Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Mongolia and the US are set to celebrate the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations this year. Being organized in frames of the anniversary is an academic conference of young researchers which takes place today, January 18.

Co-organized by Mongolian-American Society, Institute of International Relations at Mongolian Academy of Sciences and Ulaanbaatar Center for Policy Research, the academic conference themed ‘Mongolia-US relations and US policy in Northeast Asia’ gathers about 50 young researchers at the building of General Election Commission.

The opening ceremony of the conference was addressed by J.Baysakh, Director of Institute of International Relations at Mongolian Academy of Sciences and Gene Nixon, Country Director for Peace Corps Mongolia.

“Mongolia’s third neighbor policy is very important. The US is Mongolia’s third neighbor; it has been since the visit of President George Bush to Mongolia in 2005. The US has supported the democratic process and establishment in Mongolia for the last 26 years. And now bilateral relations have reached 30 years”, J.Baysakh remarked in his opening speech.

“It’s an interesting conference where we, the senior generation, hear what the younger generation is doing and achieving in American studies”, he also said. The young researchers who made presentations at the conference were of age range 30-40.

The participants of the conference included former Ambassadors to the US and representatives of various organizations such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Institute of International Relations at Mongolian Academy of Sciences, School of International Relations and Public Administration at National University of Mongolia, Department of British and American studies at National University of Mongolia, Peace Corps, University of Humanities and Institute of Defense Studies.

The morning session of the conference was chaired by Bold Ravdan, Chairman of Mongolia-American Society and former Ambassador of Mongolia to the US and Australia, and focused on the US foreign policy in Northeast Asian region. Some 4-5 presentations were discussed by the young Mongolian researchers.

The afternoon session was chaired by Batchimeg Migeddorj, Consultant at Ulaanbaatar Center for Policy Research, and discussed Mongolia-US relations in various aspects. Presentations were given under topics such as ‘Mongolia-US trade and economic cooperation’, ‘US non-refundable aid to Mongolia: Millennium Challenge Fund project’, ‘Mongolia - US defense relations’ and ‘Mongolia – US cooperation in education: the example of the Department of British and American studies, National University of Mongolia’.