Mongolia’s Prime Minister, Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, and International Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh arrived in Washington on Tuesday to fulfill with Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and different senior U.S. officers. This marks the primary official go to of a Mongolian PM to the US since 2018.
Oyun-Erdene on Wednesday stated that the nation will deepen cooperation with the US to mine uncommon earths. He warned that the world financial system would endure enormously from a “new Chilly Struggle” between the USA and China.
Mongolia has an abundance of uncommon earth metals and copper- supplies important for high-tech functions and protection gear. Mongolia’s uncommon earth reserves make up 16% of the world’s whole. These metals are additionally important for electrifying the auto market, as POTUS Joe Biden intends, to avert the local weather disaster.
What else was mentioned within the assembly?
Oyun-Erdene agreed to signal an “Open Skies” civil aviation settlement with the US, together with guarantees of accelerating financial cooperation.
The PM termed the US as its “necessary strategic third neighbour”. He stated that cooperation on uncommon earths with the US is already underway, and can be additional deepened underneath an MoU signed between Mongolia’s Ministry of Mining and Heavy Trade and the US State Division in June.
New chilly battle
China at the moment controls many of the world’s uncommon earth deposits. Mongolia hopes to have a very good relationship with China in addition to the US. Nonetheless, Mongolia is landlocked between China and Russia, regarding the PM concerning the penalties of superpower competitors.
Close to the fast tempo of technical development and international points like local weather change, Oyun-Erdene added, “I worry that the brand new Chilly Struggle will likely be very totally different and (extra) tough than the primary Chilly Struggle.” We “can’t stand up to a contemporary Chilly Struggle scenario”.
He urged main powers to “be extra accountable” to keep away from “drastic detrimental results on many international locations world wide, particularly the worldwide financial system.”
Different collaborations:
Mongolia is in talks with Elon Musk, TESLA CEO, over attainable funding within the electrical automobile sector and area. The PM wouldn’t be assembly with Musk throughout this go to, however has stated that he’s planning to go to California to fulfill trade leaders on a separate journey later.
Oyun-Erdene introduced up Musk’s curiosity in Mars, which the billionaire has acknowledged he desires to colonise. He added, “I inspired Mr. Elon Musk to conduct some analysis on this, and one attention-grabbing subject that I discussed with him was the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, which has the same setting to Mars”
Throughout his go to, Oyun-Erdene is scheduled to go to NASA and is anticipated to fulfill Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
USA: a guiding Polar Star
The Mongolian Prime Minister labelled the US because the “guiding Polar Star for our democratic journey”. He stated that his go to to the US would cowl discussions on methods to additional improve democratic values.
Mongolia shares a border with Russia, an adversary of the US. Based on Oyun-Erdene, Mongolia has suffered from the results of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine final 12 months, together with the inflation of products like mining explosives.
A part of the rationale that the Biden administration is emphasizing collaboration and cooperation with Asian international locations like Mongolia is to counter China’s “no-limits” partnership with Russia.