During its Thursday session, Parliament approved the president’s four nominees for new diplomatic mission heads who will represent Mongolia to their designated countries. During the meeting of Parliament’s Foreign Policy Standing Committee held on Wednesday, MP N.Enkhbold remarked that Parliament should review nominations for ambassadors in a closed session as crucial issues regarding the nation’s foreign policy would be discussed. At the beginning of Thursday’s session, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Ts.Munkh-Orgil said that Parliament needs to discuss appointments of diplomatic mission heads in an open session because Mongolians living abroad should be informed of the plans of newly appointed diplomatic mission heads serving in their respective countries. As lawmakers supported Ts.Munkh-Orgil’s proposal, Parliament reviewed appointments of the new ambassadors in an open session. Legislators asked the four nominees about the plans for their respective diplomatic missions abroad, and relations between Mongolia and these countries. SWEDEN Diplomat O.Enkhtsetseg, appointed ambassador to Sweden, said that trade turnover reached 33.4 million USD between the two countries last year, which includes exports worth 628,000 USD from Mongolia to Sweden, mainly textile products and Mongol ger, and imports of 32.7 million USD from Sweden, mainly heavy equipment for mining projects. O.Enkhtsetseg pointed out that she is looking forward to increasing Swedish investment in Mongolia, learning more about Swedish experience in innovation, green development, and sustainable development and promoting bilateral cooperation in these areas. She noted that more than 6,000 Mongolians are living in Sweden, and many of them ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Mongolia in Stockholm to create an opportunity that will bring social insurance fees paid by them in Sweden to Mongolia. O.Enkhtsetseg stated that to fulfill their request, she will work to establish an agreement between the two countries’ governments on labor cooperation and social protection. JAPAN D.Batjargal, ambassador to Japan, underlined that Japan has granted 3.6 billion USD to Mongolia for projects implemented under Japan’s Official Development Assistance, and trade turnover between the two countries reached 330 million USD. Exports from Mongolia to Japan are less than 30 million USD, which is why he plans to make efforts for reducing the current trade deficit by promoting cooperation between the two countries’ small and medium-sized enterprises. He added that thanks to the mid-term program for the Japan-Mongolia strategic partnership being carried out from 2017 to 2021, the two countries have seen some progress in bilateral economic cooperation. Therefore, he will actively work to improve the program. CANADA Ya.Ariunbold, ambassador to Canada, emphasized that he will work to take economic cooperation between the two countries to a new level through the Program for Mongolia’s Economic Foreign Relations adopted by Cabinet in 2015, and Canada-Mongolia Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement signed by the two countries in 2016, which will provide a more transparent and predictable regulatory environment for Canadian investors in Mongolia. The new ambassador stated that he will focus on reaching goals outlined in a trade agreement established by the two nations in 1994 to increase exports, which is currently at 3.4 million USD. He noted that as the two countries are seeking collaboration opportunities for promoting bilateral commercial cooperation, he will concentrate on developing agricultural cooperation and increasing Canadian investment in Mongolia. Ya.Ariunbold added that as he served as the director of the Consular Department of the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he is well informed about challenges facing Mongolians living abroad, which is why he will take care of the nearly 6,000 Mongolians residing in Canada. UNITED KINGDOM N.Tulga, ambassador to Great Britain, pointed out that he is looking forward to approaching Mongolia’s collaboration with the British Veterinary Association to promote meat exports from Mongolia to the UK. He noted that the Embassy of Mongolia in London will focus on providing Mongolians living in the UK and foreigners with fast and accessible consular services by sending consular officers twice a year to places where many Mongolians are living in, such as Scotland and North Ireland, to listen to their challenges and provide them with consular services. N.Tulga stressed that he will seek to establish a mutual legal assistance treaty with the UK. Lawmaker B.Bat-Erdene said as people living abroad criticize that instead of taking care of Mongolian citizens living abroad, Mongolian diplomats and consular officers are serving few government officials from Mongolia visiting their respective countries, the ambassadors need to provide Mongolians living abroad with fast and fair consular services without bureaucracy. During the meeting, MP B.Bat-Erdene asked Director of Department of State Administration and Management at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs N.Ankhbayar about policies the ministry is executing to improve consular and state services for Mongolian citizens living abroad, and visa requirements for foreign tourists for promoting the Mongolian tourism sector. N.Ankhbayar said that the ministry is taking several measures to provide Mongolian citizens with fast, effective and accessible state services. For instance, a Mongolian national living abroad is able to apply for their new passports online, and the ministry is also working to create standards and deadlines for providing notary and state registration services. He added that the ministry is reviewing the budget for opening new consular posts in countries such as Sweden, Australia, France, the Czech Republic, and Poland to manage the workloads of state and consular services, and a tender process for a project to adopt an electronic visa system for foreigners is in progress.