Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The 10th annual International Mongolian Studies Conference was successfully held on May 13-14 at the Embassy of Mongolia in Washington, DC, the MFA website reports.

The Conference hosted by the Embassy of Mongolia to the United States and the Mongolian Cultural Center has been taking place since 2007 annually.

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the USA B.Altangerel emphasized in his opening remarks: “People’s diplomacy has been playing an essential role in the development and promotion of the comprehensive relations and partnership between Mongolia and the United States and a clear illustration of this kind is the annual International Mongolian Studies Conference that we together organize in Washington, DC. The noble deeds you are doing to promote rich history, language and culture, customs and traditions of Mongolia in the United States as well as deepen the mutual understanding and friendship among our peoples are of great impact,”

The Conference has discussed important topics of the Mongolian studies including religion, traditional medicine, calendar system, history and archive, language and literature, translation as well as culture and education. Participating scholars and researchers presented 15 papers on the above themes among others were presentations on “Mongolia’s Independence and Sovereignty in the Beginning of Twentieth Century” by Urangua Jamsran of National University of Mongolia, “Reinterpreting Liao Architecture: Mongolia to Korea” by Nancy Steinhardt of University of Pennsylvania, “Historic Geography of Naiman” by Christopher Atwood of Indiana University, “History and traditions of Traditional Medical Discipline school in Mongolia” Tserendagva Dalkh of Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences,  “History of Mongolian Calendar Calculation System” by Dr. Munkh-Ochir and “Hazara Mongol, Their Lineage and Some Common Customs with Home Land Mongols” by Ishaq Mohammadi, a Former Chairman of the Hazaragi Academy in NY.

Participants visited Library of Congress (LOC) and were introduced to the Mongolian book collection in Library of Congress. Dr.Christopher Atwood presented the key note address on the Archives and History in Mongolia and America. As Mrs. Susan Meinheit, Mongolian and Tibetian specialist at the Asian Division of LOC said there are about 600 rare book volumes and approximately 10300 monographs about Mongolia in the this Library.

The Mongolian Cultural Centre founded 10 years ago carries out series of activities to promote Mongolian culture in the U.S. and the annual Mongolian Studies Conference and Mongolian language Summer camp school are the main ones.

Ambassador Altangerel also highlighted the Mongolian Government’s call for a far-reaching vision aimed at intensifying Mongolian studies internationally, promoting overseas Mongolian studies, preparing the next generation of Mongolists and strengthening the cultural and language immunity of Mongols, and emphasized  the key role and contribution of the Conference participants to achieve these far-reaching goals to support and encourage cultural exchange and communication among people with shared history, language, culture, art and custom, to brand Mongolia as a center of Mongolian studies and to protect and preserve Mongolian heritages.