India to host Mongolian Foreign Minister Lundeg Purevsuren

NEW DELHI: It is not just the Uyghur card that is drawing sharp reaction from China. Stepping up engagement in China's neigbourhood, Delhi is hosting the Mongolian foreign minister this week in back to back high-level engagement following Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's recent visit to Ulan Bator, initiatives that Beijing will closely monitor.

Less than a year after the first Indian prime ministerial visit to Mongolia, its Foreign Minister Lundeg Purevsuren is expected in Delhi in the coming week as Delhi looks to expand strategic partnership with the uranium-rich Asian nation with a strong Buddhist heritage.

Informed sources indicate that Purevsuren, who is also the former national security adviser of Mongolia, would deliberate on a wide variety of subjects to take forward the strategic partnership that was announced during Narednra Modi’s visit to Ulan Bator last May, which had taken many by surprise. That visit was clubbed with his first trip to China as the prime minister. The two countries, who have growing defence ties in the field of training and joint exercises, have also established partnership between the National Security Councils of the two countries to exchange information and perspectives on regional issues. Mongolia is the host of the next edition of the Asia-Europe Meeting on July 15-16, where India is expected to send a senior leader.