L.BOLD MEETS FOREIGN MINISTERS OF NEW ZEALAND AND SINGAPORE

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia /MONTSAME/ Accompanying the State Head at the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit, the Minister of Foreign Affairs L.Bold met on Monday with his counterpart from New Zealand Mr Murray McCully in Vientiane, Laos. The two Ministers shared views on the Mongolia-New Zealand cooperation and the collaboration within the United Nations (UN), and presented to each other their foreign policies and economic situations. The New Zealand's side said the two countries have an opportunity to cooperate in the agricultural sector which plays a main role in the both countries' economies. Mr McCully invited the Mongolian Foreign Minister to New Zealand. In response, L.Bold talked about Mongolia's chairmanship of the Community of Democracies (CoD), and then invited the FM of New Zealand to participate in the 7th Ministerial Conference of the CoD scheduled on July 29 of 2013 in Ulaanbaatar. The same day, L.Bold met with Ms Grace Fu, the Second Foreign Minister for the Environment and Water Resources of Singapore. They have shared views on the bilateral cooperation. L.Bold put forward a proposal to establish a permanent mechanism for the bilateral cooperation, and then affirmed that Ms Fu has been invited to pay a visit to Mongolia. He expressed thanks to the Singaporean side for implementing technical assistance programmes in Mongolia, and requested Ms Fu to study an opportunity to augment scholarships for Mongolian students. In addition, the FM noted that Mongolia is adhering to a policy on actively participating in the political and economic integration of Asian region. Affirming that the Mongolian side wants to become a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and to take part in the East Asia Summit (EAS), L.Bold requested Singapore to support Mongolia in these works. B.Khuder