Meeting between Mr. Katsuya Okada, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Dashdorj Zorigt, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy of Mongolia

1. Mr. Katsuya Okada, Minister for Foreign Affairs, held talks with Mr. Dashdorj Zorigt, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy of Mongolia, for about 20 minutes on July 29 (Thu) from 3:55 p.m. at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Minister Zorigt is visiting Japan at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

2. At the start of the meeting, Minister Okada welcomed Minister Zorigt to Japan. He then stated that the advancement of bilateral economic relations was important to the strategic development of Japan and Mongolia's "comprehensive partnership," and that Japan had strong interest and high expectations for the development of Mongolia's rich mineral resources, especially the realization of participation by Japanese companies in the development of the Tavan Tolgoi coal mine.

3. In response, Minister Zorigt expressed words of gratitude for the consistent support of the Japanese Government and of the people of Japan for the development of Mongolia since its democratization. He also stated that in regard to mineral resource development in Mongolia, Japan was a "third neighboring country" to Mongolia, and that in order to build a mutually beneficial relationship with Japan, which has state-of-the-art technology, there was no change in Mongolia's policy of supporting the participation of Japanese companies.

4. The two ministers expressed high regard for the first meeting of the Joint Public-Private Research on a Japan-Mongolia Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) which was held in June in Ulaanbaatar. They agreed to cooperate in order for the research to move smoothly and swiftly toward the start of negotiations for the EPA.

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