External Affairs Minister (EAM) Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Monday said that India and Mongolia are strategic partners and spiritual siblings. "India and Mongolia, we are strategic partners, we are also spiritual siblings.
Our relationship is rooted in deep civilisational and spiritual linkages, shared democratic values, strong development aspirations and strong people-to-people ties," EAM Jaishankar said in a press statement after his meeting with Battsetseg Batmunkh, Mongolia's Minister for Foreign Affairs.
India and Mongolia celebrated the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations last year. The External Affairs Minister noted that one of the purposes of his visit was to review progress on the outcomes of discussions held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh during the latter's visit to India last year.
"We reviewed the entire gamut of our bilateral cooperation, including the development partnership, for which the oil refinery is the most important project," EAM Jaishankar said. An oil refinery project at Altanshiree in Dornogovi Province is being constructed with a USD 1.7 billion soft Line of Credit (LoC) extended by the Government of India.
The project is the Indian government's largest soft Line of Credit initiative globally. The Minister also met the Speaker of the State Great Khural, Dashzegve Amarbayasgalan. "Welcome his strong support for India-Mongolia parliamentary exchanges and friendship.
Reiterated support to deepening our people-centric development partnership," EAM Jaishankar wrote on X. He also interacted with Mongolia's Minister of Education, L. Enkh-Amgalan, and former President Nambaryn Enkhbayar. "Value their support for deepening our Strategic Partnership," he noted.
EAM Jaishankar also called on President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and conveyed greetings from President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Value his guidance on advancing our strong cooperation in a wide range of sectors. Fully agree with him that the greatest friendship is spiritual friendship," the Minister stated.