The first speaker, Deputy Secretary General of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Dr. Gerhard Wahlers, warmly welcomed the lecture hall’s full audience. He continued his speech by pointing out various aspects of the mutual relationship between Mongolia and Germany. For example, he stressed the economic role that Germany plays as a partner to Mongolia, allowing it increased access to EU countries and their trade circles. Mr. Wahler also mentioned the partnership between Mongolia and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation which was established the official HQ in Mongolia back in 1993. Since then many cooperative projects have been carried out, remarked Mr. Wahler.

The second speech was given by Manfred Grund, Chairman of the German-Central Asian Parliamentary Group and member of the CDU/CSU party. He began on a historical note, by bringing to mind the medieval Battle of Legnica where German knights were defeated by Mongolian invaders. However, he followed by acknowledging the fact that since then, the relationship between both nations had been mostly friendly. He recalled fruitful relations between German Democratic Republic and Mongolia that had flourished for 40 years, and his amazement at the fact that many Mongolians could speak the German language, and at general hospitality of Mongolian people during his visit. The obvious opportunity for future cooperation between Mongoliam abundant with natural resource,s and Germany, possessing great technological experience and advantage, was also underlined in the speech.

Finally, the Chairman of the Parliament of Mongolia, H.E. Zandaakhuu Enkhbold, delivered his lecture about the revolution in 1990 and following democratic development of his country – talking about the challenges they have faced, but also the victories they have achieved. He stressed the fact that Mongolians, as the descendants of nomadic steppe people, highly value freedom and democracy. This is reflected in the fact that democracy in Mongolia was not influenced by other democratic states, but was created and established by the Mongolian people themselves. Furthermore, Mr. Enkhbold highlighted dynamic economic development stemming from the privatisation that went hand-in-had with democratization. The event was brought to a close by a discussion between Mr. Enkhbold and the audience (moderated by journalist Günter Knabe). The discussion touched upon many important topics, including the geopolitical issue of having borders with only China and Russia, (hence the Mongolian diplomatic policy of developing "third neighbors" which aims to connect them with the EU and USA). Other themes were debated as well: issues of nature preservation and challenges faced in trying to develop more rural parts of Mongolia, away from its capital city. 

• See more at: http://www.kas.de/wf/de/17.62937/

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