France's Macron Arrives For First Visit To Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2023 ) :Emmanuel Macron arrived on Sunday in Mongolia for a brief yet symbolic visit, the first by a French president to the country nestled between China and Russia that is of growing strategic interest in the West.

The French head of state landed in the capital Ulaanbaatar at around 6:30 pm, according to an AFP photographer travelling with his delegation, after participating at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

In Ulaanbaatar, where he will only spend an evening, Macron will dine with President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, the Elysee said.

He will also visit the museum of Genghis Khan, named for the 13th-century Mongol conqueror, which will lend part of its collection to the Nantes History Museum in western France for an exhibition scheduled for October.

Macron will then depart for Paris at the end of the evening.

"The fact that Mongolia will be on the route back allows us to make this historic first (visit) and gives it a special meaning," a source in the Elysee's entourage said.

On the bilateral level, France has considered that there are "very significant possibilities for cooperation" with Mongolia, particularly in energy, with the country struggling to decarbonise its coal-dependent economy.