. Outset

Prime Minister Kishida mentioned that the two leaders concurred on upgrading the bilateral relationship to a “Special Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity,” during President Khurelsukh’s visit to Japan in November last year (2022), marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Prime Minister Kishida then stated that Japan and Mongolia, which share fundamental values, should work together also in the regional and international community.

In response, President Khurelsukh expressed his desire to further strengthen the bilateral relations under the new partnership.

2. Bilateral relations

The two leaders welcomed the continuation of high-level dialogues and mutual visits between the two countries this year, marking the beginning of another 50 years of the bilateral relationship. The two leaders also confirmed the steady progress in cooperation projects in various sectors based on the “Japan-Mongolia Action Plan (2022-2031),” which was issued on occasion of President Khurelsukh’s visit to Japan in November last year.

Prime Minister Kishida conveyed the launch of the first project under Japan’s plan to plant 50,000 trees over five years in Mongolia to extend cooperation to Mongolia’s “One Billion Tree” National Campaign, which President Khurelsukh proposed in his statement at the General Debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly as part of measures against climate change and desertification. In response, President Khurelsukh expressed his deep appreciation.

The two leaders expressed their hope for further mutual understanding and strengthened tourism exchanges between the peoples of the two countries, including through the Japanese TV drama shot in Mongolia.

3. Regional and international affairs

The two leaders candidly exchanged views on regional and international affairs including the response to North Korea including nuclear and missile issues and the abductions issue, as well as Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and shared the necessity of the United Nations reform and also shared the importance of further deepening cooperation and coordination including within the United Nations.

Prime Minister Kishida explained that the discharge of ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) treated water into the sea is being conducted in accordance with international standards and international practices with all possible measures taken to ensure safety, and sought the understanding of Mongolia. In response, President Khurelsukh expressed his support for Japan’s position.

China and Mongolia will work together to deepen bilateral security cooperation to promote their countries' development and safeguard regional peace and stability, said Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee (CPCCC) and secretary of Mongolia's National Security Council Jadamba Enkhbayar Tuesday during their meeting here.

Linked by mountains and rivers and sharing weal and woe, China and Mongolia are good neighbors and good partners, enjoying solid mutual trust, a profound friendship and converging interests, Wang told Enkhbayar.

Last year, the heads of state of the two countries had a successful meeting, during which the two sides pledged to jointly build a community of shared future between the two countries, pushing bilateral relations to a new level, said Wang, also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPCCC.

As a comprehensive strategic partner and close neighbor, China always respects the development path independently chosen by the Mongolian people. China is ready to work with Mongolia to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, and to deepen bilateral security cooperation to provide a solid guarantee for the common development of the two countries as well as regional peace and stability, Wang said.

For his part, Enkhbayar said the two countries have always respected each other's core interests and supported each other in the fight against the pandemic, making bilateral relations at their best in history. Mongolia cherishes the friendship and the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, firmly pursues a friendly policy towards China and firmly abides by the one-China principle.

Given the current turbulent international situation, Mongolia adheres to multilateralism and stands ready to strengthen security cooperation with China to contribute to the development and prosperity of the two countries, he said.

Unilateral actions and hegemonism have long fallen behind the times, and the trend toward a multi-polar world is unstoppable, Wang said, noting that three words are key to the effort to achieve peace and security and build a multi-polar system.

The first one is equality. All countries, big or small, rich or poor, strong or weak, are equal and enjoy the right to development.

The second one is order. The international system with the United Nations at its core should be jointly upheld, and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter as well as the universally recognized basic norms governing international relations be jointly adhered to.

The third one is cooperation. Synergy should be forged through solidarity and cooperation to jointly address global challenges and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

On the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a meeting with President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh.

The Head of State noted warm and traditionally friendly relations between Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The President emphasized the possibility of expanding bilateral relations to the level of strategic partnership.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also noted that in order to give additional impetus to trade and economic cooperation, it is necessary to intensify the work of the Intergovernmental Commission and create a Business Council of Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

At the end of the meeting, the presidents of the two countries discussed the possibility of mutual visits in the near future.

China's coal imports from all origins rose in August, customs data showed on Wednesday, as the world's top consumer of the fuel bought up cheaper overseas supplies after domestic output fell.

