New Delhi: Mongolia’s first oil refinery, built and funded with Indian assistance, will be completed by 2025, said the country’s Ambassador Dambajav Ganbold. In an interview, Ganbold said the first stage of Mongol Oil Refinery, built with a $1.2 billion Indian soft loan, will be completed at the end of this year.

The development comes with strategic implications as Mongolia is entirely dependent on Russia for its energy imports. The refinery, Ganbold said, would help Mongolia meet 70% of its demand domestically. Mongolia also hopes to attract Indian investment in its mining and metals, with plans to start shipping coking coal to India by 2024. Mongolia also has key rare earth metals, which may be crucial to India’s ambitions to build cutting edge technological capabilities in semiconductors and green mobility.

Indian firms have already visited Mongolia to explore these opportunities. In order to facilitate these exchanges, Mongolia and India are expected to establish regular direct flights. Edited excerpts:

What is the state of play in the bilateral relationship?

India is one of our important “third neighbours" in this region. This is one of the important concepts of our foreign policy and it came up originally because we have two big neighbours: Russia and China. So, for Mongolia’s independence as a state, we need third neighbour contact, which gives us an opportunity to develop and broaden our cooperation not only in the region, but in the international arena.

Since the historic visit of Prime Minister Modi in 2015. an agreement between the governments was made to establish the first oil refinery in Mongolia. Now this refinery project is under full swing and consists of four packages. The first package, or EPC-1, is more than 70% complete right now and will be done within this year. The remaining three packages have gone through the tender process and Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited, a Hyderabad- based company, has been selected. The refinery will give us more independence and energy security.

Is the metals and mining sector a topic of conversation?

Yes. We have had talks about bringing India into the mining sector of Mongolia, because it is quite rich in coking coal, copper, gold, uranium and rare earth elements. We have had substantial talks on bringing Mongolian coking coal to India. We’re building a washing station for the coking coal, and as soon as it is done by 2024, we will start exporting Mongolian coking coal to India. Mongolia has huge deposits of rare earth elements. I would like to see the Indian investors build joint ventures in Mongolia since the Indian government announced that it will produce semiconductors domestically and not import them from China. One major Indian company went to Mongolia for meetings and discussions.

Are there any other cooperation plans on energy?

A lot of issues are under discussion. I personally believe that energy cooperation between Mongolia will be very beneficial. Mongolia is four times the size of France and has a population only 3.4 million. This gives us a lot of open empty land. It also has more than 270 days of sun in a year. So I believe that solar renewable energy can be a beneficial area of cooperation. Wind energy and hydroelectricity are also of interest.

Are there any other cooperation plans on energy?

A lot of issues are under discussion. I personally believe that energy cooperation between Mongolia will be very beneficial. Mongolia is four times the size of France and has a population only 3.4 million. This gives us a lot of open empty land. It also has more than 270 days of sun in a year. So I believe that solar renewable energy can be a beneficial area of cooperation. Wind energy and hydroelectricity are also of interest. Conversations with the Indian government on joint projects are in very early stages.

Is there a sense of what both countries want to do together to improve connectivity?

Yes, we are working now to establish direct flights between Mongolia and India. As soon as we have direct flight, it will be easy for our business people to connect to each other. I believe at the end of this year, we’ll have regular flights twice per month.

India and Mongolia now have a strategic partnership. Is there a sense of what both sides want to do on security?

Our defence cooperation is developing very well. Last September, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited India and our Defence Minister attended Defence Expo in October last year. At the beginning of this year, Mongolia’s State Secretary of Defence visited India for the Aero India in Bangalore. I believe cooperation in the defence sector can cover the infrastructure construction as well. Last month, I met the chief of the Border Security Force of India, and we invited him to visit Mongolia this July. I believe that he has agreed to visit Mongolia. I believe the exchange of our experiences between our border forces is crucial.

Are there any key policy priorities for you?

I believe tourism can be a very good part of our cooperation. For many Mongolians, India is the land of the Buddha. I believe that agriculture also offers opportunities. There is a huge amount of land untapped in Mongolia. With Indian expertise in cultivation. I believe we can grow many varieties of crops in Mongolia. On education, the Indian government is giving 50 scholarships per year for college students from Mongolia but I would like to get more. On the medical side, I believe medical cooperation can be very interesting because there are a lot of Mongolians coming to India for medical tourism. So I’m looking to bring Indian medical health centers into Mongolia. Last year, I brought a representative from Max Hospitals to Mongolia and now this year, I am planning to bring some more Indian health institutions to Mongolia to explore possibilities for cooperation. This would include setting up facilities, research and training among other things.