The United States Secretary of Defense Mr Chuck Hagel paid an official visit to Mongolia on Thursday by invitation of D.Bat-Erdene, the Minister of Defense.
Defense Minister D.Bat-Erdene and the US Secretary of Defense Mr Hagel held official talks and signed a joint statement on directions and goals of the bilateral security cooperation between the two countries.

Hagel: It is important for our co untries to keep friendly cooperation

“Mongolia and the United States of America should have friendly cooperation in order to maintain the policy on rebalance in the Asia-Pacific region”  said Hagel during a press conference during his visit on Thursday. During the conference, the Mongolian Minister of Defense D.Bat-Erdene emphasized that the visit of Mr Hagel has brought the bilateral cooperation into a new volume.

“Mongolia is adhering to a policy to take part in international activities as much as possible instead of passively observing them” said Minister Bat-Erdene.

In turn, Mr Hagel said Mongolia is a valuable partner of the US. “Mongolia serves as a stabilizing influence in Asia and is seeking to modernize its military in a transparent fashion,” he said, adding that the Pentagon supports the Mongolian Armed forces’ “continuing efforts to modernize and be able to operate with other military and partners.”

Prime Minister meets Chuck Hagel

The Prime Minister of Mongolia N.Altankhuyag met with visiting Secretary Hagel.

The Premier expressed satisfaction with expansion of the Mongolia-USA comprehensive partnership relations in many fields, and said the defense sector cooperation is one of the pillars of this partnership.

In response, Mr Hagel said the US is grateful to the Mongolian Armed Forces for their successful service in the UN peacekeeping operation, being highly spoken by the UN and other international sides. Mr Hagel said that with Mongolian Defence Minister D.Bat-Erdene he had discussed ways of widening the cooperation in defense.

To this the Premier emphasized that the government of Mongolia will support implementation of master goals with regards to Mongolia-USA defense collaboration.

Secretary Hagel visits Mongolia for the first time, but it is the second visit paid by a US Secretary of Defense to Mongolia.