Russia's Putin seeks to reinvigorate Mongolia ties

ULAN BATOR (AFP) — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said here Wednesday that Russia sought large-scale trade and investment projects in Mongolia as the Soviet-era allies moved to reinvigorate long-standing ties.

Mongolia is also keen to speed up creation of a joint venture in uranium mining and increase military cooperation with Russia, Bayar said.
Putin told reporters later that the uranium mining joint venture would be created soon, saying it was a “process of several weeks”.

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said separately that the two countries had agreed on the documents “in principle” and that “there are no issues.”

Bayar said that a recent visit by Russian armed forces Chief of Staff Nikolai Makarov to discuss military and technical cooperation and the training of Mongolian military personnel in Russia was important for bilateral ties.

Mongolia also wanted to participate in energy and other economic projects within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a security-based grouping involving Russia, China and four central Asian republics but not Mongolia.

AFP