SWISS FEDERATION FM PAYS COURTESY CALL ON PRESIDENT OF MONGOLIA
Visitшng Mongolia at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia D.Tsogtbaatar, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Federation Ignazio Cassis paid today a courtesy call on President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga.
The latter welcomed the guest in the Ceremonial Ger Palace and discussed about some development cooperation projects administered by Switzerland.
Beginning the meeting, Mr. Ignazio Cassis expressed gratitude for the President’s time and said “I am visiting Mongolia for the first time both as an individual and a Foreign Minister. This is also my first visit to a country outside of Europe. Thank you for the warm welcome.”
President Battulga wished Mr. Cassis a convenient stay in Mongolia. “First of all, I would like to thank the Swiss Federation for its assistance to Mongolia during its time of transition, which was the difficult time for Mongolia. Since 2012, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has been implementing the project on better communication between the people and the Government. Thanks to this, there are about 500 Citizen’s Chambers around the country today. The prpoject cost SDC approximately USD 11 million. Mongolia has a large territory and insufficient infrastructure. It is in our interest to continue this project, because Citizen’s Chambers help connect citizens living 2,000 kilometers away from the capital city with the central authorities, and to strengthen these chambers,” he said.
Mr. Ignazio Cassis underlined that Mongolia is a young democracy and said “According to the plan approved by the SDC, the projects up until 2021 are focusing on promoting good governance, agricultural development and protection of environment. We have been maintaining development cooperation with Mongolia for more than 20 years. Our cooperation is also multilateral. In the future, our interest is to broaden the economic collaboration.”
Expressing willingness to promote close cooperation in learning practices of Switzerland of military structure and management, The President asked the Swiss FM to touch on this matter during the talks with his Mongolian counterpart.
Mr. Ignazio Cassis extended gratitude to President Battulga for the latter’s high recognition of the Swiss Federation’s defense sector and promised to convey the message to the affiliated minister of Switzerland.
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