Russian coal arrivals reached 9.97 million metric tons, up from July's 8.99 million tons, and 16.7% higher than the same month last year.

Imports from Australia also rose 6% from the prior month to 6.69 million tons, while arrivals from Mongolia, largely of coking coal, surged 20.5% from July to a record 7.16 million tons.

China's total coal imports came to 44.3 million tons last month, data showed earlier, a record volume for a single month, thanks to lower domestic supply that pushed up local prices.

China's coal output has declined in recent months as authorities tightened safety and shut mines for inspections amid a string of deadly accidents.

Domestic coal prices increased through August, with SteelHome assessing the benchmark price for thermal coal with energy content of 5,500 kilocalories (kcal) at the port of Qinhuangdao at 835 yuan ($114.45) per metric ton on Aug. 28, up from 779 yuan per ton in June.

The price for 5,500 kcal coal cargoes at Australia's Newcastle Port, as assessed by commodity price reporting agency Argus, was $85.19 a metric ton in the week to Aug. 18.

China also imported 18.7 million tons of coal from Indonesia, up 18.4% from the prior month.

Mongolia’s economic recovery continued through this year and gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be maintained in the near term, according to Asian Development Outlook (ADO) September 2023, released today. It is anticipated to be driven by robust external demand, recovery in exports, and revived domestic demand, though tempered by persistently high inflation, contractionary monetary policy, and tight domestic financing conditions.

In its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) September 2023, the growth forecast for 2023 is revised up slightly from the projection of 5.4 percent in April to 5.7 percent, but revised down to 5.9 percent for 2024, from the previous forecast of 6.1 percent. GDP growth in 2024 will be driven by mining, with positive spillover into transport and other services, as well as private sector lending.

Economic growth in Asia and the Pacific is expected to remain solid, although risks to the outlook are rising, according to the ADB report. The region’s developing economies are forecast to grow 4.7 percent this year, a slight downward revision from a previous projection of 4.8 percent. The growth forecast for next year is maintained at 4.8 percent.

“Although the recovery of Mongolia was uneven in terms of sector contributions, the economy’s near-term growth prospects remain robust,” said ADB Senior Country Economist for Mongolia Edward Faber. “Maintaining price stability, improving employment, and strengthening economic resilience through structural reforms are imperative to make growth more sustainable and inclusive.”

Economic expectation and visibility in Mongolia have improved since the beginning of this year, mainly due to reopening in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), subsequent recovery in exports, significant improvements in the current account balance, rebounding of foreign exchange reserves and lowered risks associated with the external debt repayment.

However, inflation remained high and above the central bank’s target for the past 27 consecutive months despite recent moderations. Inflation is likely to trend downward in the second half of 2023, though average inflation will remain high at 10.5 percent for this year before moderating to 8.6 percent for 2024, revised down slightly from the previous projections in April.

Downside risks to the outlook would arise from any decrease in the PRC’s demand for bulk commodities, a fall in coal and metals prices, new trade restrictions, disruption caused by exacerbated geopolitical tensions, negative spillover from tighter financing conditions, global uncertainty and slowdown, or capital flow reversal.

The "Study Australia" Education Fair was held on 16th of September 2023 at the Shangri-La Hotel. Representatives of Australian educational institutions, universities and colleges participated in this exhibition.

Thousands of people, especially the younger generations, attended the exhibition to meet with representatives of Australian institutions face to face to learn more about their programs, scholarships, and admission opportunities. Katie Smith, Australian Ambassador to Mongolia opened the exhibition.

She said “Australia is also known for being one of the most livable countries in the world. Our relaxed lifestyle, along with the opportunity to enjoy our beautiful nature, offers students a balanced experience.

In addition, we are a multicultural society that respects and celebrates different cultures. Nearly half of all Australian residents were either born overseas or had at least one parent who was born overseas, so diversity underpins the Australian way of life. Prior to the pandemic, the number of Mongolians choosing to study in Australia had been increasing every year, and there were approximately 5,700 Mongolian students studying in Australia’s education institutions by the end of 2019.

