R.Bold, Mongolia’s ambassador to Turkey visited Anadolu Agency’s headquarters in Ankara on Thursday. The ambassador was welcomed by the agency’s Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Director General Metin Mutanoglu and Foreign Languages Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Ozturk.

Mutanoglu briefed the ambassador on the agency’s international operations and its News Academy, which was established in 2011. The academy holds frequent seminars and provides a number of training schemes, including a War Journalism Certificate Programme.

During a presentation Mutanoglu also gave an example of the agency’s photojournalism, citing its photo coverage of the violent clashes between hundreds of white nationalists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend.

The pair also discussed boosting and strengthening cooperation between Anadolu Agency and Mongolia’s national news agency.

R.Bold offered to invite Beijing-based Anadolu Agency reporters to operate in Mongolia and provide the local agency with English-language news.

‘The accumulation of knowledge between the Mongolian and Turkish peoples is great. Mongols are proud of Turkey’s history,’ he said. ‘For us, Turkey is an Asian country. People living in Turkey have poor knowledge of Mongolia; we want to establish closer ties,’ he added.

R.Bold emphasized that Turkey and Mongolia share the same roots and geography and said strengthened cooperation could improve the lack of information about today’s modern Mongolia. The ambassador added that political relations between the two countries were good but that there was a lack of economic ties.

Mutanoglu said there would be more coverage from Mongolia, which would influence the investment of Turkish businessmen in the country. As 2019 will mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Mongolia, Mutanoglu said preparations would be made to celebrate the anniversary.