On the picture H.E. Ambassador Mr. Och Od and spouse Mrs. Tsolmon Jadamba.
By His Excellency Mr. Od Och, Ambassador of Mongolia.
I feel myself privileged to address the audience of your esteemed magazine-the very first diplomatic magazine in the Netherland’s history, launched “By diplomats for diplomats”. It is honour for me to convey the heartfelt greetings of the Mongolian people to the great people of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. I had a chance to present my Letters of Credence to His Majesty King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands who graced me with this opportunity. The Mongolians feel special respect to the Dutch people for their great achievements.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is one of our important partners. This year marks the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries.
We appreciate enormously the invaluable development assistance provided by the Government of the Netherlands. We are grateful for the reintroduction of Przewalski horses – Mongolian wild horses, which were in danger of total extinction not only in Mongolia but also in the world, to the Hustai National Park of Mongolia. It has become a flagship of our cooperation.
The Government of the Netherlands strongly supported Mongolia to become a member of the EBRD. Today, the Netherlands and Mongolia belong to the same constituency at the EBRD.
The Netherlands is the second largest investor in Mongolia. We see all opportunities to complement each other. Agriculture and renewable energy are the most promising sectors of our cooperation.
The Netherlands is supporting economic development in Mongolia, which is eligible for a large number of programmes, conducted by the Netherland’s Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI), the Netherlands Senior Experts programme (PUM) and the Netherlands Development Bank (FMO). Mongolia’s first ever wind farm was inaugurated in 2013 thanks to the partial investment of the FMO.
Mongolia has established the Partnership Cooperation Agreement with the EU. The Netherlands was the first EU member state who ratified the Agreement.
Mongolia and the Netherlands enjoy close cooperation in the field of education, culture and tourism. A large number of Mongolian students studied in the Netherlands thanks to a grant awarded by the Netherlands Fellowship Programme. The University of Groningen is conducting the Chair for East Asian Studies with a focus on Mongolia. Clingendael diplomatic training has been one of the highlights of our relations, since it has notable contribution to the capacity building of Mongolia and preparing Europe oriented diplomats since 1994. I was myself the first Mongolian diplomat to study in this Alma Mater.
Recent years, the number of Dutch tourists travelling to Mongolia is increasing significantly as Mongolia is a unique and relatively unexplored travel destination that offers a great combination of beautiful natural features, a wide variety of untouched landscapes, nomadic way of life and culture.
In 2006, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Crown Princess Maxima paid an official visit to Mongolia at the invitation of the Government of Mongolia on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of Mongolian statehood.
In 2016, His Excellency Mr. Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands visited Mongolia to participate in the 11th ASEM Summit in Ulaanbaatar. His Excellency Mr.Gerrit Zalm, former Finance Minister of the Netherlands visited Mongolia in 1998 and 2002. From Mongolian side, official visits were paid to the Netherlands at the level of the President, Prime Minister and Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry.
Mongolia and the Netherlands enjoy the successful development of our bilateral cooperation on international arena. Both countries are working closely towards promoting peace and human rights all over the world.
I wish all success to the Kingdom of the Netherlands to its noble contribution to the world progress.
