New Delhi: India and Mongolia on Tuesday expanded their strategic partnership and announced a slew of initiatives across sectors including defence, energy and digital infrastructure to cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
Welcoming Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh to India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the visit held special significance as it marked 70 years of diplomatic relations and a decade of strategic partnership between the two nations.
New projects aimed at enhancing livelihoods and skills in Mongolia were announced on the occasion. Private sector collaborations are being explored in areas such as critical minerals, energy, digital technologies, agriculture, dairy, mining and cooperatives.
The two leaders jointly released a postal stamp symbolising the shared civilisational and cultural ties between India and Mongolia.
“Our relationship is more than a diplomatic engagement-it is a deep, soulful and spiritual bond,” Prime Minister Modi said during a joint presser.
He recalled that it was during his visit to Mongolia in 2015 that bilateral relations were elevated to a strategic partnership.
India announced a new capacity-building programme for Mongolia’s border security forces and the appointment of a defence attache in its embassy in Ulaanbaatar.
The PM said both countries share a common vision for a free, open, inclusive and rules-based Indo-Pacific and reiterated their close cooperation in international forums, especially in championing the concerns of the global south.
The two leaders announced that India would send the holy relics of Lord Buddha’s disciples, Sariputra and Maudgalyayana, to Mongolia next year to deepen spiritual ties.
