President Elbegdorj who is paying a State Visit to the Czech Republic, received Milan Stech, the President of the Senate of the Czech Republic. After having welcomed the President of Mongolia, Mr. Milan Stech made a short introduction about the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The Czech Parliament consists of two chambers, the Lower House - Chamber of Deputies and the Upper House - the Senate. The Senate has 81 members, every other year one third of them is re-elected.

The Senate can delay a proposed law which approved by the Chamber of Deputies. However, the Senate does not get to vote on the country budget. At the meeting, President Elbegdorj noted: “I would like to thank Mr. Milan Stech, the President of the Senate of the Czech Republic for the hospitality and warm welcome. This year marks the 65th Anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relationship between Mongolia and the Czech Republic. In 1990s Czechoslovakia was one of the biggest investors for Mongolia, including the Soviet Union. This testifies to the strong bilateral relations between our two countries. There are many Mongolian students who studied in your country.

Today I had a warm and constructive meeting with the President of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman. We have opportunities to develop our bilateral cooperation in economy, education, mining, infrastructure and many other sectors. Representatives of Mongolian private sector accompanied this visit will participate in the tomorrow’s Mongolia-Czech Business Forum, which will allow them to find business contacts”.

In response, President of the Senate, Mr. Milan Stech underlined: “I agree with your assessment of the bilateral relations and partnership between the two countries. Mongolia is a good partner for our country. The Czech Republic is one the three highly industrialized countries in Europe, and this assisted our country in successfully overcoming the transition period in 1990s. We managed to attract huge foreign investment, developing manufacturers of automobile parts and mining machinery.

Besides exporting products, the Czech companies and manufacturers are interested in opening their branches in the countries such as Mongolia. We also see Mongolia as a country with a positive investment environment. I hope that our private sectors will further contribute to the bilateral relations and cooperation of the two countries.

I think that we have opportunity to enhance inter-parliamentary cooperation. I would like to emphasize the importance of the mutual visits and in the last few years both countries have maintained frequent exchanges of visits on the parliamentary level.
We would like to pay particular attention to the cooperation in service, education and health sectors. Promoting the education we will be able to improve the people’s living”.