AKIPRESS.COM - Japan on Tuesday promised 545 million yen ($3.7 million) in grant aid to Mongolia to help improve the infrastructure of the strategically key nation sandwiched between China and Russia, The Mainichi reported.

Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and his Mongolian counterpart Batmunkh Battsetseg signed related documents after their talks in Tokyo, where they reaffirmed continued collaboration on the issue of Japanese abductees taken by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.

"It has become more important for Japan and Mongolia to step up cooperation as special strategic partners for peace and prosperity," Iwaya said at the meeting. Battsetseg called boosting relations with Japan "one of the top priorities" of her nation's foreign policy.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry said 275 million yen will be provided to deliver air pollution monitors, while 270 million yen will be earmarked for equipment to develop the sewerage system.

Japan has been beefing up defense and economic ties with Mongolia, a landlocked country heavily dependent on China and Russia in terms of trade and energy, in recent years.

Japan has decided to provide the Mongolian military an air traffic control radar system worth 1.3 billion yen in the first provision under Tokyo's "official security assistance" program launched in 2023 to support like-minded states.

Mongolia, which maintains a friendly relationship with North Korea, has served as a mediator over the abduction issue. Tokyo and Pyongyang have no diplomatic ties.