According to the reliable and main French news agency, French President Emmanuel Macron, after landing in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of this country, was welcomed by the traditional Mongolian honor guard after the Imam of the Group of 7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
Macron also participated in the reception ceremony in Sukhbator Square, which includes the big statue of the Mongolian revolutionary hero Dam din Sukhbator and the Genghis Khan monument.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, France has increased its diplomacy with countries that have not explicitly condemned the attack, notably Mongolia.
In Ulaanbaatar, Macron attended a state banquet at the Genghis Khan Museum. The institute will lend part of its collection to the Nantes History Museum in western France for an exhibition to be held in October.
Mongolia is looking to diversify its partnerships in order to become stronger and counter its big neighbors Russia and China, an Elysee source said.
He explained that Paris seeks to “reduce the restrictions imposed on Russia’s neighbors”. Mongolia could also be part of Europe’s efforts to diversify resources “to ensure our energy sovereignty,” the source added.
The sprawling North Asian nation has been increasingly targeted by the United States in recent years as part of a strategy to counter China’s rise.
Eighty-six percent of Mongolia’s total exports go to China, half of which is coal. Mongolia has struggled with political instability since its first democratic constitution in 1992, when it broke away from the Soviet Union.
