ABOUT MONGOLIA-OSCE COOPERATION

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Mongolia became a partner for cooperation of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) by a decision of the 12th Conference of Ministerial Council which was held December of 2004 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Upon becoming such a partner, Mongolia thoroughly studied the OSCE activities and began actively participating in its various meetings such as sessions of the Ministerial and Permanent Councils, Economic Forum and Conference for Partner States. The OSCE Secretary-General Mr Marc Perrin de Brichambaut paid an official visit to Mongolia October 8-10 of 2006 by invitation of that times' President N.Enkhbayar. This visit significantly contributed to forwarding of the Mongolia-OSCE cooperation. A group of experts--Mr Eoin O'Leary, the Permanent Representative of Ireland to the OSCE, and Mr Lamberto Zannier, the current OSCE Secretary-General--paid a working visit in last year's June in order to study opportunities for the country to become a Participating State. Mongolia became the 57th participating State of the OSCE on November 21 of 2012. It was announced by Eamon Gilmore, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ireland's Deputy PM and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, during the meeting of the OSCE Standing Council on November 22 of 2012. The Minister of Foreign Affairs L.Bold participated in the 19th Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council on December 6-7 of 2012 in Dublin, Ireland. This was the very first participation of Mongolia in the meeting since becoming the OSCE Participating State. Rightly after this, the State Great Khural became a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE. On January 30 of 2013, the Mongolia-OSCE inter-parliamentary group was set up at the State Great Khural headed by Batchimeg MP and having R.Amarjargal, S.Oyun and N.Enkhbold MPs as members. B.Khuder