On Saturday (15^th of October), Mongolian Prime Minister J.Erdenebat returned from his first official visit to Japan, were the previous day, he held talks with his counterpart Shinzo Abe. During the negotiations, the two sides agreed on a new medium-term implementation programme for the Mongolia-Japan strategic partnership for 2017-2021, setting out a 'roadmap' of actions to be taken by the two countries over the next four years. During the forum, which took place in Tokyo at the same time, Mongolia's ‘Energy Resources’ signed a memorandum of cooperation with Japan's Sumitomo Corporation.

Prime Minister Erdenebat, currently has a serious task on his shoulders – namely, to save the Mongolian economy. He is seeking loans and financial help from the International Money Foundation (IMF) and other countries to lift  Mongolia out of the economic crisis in which it finds itself. It was in this connection, that he made his first foreign visit to Japan, which is one of the country's largest international donors.

Previous prime ministers, when visiting Japan often discussed the export of Mongolian natural resources to third countries. Mongolia, the second largest landlocked country in the world, is rich in natural resources. Almost all Mongolian PMs have visited Japan, however, few of them have concluded official bi-lateral agreements.  ‘To export Mongolian coking coal to Japan and built a railway network with financial aid from Tokyo, was a topic of conversation, when Su.Batbold, N.Altankhuyag and Ch.Saikhanbileg were prime ministers.

A year ago, the then prime minister, Ch. Saikhanbileg agreed with Japan to built a railway, a highway, a metro, metal processing plants and a power station in Mongolia under a medium-term strategic partnership programme. None of these, however, has been implemented. Mongolian political disputes scared off Japan investors who were interested in Tavan Tolgoi coal mining project.

After visiting Japan in June, Z.Enkhbold (Dem), who was then the influential speaker of the parliament, said, ‘We have moved forward in relations between Japan and Mongolia as well as agreed on actions to be taken by both sides over  the next five years’. Now, how many of these things have we done? It is important what J.Erdenebat 'does' rather than what he says.

Prime Minister Erdenebat has the advantage of a huge parliamentary majority – his Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) took 65 seats in the June election. So, Mongolians believe that  the Tavan Tolgoi project will continue under the ruling MPP, which has also promised to support the Gatsuurt project.