Mongolia
India and Mongolia share traditional, historic, civilizational, and cultural ties. India established diplomatic relations with Mongolia on 24 December 1955. The relationship was elevated to Strategic Partnership during the visit of Prime Minister Modi in 2015, which was the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the Country. Mongolia considers India as a third and a spiritual neighbour.
Cooperation to tackle the challenge of COVID-19 Pandemic
- At the request of the Mongolian government, India became the first country to gift 150,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Mongolian February 2021.
Capacity Building & Other Exchanges
- Every year about 200 ITEC scholarship slots for civilian training programme are being offered to Mongolia. Since 2015-16, about 899 scholarships have been utilized. Since resumption of physical ITEC courses in post-pandemic period from July 2022, 149 lots have been utilized for FY 2022-2023. Prominent special capacity building programmes that have been organized for Mongolian dignitaries & high government officials in recent years include
- 20 officials of NEMA in Nov 2017-Feb 2018
- 13 State Secretaries at IIPA New Delhi in March 2018
- 25 Mongolian diplomats and former Ambassadors attended a tailor-made course at FSI, New Delhi Oct 2019
- 18 Provincial Governors and 7 high officials led by the then Chief Cabinet Secretary Mr Oyun Erdene (now PM) attended a special course in Public Governance at IIM, Indore in Jan 2020.
- 20 Engineers/Technicians of Mongol Refinery for special group course in Refinery Operations and Maintenance completed in Feb 2020
- 30 Mongolian Rural Women attended Solar Energy course at NISE Nov 2022
- 14 Mongolian diplomats and senior officials attended the 2nd tailor-made course at SSIFS, New Delhi, in October 2023.
- About 60 scholarships from ICCR are being offered to Mongolia every year, including 10 slots dedicated for Buddhism studies in India. The scholarships include courses for under-graduate, post-graduate and PhD studies in India. Since post pandemic resumption of ICCR scholarship in 2022-2023, about 77 applicants had applied for scholarships in FY2022-23.
- Under grant-in-aid from India, Rajiv Gandhi Polytechnic College for Production & Art (RGPCPA) was inaugurated in Mongolia in 1996, including a Vocational Training Centre with skill building and training facilities in 8 fields. To keep pace with the changing technologies and local requirements, the vocational courses have been upgraded and modernized in 2 phases at a total grant of about USD 2.84 million during 2014-16.
- The GoI LOC of USD 1 billion was announced during Hon’ble PM’s visit to Mongolia in 2015. The LOC is being utilised for setting up of Mongolia’s first petro-chemical refinery. The additional LOC of USD 236 million was sanctioned in September 2019. This is the largest project being undertaken by GoI in Mongolia. The said project is under progress.
Development Cooperation (Grants/ LoCs/ Assistance)
- India is constructing an Oil Refinery in Mongolia under Exim Bank’s Line of Credit of USD 1.236 billion. This would be the first-ever oil refinery in Mongolia and would contribute immensely towards the energy security and economic development of Mongolia. It will have the capacity to process 1.5 million tons of crude oil per year and is also expected to boost Mongolia's GDP by up to 10 per cent. This is also India’s single largest Line of Credit project being undertaken abroad.
- India is establishing Atal Bihari Vajpayee Centre of Excellence in IT, Communications and Outsourcing under Line of Credit worth USD 20 million in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Its construction started in Aug 2021 and expected to be completed in 2024. Upon completion, this Centre would boost Indian IT Technology sector in Mongolia by providing local training in 16 specialized tailor made IT courses to over 1000 IT professionals in Mongolia besides generating about 850+ jobs.
- An India-Mongolia Friendship Secondary School is under construction in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, under grant-aid from Government of India. The construction is expected to be completed in 2025.
- A solar energy electrification project, with India’s assistance, was executed and formally inaugurated in April 2006 in Dadal Soum District, Khentii province of Mongolia, at a cost of around US$ 100,000. Another project of solar energy electrification of the building of Mongolia’s Foreign Ministry is in the pipeline.
- A Cyber Security Training Centre, fully funded by Government of India, has been established in the Mongolian Ministry of Defence in September 2022, which would give boost to Indian cyber technology in Mongolia.
- A Command and Control Centre is being upgraded with the assistance of Government of India in Mongolia’s General Authority for Border Protection in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
- Humanitarian assistance worth USD 20,000 in the form of beds, bedrolls, toys, etc for the children of herders in Sukhbaatar Aimag (severely affected by harsh winter 'Zud') was provided.
- Humanitarian assistance worth USD 50,000 was provided by the Government of India to the flood affected Provinces (Bayan Ulgii, Arhangai and Huvsgul) of Mongolia in August 2018.
- A team of Indian doctors undertook two medical missions to Mongolia in August 2017 and May 2019, respectively, and conducted several hundreds of surgeries in the fields of neurosurgery, microsurgery, anaesthesiology, audiology, plastic surgery, etc., and donated medical equipment/medicines worth USD 42,000 to various Mongolian hospitals. They also trained Mongolian doctors.
- India is in the process of constructing the India-Mongolia Friendship Secondary School at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia for an amount of US$ 5.46 million through grant-in-aid assistance. Once operational, India will also be providing soft assistance in the form of capacity building.
