On July 24, 2014, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird paid an official visit to Mongolia at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, Luvsanvandan Bold. This is the first bilateral visit of a Canadian Foreign Minister to Mongolia. The two Ministers had a warm and constructive meeting and reaffirmed the close and growing “Expanded Partnership” between the two countries over the past four decades.

The Ministers emphasized that Canada and Mongolia are intent on building an enduring and intensifying relationship embracing a set of like-minded regional and global security concerns, and based on our shared values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. They further underscored their resolve that the existing linkages evolve into a comprehensive partnership within which we will continue to work together for peace, security and good global governance.

Minister Bold reaffirmed Canada’s status as a key “third neighbour” for Mongolia and an important partner in North America. Minister Baird underlined that the Government of Canada has demonstrated its long-term bilateral commitment by recently designating Mongolia as a Country of Focus for development assistance.

In this context, the goal of this bilateral development cooperation will be to help Mongolia stimulate sustainable economic growth, by strengthening public service capacity, particularly the management of natural resources.

Both Ministers expressed satisfaction with the on-going cooperation in other areas of mutual interest, in particular, rural and urban development, judicial reform and policing capacity in Mongolia.

The two Ministers noted that trade and investment continue to be a critical elements of the bilateral relationship. Canada is a top-tier investor in Mongolia and as a reflection of that, the Government of Canada has designated Mongolia as a priority country in its Global Markets Action Plan. The Ministers welcomed the renewal of FIPA (Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement) negotiations and expressed confidence that a comprehensive accord can be concluded.  A comprehensive bilateral FIPA will help, they agreed, in establishing a secure and predictable framework for bilateral investment ties to grow.

On the international stage, Mongolia and Canada are joint members of a number of international organizations. Canada has been a strong and consistent supporter of Mongolia’s successful efforts to join such fora as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Mongolia and Canada are also partners in NATO and the Community of Democracies. Minister Baird reiterated that Canada will continue to support Mongolia more directly in the area of peace and security under the auspices of Canada’s Military Training and Cooperation Programme.

Both Ministers underscored the significance of promoting people to people contacts which will complement the long-term development of bilateral relations.

Emphasizing the importance of education for each country and underlining the fruitful cooperation which exists between educational institutions, both sides affirmed their commitment to further promote such cooperation. Furthermore, Minister Bold expressed interest in increasing the number of Mongolians studying in Canada.

The Ministers noted with satisfaction that last year, the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, was marked by significant strengthening of bilateral cooperation through high-level exchanges and inter-parliamentary contacts.