Source: AFP                   Date: 21 June, 2011

Mongolia promised to give US companies a role in its booming energy sector as President Barack Obama reached out to the young democracy that is also being courted by neighboring China. President Ts. Elbegdorj capped a trip to Washington with a White House meeting with Mr. Obama on June 16, the very day that the country's Prime Minister held talks in Beijing and received loan guarantees.

In a joint statement released by the White House, the United States and Mongolia "emphasized their two countries' common interest in protecting and promoting freedom, democracy and human rights worldwide". The two nations also promised to expand economic ties. During Mr. Elbegdorj's trip, MIAT Mongolian Airlines said it would buy three aircraft from the Chicago-based Boeing Co. at a value of USD245 million.

"Mongolia noted the important role that US companies," the statement said, "will play in the development of the country's coal, other mineral resource, infrastructure, agriculture, energy and tourism industries." US-based Peabody Energy is among bidders to develop part of the Tavan Tolgoi mine, one of the world's largest coal fields.

"We regard the USA as our first 'third neighbor' and we would like to improve that relation," Mr. Elbegdorj said at the Brookings Institution think-tank shortly before his summit with Mr. Obama. "We have a peaceful foreign policy," he said. "Some call it a tough neighborhood. But we have existed next to each other for centuries and we know how to get along with the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation."

Mongolia next month takes the helm of the Community of Democracies, an international initiative. He voiced hope Mongolia would serve as a "regional beacon" but stopped short of commenting directly about the state of democracy in China. In sometimes colorful language, Mr. Elbegdorj saluted protesters who toppled authoritarian regimes in the Middle East but warned them that democracy takes time.

"Today I see joyful demonstrations on the streets of the Middle East. I think they will go through very hard times for years -- maybe 20 years -- to achieve today's level of Mongolia," he said. "The beauty of freedom is that there is always space to correct our mistakes," he said. "When there is criticism from the public, we are forced to change and to make better decisions. Democracy is not a one-day, one-week, one-year, 20-year issue. I think you have to care for that every morning, like changing the diapers of a baby," he said.