On September 24, 2014, President of Mongolia Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj held several bilateral meetings. At the meeting with President of the Republic of Hungary, Janos Ader, President Elbegdorj emphasized that next year Mongolia and Hungary will celebrate 65th Anniversary of the establishment of the mutual diplomatic relations and underlined the traditional and historical ties between the two countries. The parties discussed opportunities to educate students and undertake joint research for the students from the two countries. Hungary is considered as a center for Mongolian studies in Europe. Also, President Elbegdorj expressed his gratitude that Hungary is set to reopen its Embassy in Ulaanbaatar.

President of Hungary remembered that President Elbegdorj co-chaired the Water Management discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos and delivered an interesting speech about the tradition of Mongolian nomadic culture. Mr. Janos Ader expressed Hungary’s readiness to share its experience in biotechnology sector and interest to cooperate with Mongolia in developing and modernizing the Biokombinat factory. Following the Asian-European High-Level Meeting, President Elbegdorj will pay a working visit to Hungary on October 17, 2014, and share detailed conversation on issues of bilateral relations.

Then, President Elbegdorj held a meeting with President of the Republic of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves. In terms of population, Estonia is similar to Mongolia and is considered one of the leading countries in e-governance. President Elbegdorj expressed Mongolia’s interest to learn from Estonia’s experience in e-governance, noting the opportunities to enhance bilateral cooperation in information technology sector. Also, President Elbegdorj expressed his interest to bring Estonia’s oil shale technology to Mongolia.

In a response, President of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves noted that Estonia is developing the oil shale technology for over 100 years and now about 85 percent of Estonia’s electricity is generated by oil shale and shale gas accounts for about 50 percent of gas consumption of the country. Previously held by Estonia, the chairmanship of Freedom Online Coalition passed on to Mongolia. Estonia wished Mongolia, as holding the chairmanship of the FOC, to make effort to attract more Asian countries to the FOC. Also, both sides discussed opportunities to initiate the UN resolution on online freedom.

President of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves will attend the next Freedom Online Coalition conference, scheduled on 4 and 5 May, 2015, in Mongolia.