Sushma Swaraj invokes Buddhism, ancient ties to boost India-Mongolia ties

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj invoked Buddhism and ancient ties to ramp up bilateral relations with Mongolia on Wednesday.

Swaraj arrived in Ulaanbaatar on Tuesday after visiting Beijing where she met Chinese President Xi Jinping and senior leaders, and attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation defence ministers’ meeting. This is the first visit by an Indian foreign minister to Mongolia since YB Chavan’s trip in 1976.

“Mongolia is not only our strategic partner for India but also a spiritual neighbour. We share long historical links. Mongolia is well known in India for the valour of her kings and her strong Buddhist heritage,” Swaraj told a joint press conference with Mongolian foreign minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar after the 6th Indian-Mongolia Joint Committee on Cooperation meeting.

“We agreed to remove institutional and logistical impediments to boost our trade, tourism and people-to- people contacts. In this regard, we also agreed to explore possibility of launching direct air connectivity between our two capitals,” she said, affirming that the two sides reviewed all aspects of bilateral relations.

“We discussed some of the pressing global challenges facing the humanity, particularly terrorism, and agreed to calibrate bilaterally and in international arena to ward off these evil thoughts.” 

Earlier in the day, Swaraj visited the Gandan Tegchenling Buddhist Monastery where monks felicitated her. She also met several senior Mongolian leaders and attended a grand celebration of the 100th birth anniversary of venerable Kushok Bakula, a Buddhist Lama from Ladakh who served as India’s Ambassador to Mongolia from 1990-2000.

Swaraj is expected to return to China on Thursday to join PM Narendra Modi, who will hold an informal summit with President Xi Jingping April 26-27 in Wuhan.