While these connections were disrupted during COVID, it is pleasing to see very strong recovery of Mongolian students returning to Australia, particularly in the first six months of this year, with enrolments up 97% on 2022 levels, and even up 24% on 2019 pre-pandemic levels! I am confident we will continue to see more and more Mongolians take up the fantastic opportunity to study and deepen their experience through spending some time in Australia, including – I hope – many of you who are here today”.

We have asked questions to Ambassador Katie Smith about the exhibition and the Australian Awards scholarship.

- What is the aim of Australian Education Fair 2023?

- The Study Australia Education Fair 2023, is all about getting the message out there to young Mongolians about the opportunities to study in Australia, be that tertiary education or English language or technical and vocational education or even high school education. Australia is such a wonderful place for young Mongolians to come and study. We have such a great lifestyle. It's a very livable country. Their student support services are very strong, including for international students. So they will have a very supported experience in Australia. Also, there's amazing opportunities in Australia's, nature and wildlife, and I think they'll really enjoy that opportunity.

We have such strong linkages in education, be that from the scholarships or be that from young Mongolians who've been studying in Australia

- How many universities and colleges are participating in this event?

- So at today's event, there are 22 Australian institutions here. These are technical and vocational education, higher education, and English language colleges. And there's some high schools as well represented. So they've come all the way from Australia just to talk to young Mongolians. And we are so pleased we've had around 4000 young Mongolians show interest. So they'll be coming in today and talking face to face to these universities about the courses they offer, and all the extra support services that they offer as well.

- When I came in here, I saw there was a long line of young generation in the outside. So that means a lot of Mongolian young generations are very interested in Australian education. What is the advantage of the Australian Awards to Mongolian, especially for young generation?

- Well, we’re so proud of our Australia Awards program. This is our 30th anniversary this year. It’s been running for that long. During that time, we’ve had over 700 Mongolians graduate from that program. And they’re just so inspirational, these alumni, because they come back and they really contribute to Mongolia’s development, be that in private sector or public sector or government or civil society, whatever they choose to do, they’re so extremely successful. The scholarships program is really beneficial because the families can go to Australia with the students. So it’s really an experience for the whole family. And we’ve had generations now of Mongolians going under this program. Again, it’s all about the quality of the experience in Australia as well.

Our universities, 90% of them are globally ranked universities, so their reputation is very strong and those support services and that lifestyle is also really strong. This year, I was so pleased to announce an increase in our scholarships program. So next year we’ll be offering 50% increase to 15 scholarships. And hopefully in future years, we can just keep increasing. For me, education is the cornerstone of our relationship, the Australia-Mongolia relationship. We have such strong linkages in education, be that from the scholarships or be that from young Mongolians who've been studying in Australia. We now have over 22,000 Mongolians who've studied in Australia over the past 20 years. So the numbers really are a testament to the strong relationship that we have.

- Thank you so much for your time.

India and Mongolia reviewed the progress of construction of the country's first oil refinery, which is being built with the assistance of New Delhi. The project review was conducted during the three-day visit of Secretary (East) of the Ministry of External Affairs Saurabh Kumar to Mongolia, which ended on Thursday.

Kumar held talks with Mongolian Foreign Ministry Secretary of State Ankhbayar Nyamdorj and visited Minister of Education and Science L. Enkh-Amgalan, as well as Minister and Secretary General of the Cabinet of Ministers Amarbayasgalan Dashzegve.

He also visited the Gandan and Pethub monasteries, and toured the Dornogovi province, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes.

The sides discussed further strengthening the India-Mongolia strategic partnership and maintaining high-level interaction, the Ministry added.

The parties exchanged views on cooperation in various sectors, including development partnership, education, information technology, renewable energy, communications, culture, capacity building, hydrocarbons, mining, defense and security.

President of Mongolia Khurelsukh Ukhnaa arrived in New York (USA) on September 19-23 to participate in general discussions at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.

The President of Mongolia will take part in the general discussions of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. He will make a speech in which he will express Mongolia's position on current issues of international relations. He also plans to meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and heads of state and government of several countries.

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Development of Mongolia Khurelbaatar Chimed will participate in the high-level meeting on the Sustainable Development Goals and the high-level discussion on Financing for Development.

Government representatives led by Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh will take part in the main events of the conference.