India and Mongolia are strategic partners, spiritual siblings: Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar on Monday said that India and Mongolia are strategic partners as well as spiritual siblings. “India and Mongolia are strategic partners, and we are also spiritual siblings. Our relationship is rooted in deep civilisational and spiritual linkages, shared democratic values, strong development aspirations, and robust people-to-people ties,” EAM Jaishankar said in a press statement after his meeting with Battsetseg Batmunkh, Mongolia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs. India and Mongolia celebrated the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations last year. 
The External Affairs Minister noted that one of the purposes of his visit was to review progress on the outcomes of discussions held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh during the latter’s visit to India last year. “We reviewed the entire gamut of our bilateral cooperation, including our development partnership, of which the oil refinery is the most significant project,” Jaishankar said. An oil refinery project at Altanshiree in Dornogovi Province is being constructed with a USD 1.7 billion soft Line of Credit (LoC) extended by the Government of India. The project is the Indian government’s largest soft Line of Credit initiative anywhere in the world. 
The Minister also met the Speaker of the State Great Khural, Dashzegve Amarbayasgalan. “Welcome his strong support for India-Mongolia parliamentary exchanges and friendship. Reiterated support for deepening our people-centric development partnership,” EAM Jaishankar wrote on X. Additionally, the EAM interacted with Mongolia’s Minister of Education, L. Enkh-Amgalan, and former President Nambaryn Enkhbayar. “Value their support for deepening our Strategic Partnership,” he noted.
Further, Jaishankar called on President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and conveyed greetings from President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Value his guidance on advancing our strong cooperation across a wide range of sectors. Fully agree with him that the greatest friendship is spiritual friendship,” the Minister stated.