Mongolia is not only India's strategic partner but also spiritual neighbour: Sushma Swaraj
Ulaanbaatar, Apr 25 (IBNS): External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said Mongolia is not only India's strategic partner but also its spiritual neighbour.
Swaraj, who is on a trip to Mongolia, made the comment while addressing a joint press conference with her Mongolian counterpart Tsogtbaatar.
Swaraj became the first Indian Foreign Minister to visit Mongolia in more than four decades.
Commenting on the ties between the two countries, Swaraj said: "Mongolia is not only our strategic partner for India but also a spiritual neighbour. We share long historical links. Mongolia is well known in India for the valour of her kings and her strong Buddhist heritage."
"We also agreed that we should make all efforts to maintain and accelerate the momentum of our interaction in all areas. We reviewed the progress in our on-going collaborative projects, including the refinery project selected by the Government of Mongolia for implementation with the support of one billion dollar Indian Line of Credit."
Narendra Modi was the first Indian PM to visit Mongolia in 2015.
Swaraj said PM Modi's visit "provided a fresh impetus to our relations and qualitatively raised the level of our engagement."
Speaking about the areas in which both India and Mongolia can cooperate, the EAM said: "Foreign Minister Tsogtbaatar and I agreed to explore possible ways to identify new areas of cooperation in all sectors of mutual interest and to enhance our bilateral trade and investments. We discussed economic cooperation in areas such as infrastructure development, energy, services and IT.
"We agreed to remove institutional and logistical impediments to boost our trade, tourism and people to people contacts. In this regard, we also agreed to explore possibility of launching direct air connectivity between our two capitals," she added.
India and Mongolia have also agreed to work hand-in-hand in combating global terrorism.
The External Affairs Minister said: "We discussed some of the pressing global challenges facing the humanity, particularly the scourge of terrorism and agreed to collaborate bilaterally and in international arena to ward off this evil and thwart the designs of those who extend support to terrorist outfits."
Swaraj reached Mongolia on Tuesday after wrapping up her China visit.
In China, she attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting.
She also met Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Image: twitter.com/MEAIndia
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