D.DEMBEREL MEETS JAPAN'S SPEAKERS

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia /MONTSAME/ In a scope of an official visit to Japan, the Parliament Speaker D.Demberel has worked in Kyoto and Hiroshima cities and then held a meeting with Kenji Hirata, the Speaker of Japan parliament's House of Councilors. Mr. Hirata underlined that the two countries will enter soon the strategic partnership ties. A joint memorandum was signed by the Mongolian President for establishing a strategic partnership between the two countries during a visit to Japan paid in 2010. Confirming a willingness to create the strategic partnership, the Speaker of Mongolia emphasized that the inter-parliamentary ties reflect a level of the bilateral partnership relations. Mr. Hirata said Japan thanks Mongolia and its people for giving donations and assistance to Japan during the devastating tsunami occurred in March this year. After this meeting, Mr. Demberel met with Takahiro Yokomichi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Mr. Demberel expressed his satisfaction with a successful development of the bilateral comprehensive partnership relations and hoped that it will elevate to the strategic partnership level. The two Speakers underlined that the Mongolia-Japan inter-parliamentary relations are running in a high-level. One of the highlight matters, raised during the visit, was an issue of the bid of selecting the investor for the Tavan tolgoi strategic deposit. Leaders of Japan's legislative bodies have expressed their confidence that Japan will participate in this project. In response, D.Demberel said the State Great Khural will support Japan in this matter and underlined it is important to pay attention to improvement of an intergovernmental mutual understanding. D.Demberel said Mongolia wants a support from Japan in becoming a member of both the ASEAN and the APEC, and pointed out Mongolia keeps its position to back Japan in seeking a permanent membership at the UN Security Council. After this, D.Demberel has visited the office of the House of Representatives. B.Khuder