His Excellency, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Tuvaan Tsevegdorj & Madam, Hon’ble Members of Parliament of Mongolia, Ambassadors and members of diplomatic corps, distinguished guests, Indian citizens and Friends. My personal thanks to the Hon’ble Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources & Madam for honouring us with their gracious presence.
It is my proud privilege to welcome you all to the celebration of the 78th Independence Day of India. It was on 15 August 1947 when India got Independence from the British Colonial Rule under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.
India is the largest democracy in the world with a population of 1.4 billion. India has 22 official languages, 28 Provinces and each province has its own attire and food culture. India is a nation of Unity in Diversity. where people profess various religions like Hinduism, Christianity Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Jews, Parsis etc.
Currently, India is the fifth largest economy in the world, and very soon India will become the third largest economy globally. India is cruising ahead towards the US$ 5 Trillion economy. Indian stock markets are booming due to the strong fundamentals of the economy, stability and continuity of the government and the future growth prospects. It is the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a developed country by the year 2047 when we complete 100 years of our Independence.
Today, due to India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and modern Digital Public Infrastructure, the ease of living has increased, and transfer of money from one place to another has become easier. I am happy to inform you that as per the World Bank report India is the leading country in the World with respect to remittance. India is receiving annually US$ 125billion from the 30million strong Indian Diaspora spread all across the World. India is making impressive progress in the fields of Space, IT, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, e-commerce, E-vehicles, Solar energy, housing, infrastructure etc. Every Day 23 Km of State of the art National Highway is being constructed. India has the largest Mobile Phones producing factory in the world.
In today’s era, both energy security and energy transition are crucial for the economy and ecology and India is trying to meet both the ends with proper planning and budgeting. Inclusive economic growth cutting across all sections of the society as enshrined in the Constitution of India is assisting to rapidly bring out large sections of the population out of poverty.
India and Mongolia are both democratic countries. Respect for Liberty, Equality, Pluralism, and the rule of law are our shared values. Both countries successfully completed their Parliamentary elections recently. In the election that concluded a couple of months ago in India, more than 650 million people cast their votes. It was the largest democratic exercise in the history of mankind.
India and Mongolia are strategic partners, third neighbours and Spiritual Brothers. The bilateral ties stand on the pillars of 4 Ds i.e. Democracy, Dharma (Religion), Development Partnership & Digital Development. The trajectory of our relations took momentous turn after the visit of Prime Minister of India Mr Narendra Modi in May 2015 when several MoUs for cooperation in various sectors were signed. The bilateral friendly relations are multifaceted . I will enlist few sectors and the latest developments in them.
a) Oil Refinery Project: The Oil Refinery Project which is being constructed with Indian soft loan of USD 1.236 Billion at Dornogobi is progressing well. The first phase of the project is already over and is being handed over to the Mongol Refinery. The other phases are progressing as per schedule. The Project once completed by 2026 end or early 2027 will ensure energy security of Mongolia and generate thousands of job opportunities for the Mongolian Nationals.
b) Culture Relations: Our historical cultural ties have deep civilizational linkages through Buddhism. The 100 sets (108 volumes each) of the sacred Mongolian Kanjur were re-printed and distributed to various Monasteries in Mongolia a couple of years ago. 50 new sets of Kanjur are being reprinted in India and they would be distributed soon to various Buddhist Monasteries. Hundreds of Buddhist monks and scholars regularly visit India to various places related to Buddhism and to attend important conferences on Buddhism. The Holy relics of Lord Buddha were brought to Mongolia as a special gesture from India in 2022. We are planning to bring the holy relics of Lord Buddha’s disciples (Shariputra and Modgalyana) to Mongolia next year.
On 21 July every year the International Yoga Day is celebrated in a big way in association with Mongolian Yoga Federation. I am happy that Yoga is extremely popular in Mongolia and it is assisting thousands of Mongolians to achieve holistic health.
c) Defence Cooperation: The 12th Joint Working Group on Defence meeting was held in Ulaanbaatar (May 2024) to enhance cooperation in the field of defence. India is regularly participating in the KHAAN QUEST multi-national peacekeeping exercises in Mongolia. This year with a contingent of 40 Indian troops, India was one of the largest contributors in the Khaan Quest which concluded on 08 August 2024. I am satisfied to note that this year the Mongolian Military contingent participated in big number at the annual Nomadic Elephant bilateral military exercises which were held in India in July 2024. India supported the establishment of Cyber Security Training Centre for Mongolian Armed Forces (at National Defence University) in 2022 and is regularly contributing two officers from Indian Army to training Mongolian Army officers in the Cyber Security field. India provided also provided substantial grant for infrastructure development (Servers) of the Command and Control Centre of General Agency for Border Protection (GABP).
d) Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC): I am happy that every year around 150-200 Mongolian citizens are going to India on fully funded short-term scholarships in various fields like IT, English language, accounting, women empowerment, finance, defence, etc. This initiative has helped to have technical capacity building partnership between India and Mongolia. I am confident that more Mongolian citizens will utilize this programme for capacity building through training.
e) Educational cooperation, and ICCR and other scholarships: India has provided a grant of US$5.277 million to construct a high school – India Mongolia Friendship School in the Zaisan area of Ulaanbaatar. The initial work has already started. The school is likely to be inaugurated in September 2026. It is heartening to note that from several years every year around 40 Mongolian students are availing ICCR scholarships to study engineering, humanity, Law, economics, language courses at Undergraduate, Post Graduate and Master’s / Phd level in India. I am happy to inform you that the Indian alumni network in Mongolia is strong and the alumni are working at middle and senior management levels in various sectors.
f) Information Technology (IT): The co-operation in the field of IT between India and Mongolia is growing. With a soft loan of US$20 million from India, an advanced IT Centre at the Mongolian University of Science & Technology (Bayanzurkh District) in Ulaanbaatar is being constructed. The centre is expected to completed in next 6 months and it would provide the state of art IT training to nearly 800 students every year. This will help to generate employment for hundreds of Mongolian youth.
g) Mining: Indian companies are interested to source coking coal, copper and other minerals like gold from Mongolia. Both sides are working to have ways and means to solve the logistics issues involved in transporting the minerals to India. The routes through Russia and China are being explored. This will help to boost the bilateral trade between the two countries. Indian Companies can play an important role in exploration of oil and other important minerals.
g) Our bilateral co-operation at the UN and other international fora is also going on strength to strength
h) Medical Tourism and Pharmaceuticals: Several Mongolian nationals visit India to get economical and best medical treatment for various ailments. The Indian Medicines could be seen in several pharmacy stores. We plan to further expand this sector in future.
Next year, India and Mongolia will be celebrating the 70th year of the establishment of Diplomatic Ties. The celebrations would involve several mutually agreed initiatives and programmes.
I have always believed that relationships between two countries are not built by governments alone. People's participation is crucial in strengthening these relationships. The people to people contact between the two countries is contributing immensely to the strengthening of the bilateral relations. We plan to further strengthen this people to people connect though enhancement of Tourism both ways.
I once again congratulate all Indian Nationals on the occasion of the Independence Day and thank you all for joining the celebrations today. Long Live the friendship between India and Mongolia .
Thank you/ Bayarlla
