Minister for Defense L.Bold left on March 29 for his first official visit to the USA, at the invitation of his US counterpart, Robert Gates. He is accompanied by MP and Chief of the Standing Committee on Security and Foreign Policy Ya.Batsuuri; Advisor to the President on National Security Policy M.Batchimeg; Chief of the Policy Group at the Strategic Research Institute under the National Security Council B.Batbayar; Advisor to the Minister for Defense Ts.Ganbold; and Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces Office and Brig. Gen. B.Bayarmagnai.

His first program in the USA was a meeting where he and Mr. Gates discussed issues of Asia Pacific security, Mongolia-USA relations, and bilateral cooperation in the defense sector. Mr. Gates thanked Mongolia for its support for UN peace keeping activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. He offered US help in the modernization of the Mongolian military, in strengthening its air force, and in increasing its international peace keeping capacity. Bold had a meeting also with Deputy Defense Secretary Wallace Gregson.

The Minister and his team visited the State Department where Deputy Secretary James Steinberg and Assistant Secretaries Kurt Campbell and Andrew Shapiro received them. Talks covered bilateral relations in politics, the economy, and security and peace keeping. The visitors also went to the Senate, where the head and the deputy head of the Committee on the Budget, and the Deputy Chief of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, John McCain assured them of continuing support for Mongolia and its armed forces.