Ambassador to Russia D.Idevkhten met  V.I.Yakunin, president of the Russian Railways,
which holds half the shares of Ulaanbaatar Railway, to impress upon him the
imperative need to extend the UB Railway network and to upgrade its technology so
that the new demands of an emerging Mongolian economy can be met .

Idevkhten said collaboration in the railway sector must be developed in the
spirit of the bilateral declaration on strategic partnership issued during the
visit of the Russian President to Mongolia last year. He wanted to know Yakunin’s
views on raising the authorized capital of Ulaanbaatar Railways.

Yakunin replied that the Russian Railways agreed with the need to modernize the
operations of Ulaanbaatar Railways and to increase its transit carriage capacity.
Both partners have already decided in principle, he reminded the Ambassador, to
augment the authorized capital of UR by investing USD125 million each. The
Russian side has also agreed to give Mongolia a soft loan for its contribution
of the money. However, a final decision on how this will be done has not yet
been made, he said. He emphasized the need to keep politics out of matters relating
to the railway.

Among others present at the meeting were B.Erdenebileg, advisor to the
Ambassador on trade and economics, B.Chimedtseren, first secretary at the
Mongolian Embassy in Russia, J.Bayarkhuu, second secretary, G.P.Petrakov, head
of the Transportation Agency of  the Russian
Railways, V.Morozov and A.A.Gorgiladze, both vice-presidents of the Russian
Railways, and A.Konovalov, head of its International Cooperation Department.