Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ As invited by the President of Mongolia, the President of the Republic of Korea, H.E. Ms Park Geun-hye attended the ASEM11 Summit and is paying an official visit to Mongolia on July 17 and 18.

So, the Presidents Ts.Elbegdorj and Park Geun-hye met once again after two months, held official talks and exchanged views on wide range of issues concerning regional and international cooperation.

It is expected that the President Park Geun-hye's visit will make huge contribution to strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, deepening political dialogues, intensifying economic cooperation and encouraging people-to-people connections.

The President of Mongolia extended deepest gratitude to the Government of Republic of Korea for active support through non-refundable aid in organization of the ASEM Summit.

The heads of state unanimously emphasized the importance of increasing trade and investment volume and developing mutually-complementary and beneficial economic ties. They noted that the Mongolia-Korea joint committee on economy will play a key role in achieving such goals, and agreed to further take active parts in intensifying the committee's activities and in establishing effective mechanism of cooperation.

Official aid and soft loans from the Government of the Republic of Korea have been making its share of contributions to Mongolia's development. With this visit, the sides have agreed to launch projects on construction of Natural History Museum, Joint College of Information Technology and on sending engineering specialists to S.Korea for professional training.

As a part of the visit, the two sides signed more than 20 cooperation documents. For instance, the Korea Economic Development Co-operation Fund inked an agreement on implementing project "Smart Education" with the financing of soft loan of 19.6 million USD. In the scope of the project, smart cabinets are expected to open in secondary schools, the teaching methodologies improved and smart technologies to be utilized in teaching lessons, and capacity building of teachers. Also, 25 million USD loan from EDCF will enable the implementation of Phase II of Project on Inter - State and -City Public Transport. In its scope, Mongolia will receive 200 buses for intercity shuttle (As for the Phase I of the project, 43 buses have been delivered to Mongolia for ASEM events' organization, with the soft loan from the S.Korean ExIm Bank). Notwithstanding the improved public transport services, the project is expected to help improve maintenance of public vehicles and sophistication of transportation routes. 

The sides also inked documents on cultural cooperation, tackling desertification, collaboration in energy, healthcare and information technology areas. These documents, while opening new rooms for bilateral relations, affords huge opportunities to increase investment.

As for air relations, regular flights have been commenced since last June between Ulaanbaatar and Pusan which helps largely to boost tourism.

Moreover, the Mongolian side reiterated its request to the S.Korean Government on enlarging the number of Mongolian students to benefit from Korean government grants and scholarships which is conducive to broadening bilateral relations in education and culture and alleviating travel conditions for Mongolian nationals travelling to Korea.

As a country located in the North East Asian region, Mongolia reaffirmed its firm stand in favor of  nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula, for security and peace in the region and commitment to utilize every means of dialogues and diplomacy. The Mongolian side also applauded the S.Korean effort and consistent participation in the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue, which aims at building trust and strengthening regional understanding.

During the visit, Speaker of Mongolian parliament M.Enkhbold and the Prime Minister J.Erdenebat will pay courtesy calls on President Park Geun-hye. The latter will attend the Mongolia-S.Korea business forum, and have a meeting with the S.Korean nationals living in Mongolia as well.