The President of Russia expressed his satisfaction with the consistent development of bilateral relations. Specifically, he noted that the economic cooperation between Russia and Mongolia is showing positive trends.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends, a warm welcome to all of you.
It is a pleasure to have this meeting with you. For the second year in a row, you are personally leading the delegation at the Eastern Economic Forum. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude.
I would like to point out that these relations between our countries are developing progressively on the basis of decisions taken earlier. Overall, we are satisfied with the progress.
In 2017, trade increased by 46.9 percent, and by another 27.6 percent over the first six months of this year. Last year, the scope of transit container shipping through Mongolia using the Ulaanbaatar railway grew almost threefold. Overall, I would like to repeat that our cooperation is showing positive trends. I am happy to have this opportunity to have this meeting with you and to speak about our economic cooperation, along with other spheres.
President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga (retranslated): Mr President, I am happy to have this opportunity to meet with you and our Russian colleagues at the Eastern Economic Forum.
I am certain the Eastern Economic Forum will open up new opportunities for economic cooperation in the Far East and for Northeast Asia in general. I wish the forum every success.
Our countries and nations traditionally have special friendly relations tested by time. Relations with Russia are a priority for Mongolia. We support developing our strategic partnership as well as enriching it with more content.
For example, during the previous Eastern Economic Forum, you and I agreed to hold a number of events as part of the 2018 Mongolian-Russian initiative and the agreement was implemented last June in Ulaanbaatar. D
uring that event, our countries signed an intergovernmental agreement on the terms of transit railway cargo operations, an important agreement for our strategic partnership.
The signing of this agreement has opened up new cooperation opportunities and I would like to express my gratitude to you, Mr President.
I am glad to inform you that in the course of expanding cooperation with Russia’s Far East, we plan to open a trade mission in Vladivostok.
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