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MEA Secretary (East) P Kumaran on Tuesday discussed defence cooperation with Mongolia, stating that several initiatives are underway to strengthen ties in this domain.
Kumaran, while addressing a weekly press briefing, said that Mongolia appreciates joint exercises with India. He said, "Defence cooperation with Mongolia is composed of two or three initiatives. One is joint exercises. We do a joint exercise called Nomadic Elephant and another one called Khaan Quest with Mongolia. The Mongolians appreciate the opportunity to train with us." Kumaran said that India also sends trainers to Mongolia, and they like to conduct more such exercises. "They are interested and they see a lot of benefits in training with us. They would like us to continue with existing programs and also offer more support in terms of training. We do send our trainers there as part of our joint exercise initiatives and who stay with them and train their officers for some time...We will be doing more of that," he said. "We also provide some kinds of equipment as part of our grant assistance to Mongolia, and we propose to continue that in the coming years. One significant initiative we undertook in the past was offering them cybersecurity training. We set up a cybersecurity training centre for their armed forces," he added. Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa expressed gratitude to India for its support of Mongolia. "The President thanked the Prime Minister and the Raksha Mantri for the benefits that flow from that centre, and they wish to upgrade and continue that kind of support. Raksha Mantri told them that we would be happy to continue existing programs and also look at new proposals that come from the Mongolian side," he said. The announcement of the appointment of a resident defence attache in Ulaanbaatar, fulfilling a long-standing Mongolian request, and underscoring the growing defence partnership. India also announced that all e-visas to Mongolian nationals would be issued on a gratis basis, building on the existing gratis paper visa regime and deepening people-to-people ties," Kumaran added. (ANI)
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