Secretary Antony J. Blinken And Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh Before Their Meeting

PRESIDENT KHURELSUKH:  (Via interpreter) Dear Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, it is my great pleasure to host you in Mongolia.  We are very pleased to have you in our beautiful country, Mongolia.  Please feel like at home (inaudible).  Mongolia attaches great significance to its relationship with the United States, and we are committed to further strengthen our Strategic Partnership.  Mongolian people are always grateful for the U.S. successive administrations and the American people for their steadfast support for Mongolia’s transition to a democracy and market economy, and building a free and – free society that upholds human rights and freedom.

And we regard the United States as our trusted partner, strategic partner, and close friend.  And I would like to emphasize that one of the priorities of Mongolia’s foreign policy is further strengthen our relationship with the United States.  And we are very happy that our Minister Battsetseg paid a visit to the United States last week at your invitation and successfully organized the inaugural Mongolia-U.S. Comprehensive Strategic Dialogue.

And we see that the United States attaches a great importance to our bilateral relationship, and you, Mr. Secretary, paying a visit to Mongolia after just one week of our foreign minister’s visit is a clear demonstration of the U.S. commitments to further expand our cooperation.  And also, we appreciate the fact the United States is committed to further expand and strengthen our bilateral ties within the framework of the Indo-Pacific Strategy.

And as a great Mongolian tradition, I would like to welcome you, our dear guests, to give your remarks, and I would like to hear your thoughts, Mr. Secretary.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Mr. President, thank you so much.  Thank you for this warm welcome. And first, I bring greetings from President Biden and Vice President Harris.  We’re so pleased to be your third neighbor, and we want to be more than that – good neighbors.  And I think that’s manifesting itself in the work that we’re doing together, including through the Comprehensive Strategic Dialogue.  We’re strengthening our economic ties, our political ties, our people-to-people connections.  There is much we’ve already done together, but so much more that I’m convinced we can and will do, and I’m grateful for the – not only the warm reception, but the very good work that we’ve been able to do to advance, to strengthen our partnership for the benefit of people here in Mongolia and in the United States.

Thank you for receiving us today.

PRESIDENT KHURELSUKH:  (Via interpreter) Thank you very much.