TANAKA Akihiko

JICA President Akihiko Tanaka, left, and Zandaakhuu Enkhbold, Chairman of the State Great Hural of Mongolia.

On Feb. 27, JICA President Akihiko Tanaka held talks in Tokyo with Zandaakhuu Enkhbold, Chairman of the State Great Hural of Mongolia.

At the beginning of the talks, Chairman Enkhbold expressed gratitude for Japan's assistance to Mongolia over the course of more than 20 years and said JICA has played a significant role and made a significant contribution for strengthening democracy and the social structure in Mongolia. Specifically, he said that cooperation related to primary and secondary education (the Project for Improvement of Primary Education Facilities [Phases I-IV]) had ended in success and that the grant aid project for Construction of Mongolia-Japan Teaching Hospital is underway.

Tanaka spoke about the fact that during his official trip to Mongolia in April 2014 he visited the site of construction of a new international airport in a suburb of Ulan Bator, an ongoing Japanese ODA loan project, and he said he was glad to be reported that construction was proceeding smoothly.

Enkhbold talked about the signing of an economic partnership agreement (EPA) on Feb. 10, saying he was delighted that economic ties between the two countries had deepened. He went on to say he was particularly looking forward to development of the bilateral relationship in the areas of infrastructure, mineral resource development and industrial development. He also expressed hope for infrastructure improvement through Japanese ODA loans, as well as human resource development and the sharing of technology and expertise through technical cooperation.

In response, Tanaka said it is important to bi-directionally develop the countries' relationship, and that JICA will continue its cooperation toward development of the Mongolian economy.