Ambassador J. Enkhsaikhan has granted an interview to highly respected Austrian magazine “Cercle Diplomatique” which is widely read in the corps diplomatique of Vienna, by prominent Austrian politicians, business people as well as cultural and arts elite. The magazine was founded in 1971. In his interview Ambassador Enkhsaikhan talks about Mongolian-Austrian relations, possible areas of future cooperation as well as, similarities in foreign policies of the two countries (land-locked location, neighboring with great powers and non-nuclear policies). The following is the actual interview that appears in the 2009 November issue of the magazine under the heading “Diplomacy based on optimism”.

Question: As Ambassador to Austria, how would you assess our bilateral relations ?

Answer: Austria was the second western country to have recognized Mongolia and established diplomatic relations some 45 years ago. Located at the crossroads of great power interests, throughout the cold war Austria has been successfully pursuing the policy of neutrality that promoted both its own national interests as well as that of peace and cooperation. Like Austria, Mongolia is a land-locked country situated between Russia and China with no independent access to the sea. In the second half of the last century it was involuntarily involved simultaneously in two cold wars: East-West and Sino-Soviet, and was internationally quite isolated. When cold war ended, so did the great ideological divide. For us walls of its isolation collapsed. Mongolia was among the first from the Soviet block that have introduced democratic reforms and market economy. These reforms are being successfully implemented. In foreign policy we are pursuing a balanced policy with respect to its neighbors and opening up to the world so as to have many friends and partners. Our bilateral relations are developing quite successfully, especially since 2003 when Mongolia opened its Embassy in Vienna. At present cooperation in the educational sphere is developing quite successfully. However, I believe that the relations can be much richer than they are. Because of sheer distance, trade between our two countries may have its limits…

Question: … That is exactly what I was going ask. Does that means that our relations would be mainly political in nature ?

Answer: No. Mature political relations and understanding can open up doors for broader relations in other areas of mutual benefit. As they say, if there is a will, there is always a way. I think one should look at our relations from a bit broader perspective, in a larger context, so to say. Mongolia is strategically located between China and Russia surrounded by 2.7 and almost 1 trillion dollar economies respectively. It also holds one of the shortest rail links between world’s two largest economies and markets: Europe and Asia. These are important factors that could be made use of. Bearing that in mind Mongolia has been working to reduce the physical and administrative barriers to rail transport so as to promote faster and more effective flow of trade between the Europe and Asia. It has been holding talks with Russia and China in this regard. We have made some progress. Both Europe and Asia would be direct beneficiaries of such a transit route. Therefore we would welcome EU’s participation in the talks as the fourth party and bring to the table widely accepted and applied transit transport standards that would benefit everyone without exception. Perhaps Austria, a fellow land-locked country, could represent the EU at the talks. That is what I have suggested to my Austrian colleagues. Austrian rail industry could greatly benefit from it. Also other forms of cooperation could be explored, including Austria’s investment in Mongolia, bearing in mind the proximity to Mongolia of vast emerging markets of Siberia and Northern China (tens of millions of consumers or customers), its mineral riches and a young work force.

Question: I heard that like Austria, Mongolia also has a non-nuclear legislation. When situated between two nuclear-weapon States, does it make a difference ? Is the law practically useful in such circumstances ?

Answer: I am glad you asked. Again, like Austria and other non-nuclear-weapon States, Mongolia is for geographically limiting and progressively eliminating all nuclear weapons. In 1999 Austria adopted Federal Constitutional Act for a Non-Nuclear Austria whereby it not only renounced nuclear weapons, but also stationing on its territory. Like you said, situated between two nuclear-weapon States, in 1992, when Soviet/Russian troops withdrew from its territory, Mongolia proclaimed itself a nuclear-weapon-free zone and has since been working to institutionalize that status. It has no territorial or political disputes with both neighbors. It is pursuing a neutral and non-aligned policy with respect to the possible disputes of its neighbors. Hence it has prohibited the use of its territory against security interests of any of its neighbors, or any other third country. That prohibition includes placing nuclear weapons or parts of such system. We do not want to find ourselves in a situation similar to the one in Central Europe regarding the controversial missile defense shield because that would affect Mongolia’s security, balance of interest, stability and confidence in the region. In 2000 we adopted national legislation that clearly defined the country’s nuclear-weapon-free status and criminalized any activity that violated it.

Question: How supportive is your non-nuclear policy ? Do nuclear-weapon States support it ?

Answer: Our initiative enjoys wide international support. Thus the General Assembly of the United Nations welcomed it and has called upon all members, including the nuclear-weapon States (the P5), to work with Mongolia in consolidating that status. In 2000 the P5 made a joint statement providing security assurance to Mongolia in connection with that status. Mongolia believes that in order to make the status credible and viable, it needs a legally binding commitment by its neighbors, if not by the P5, to respect the status and to refrain from any act that would compel Mongolia to violate its status. We have submitted to China and Russia a draft trilateral treaty that would define mutual commitments regarding the status. Such a neutral status would be in line with Russia’s and China’s mutual commitment not to use territories or air space of their immediate third neighbors against each other. Therefore we are optimistic.

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