PRIME MINISTER MEETS U.S GENERAL GREGSON

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, /MONTSAME/ The Prime Minister S.Batbold received Friday a Lieutenant General Wallace C.Gregson, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia-Pacific affairs.
Beginning the meeting, the Premier noted that the Mongolia-USA cooperation have been developing in frames of the bilateral comprehensive partnership in strengthening democracy and in humanitarian, trade, economics, education and defense sectors. Mr. Batbold emphasized that the cooperation at international arena has been widening as well.
“Today, the Mongolian troops are running peacekeeping operations in hot spots of the world. Mongolia has been cooperating with the USA in ensuring international regional security. We are able to widen our cooperation in strengthening the security in Asia-Pacific region,” stressed Mr. Batbold.
The Premier confirmed that the “Khaan Quest” joint field exercises, started in 2004, is one of the important parts of the bilateral cooperation in the defense sector. These field exercises have a vital importance in improving skills of Mongolian servicemen and their capability of collaborating with international armed forces,” Mr. Batbold said adding that the “Khaan Quest” exercises aim to strengthen military confidence and understanding among regional countries.
In response, Mr. Gregson highly spoke a level of the Mongolia-USA relations including the cooperation in defense sector, and underlined that role of Mongolia in the global peacekeeping activities has reached international standards.
Mr. Gregson expressed a willingness to continue the cooperation with Mongolia in strengthening and developing the military sector and in ensuring the international and regional security.
B.Khuder