PRESIDENTS HOLD OFFICIAL TALKS

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The President of Mongolia Mr Ts.Elbegdorj and his counterpart of the Republic of Latvia Mr Andris Berziņs Thursday held official talks in Ulaanbaatar. Greeting the Latvian leader and accompanying him officials, Mr Elbegdorj expressed a hope that the visit will strengthen the Mongolia-Latvia ties and will open a new page in our relations. Mongolia has been adhering to the multilateral foreign policy since 1990 and aspires to develop open and mutually-beneficial ties with Latvia, said Mr Elbegdorj, believing that this policy will be fortified by this visit. "Latvia is one of the friendly and close partner of Mongolia within the European Union. We always aim to boost the close relations with the EU and its members. Last year, Mongolia and the EU established a cooperation treaty," he said and thanked Latvian parliament for becoming the first EU member to ratify it. He also hoped that other EU members will ratify the treaty when Latvia will chair the EU in 2015. In turn, the President of Latvia Mr Andris Berziņs expressed his satisfaction with visiting Mongolia and said his country wants to expand the bilateral political, economic and commercial cooperation. He said the art, culture and education are the main fields to intensify the ties, and emphasized an importance of holding talks in the educational sector. Our countries have been keeping friendly ties and supporting each other at international field since establishment of the diplomatic relations in 1991, "we are greatly satisfied with participating together with Mongolia in peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan and in other countries", Mr Berziņs said. Mongolia is a reliable partner of Latvia, he said. He hoped that accompanying him Ministers and officials will launch many works to contribute to the bilateral relations. The countries gave all possibilities to collaborate in a land farming and logging areas, Mr Berziņs said. He expressing a willingness to share Latvian experience with Mongolia in logging and in fishing. Latvia is ready to accept any cooperation proposals from Mongolia, he said.