Today, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met with new Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj to discuss his country’s uranium fields and the possibility of upgrading the country’s rail networks.
Russia, which has had longstanding ties to Mongolia, had been concerned the the election of Elbegdorj. He promised that Mongolians would benefit more from the country’s mineral wealth.
“There was speculation around the new president … But we have not felt any fundamental changes in the approach to strategic cooperation with Russia,” chief Kremlin foreign policy aide Sergei Prikhodko told Reuters on Sunday.
“We feel the new leadership of Mongolia is disposed to preserving everything that has been achieved in recent years.”
Earlier this year, Russian Railways, a state monopoly, signed a deal worth up to $7 billion to upgrade Mongolia’s railways and to bring railways to Mongolia’s mineral reserves in the Gobi desert.
