The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia is attending the APEC Ministerial Meeting in Bali, Indonesia on October 4th and 5th, at the invitation of the Government of Indonesia which currently holds APEC Chairmanship. This is the first time that Mongolia has been invited to a high-level APEC meeting since it submitted its official request for membership in 1993.

At a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, the Minister thanked Indonesia for inviting Mongolia to join the high-level APEC meeting and the two exchanged views on bilateral relations and multilateral and regional cooperation issues.

The visit of the Mongolian Foreign Minister is an important step for Mongolia towards joining APEC as a member economy. Natalewa assured that Indonesia will support Mongolia in joining APEC.

Affiliation with the influential organization, operating not only in regional but global economic cooperation, is one of the priority objectives set forth for Mongolian foreign policy by an administration targeting participation in the Asia-Pacific regional integration process and consolidating its position in the region.

In recent years, no country that has applied for APEC membership has been invited to the high-level APEC meeting. Mongolia is the only nation to be invited to the ministerial meeting as a guest.