Mongolia and the USA held an Energy Dialogue at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ulaanbaatar on October 1, Montsame reported.
The dialogue was attended by State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Munkhtushig Lkhanaajav, State Secretary of the Ministry of Energy Tavinbekh Nansal, and Acting State Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources Javkhlanbaatar Sereeter from the Mongolian side and a delegation from the Bureau of Energy Resources, led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy Diplomacy Kimberly Harrington, and Ambassador of the US to Mongolia Richard Buangan from the US side and other officials.
During the dialogue, the parties discussed attracting more energy investment in clean and renewable energy fields in Mongolia, the key issues facing Mongolia’s critical minerals sector, building on the Mongolia-US Memorandum of Understanding on Critical Minerals, that was signed in Ulaanbaatar last year.
“My visit follows the visits of several senior U.S. government officials over the past year to Mongolia, including Undersecretary Jose W. Fernandez, who came here about a year ago and signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Critical Minerals Cooperation. I also joined a meeting with Foreign Minister Battsetseg in Washington, D.C. several months ago. That was a high-level dialogue. During that discussion, we decided to have another energy dialogue between our two governments,” Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State Kimmy Harrington said.
“Since my arrival in Mongolia as Ambassador in 2022, I have watched our bilateral relationship grow in very key critical areas. In 2023, we signed the Open Skies agreement and currently the Mongolian Civil Aviation Authority and our Federal Aviation Authority are working together to safely conduct direct flights as soon as possible. As Deputy Assistant Secretary Harrington mentioned, last year we signed an MOU on critical minerals that has led to multiple technical assistance programs between the United States and Mongolia in an effort to help improve Mongolia’s mining law and supply chains,” the U.S. Ambassador noted.
Mongolia needs clean, sustainable, and predictable energy to continue its development and attract investments both from foreigners and from Mongolians, which has to be a private-sector-led effort, the Ambassador added. The United States will continue to work together with Mongolia to help achieve its energy goals, he said.
“Mongolia’s ability to unlock its vast potential in critical minerals will help fuel the renewable energy transition, both here and throughout the world. That is why we are dedicated to finding creative solutions to help Mongolia attract private investment and sustainable growth in the critical minerals sector… Energy is a core component of our bilateral engagement, and it will continue to be so,” highlighted the U.S. Ambassador.
