Ulaanbaatar
Mongolia’s participation in peacekeeping operation discussed
Politics
Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/
MP and Defense Minister N.Enkhbold is taking part in 2019 Peacekeeping
Ministerial Conference, being held today, March 29, at the UN Headquarters in
New York.
On the
sidelines of his attendance in the conference, Defense Minister N.Enkhbold held
meetings with Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres and Under-Secretary-General
for Peacekeeping Operations Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, exchanging views on certain issues including future
prospects and possibilities of Mongolia’s participation in peacekeeping
operations.
Praising
skills of Mongolian peacekeepers, Mr. Antonio Guterres expressed his support
for Minister N. Enkhbold’s proposal on sending more specialized military
personnel and facilities to peacekeeping operations. He also suggested the
Minister to study about triple relations and cooperation that target to resolve
Mongolia’s limited potential of military equipment and facilities and financial
issues with support of other donor countries.
Mongolia first
joined United Nations peacekeeping in 2002 with the deployment of two military
observers to the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara. Since then, more than 11,000 Mongolian peacekeepers
have served in UN missions around the world.
Today,
Mongolia deploys nearly 900 peacekeepers to five UN peacekeeping operations –
in South Sudan, Abyei, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Western
Sahara. Mongolia has
risen to become the 27th largest contributor to UN peacekeeping.
Moreover,
Minister N.Enkhbold met with the Minister of National Defense of Canada and Vice
Defense Minister of Vietnam respectively, exchanging views on bilateral
cooperation in defense sector.
