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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in the Mongolian capital on April 14 to discuss bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Within the framework of the official visit, the Russian minister met with his Mongolian counterpart Lundegiin Purevsuren, Prime Minister Chimediin Saikhanbileg and President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj.

His visit Sergey Lavrov concluded by a lecture to the Mongolian government officials, diplomats and experts. After Mongolia, the Russian minister is expected in Japan.

The key issue in the meeting agenda was the economic and trade cooperation. In this context, the Mongolian side stated that it expects the ruble loan from Russia, as debt of $ 174.2 million was written off.

- The ruble loan will help to eliminate the imbalance. Central banks of our countries almost completed technical talks on a swap agreement - Purevsuren said.

Russian minister agreed with his counterpart noting that there are no barriers to restore credit relations.

- There are no legal obstacles to the reopening of credit relations - Lavrov said. - In February 2016, a federal law was ratified regulating all issues related to the debt of Mongolia.

On January 22, 2016, the State Duma ratified the agreement between the Russian Federation and Mongolia to write off 98% of the debt.

Both sides said that the relations between our countries are based on the traditional good neighbor relations. Despite the fact that the turnover in 2015 decreased by 23% due to the unfavorable market conditions, there is still high interest in the trade and economic cooperation. In this context, parties focused on "Erdenet", "Mongolrostsvetmet" and "Ulaanbaatar Railway", JVs of two countries.

The Russian minister said that the projects are "the pillars of relations between the two sides."

- And Mongolian, and Russian participation in these joint ventures were built on coordinated, mutually beneficial relationship to increase profit. These projects were created, when our countries both were practicing centralized, planned economy. Now, Mongolia, and Russia are countries with a market economy. You have to consider the new reality - said the Russian minister. – and we are continuing to look for optimal models of such cooperation, taking into the consideration unfavorable competitive markets.

Sergey Lavrov said that the joint venture "Erdenet" still gives 20% of its revenues to the treasury of Mongolia.

Also during the talks Ministers discussed development plans for cooperation in energy, transport and tourism sectors.

Earlier it was reported that Russia will hand over reports on geological studies in its territory, conducted during the Soviet era to Mongolia. This decision was made in March 2016 during the session of Mongolian-Russian intergovernmental commission on trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation.

Data transfer shall add more information the national fund of mineral resources and attract investment in the mining sector of Mongolia, in what Moscow is interested. Rosneft has stated in 2014 about the possibility of development in the field of oil exploration and production projects in the territory of Mongolia.

However, according to Chairman of the Presidium of the Academy of East Asian Yury Kruchkin, Russia had missed the most important projects with Mongolia, in particular, cooperation in the coal industry.

- Now there is a need to improve the railway (Ulaanbaatar -. "News"). At the moment it is single track and it’s not electrified. China proposes to finance the construction of the second track, - he told "Izvestiya" - There are also projects for the transmission of electricity from Russia to China through Mongolia. Projects for the construction of an oil and a gas pipeline are still remaining.

According to the expert, there is no space in Mongolia for Russian large businesses though there are huge opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses.

- When visa regime was cancelled between the two countries, virtually every large village here got stores full of Russian goods. Last year, Buryatia has benefited a lot because of the relationship with Mongolia, - Kruchkin said.

During the talks, the Russian minister raised the issue of tourism. According to Yuri Kruchkin, there is a very unique feature, with or without visa senior officials from Russia enjoy to come to Mongolia.

- Chubais, Friedman pleased to come here. They travel to the Gobi Desert, the northern part of Lake Hovsgol. There is no connection, so you can relax from the hustle and bustle, - said the expert. - Very easy to set double purpose tours - for example, Mongolia plus China. It is much easier to fly from Mongolia to South Korea, China, Thailand.

From Mongolia Sergei Lavrov traveled to Japan, where he is scheduled to meet with the Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.

Tatiana Baykova, Ulaanbaatar

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Монгол эхийг унших бол энд дарж орно уу