AKIPRESS.COM - Prime Minister of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh has expressed the Government’s commitment to bolster Mongolia-India cooperation in defense, agriculture, tourism, health, education and information technology areas, Montsame reports.

The Prime Minister today received Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs of India, who is visiting Mongolia, and emphasized the importance Mongolia attaches to its relationship with India, an important regional partner and a third neighbor. The Prime Minister stressed how the historic visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mongolia in 2015 helped elevate bilateral ties to a new level.

The Prime Minister appreciated the successful organization of the 6th Meeting of the Mongolia-India Joint Committee, while acknowledging the importance of the meeting in reviewing the current state of bilateral cooperation and determining the directions of further economic, trade, cultural, scientific and technical cooperation.

Prime Minister Khurelsukh also touched upon the Oil Refinery Project, which will be implemented with $1 billion soft loan from the Government of India, requesting assistance in reducing the total cost of the project and seeking the possibility of carrying the project out within the soft loan.

For her part, Minister Sushma Swaraj informed that the matter of intensification of the project had been discussed at her meeting with Foreign Minister D.Tsogtbaatar, while adding that successful implementation of the project is a priority for the Indian Government as well.

The Prime Minister expressed Mongolia’s confidence that India will take an active part in the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which will be held on July 3-6 in Ulaanbaatar.