New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) Mongolia’s Ambassador to India, Ganbold Dambajav on Thursday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, highlighting that over 37 initiatives – including highly successful ‘Make In India’ and ‘Digital India’ – have been implemented since 2014.

In an exclusive interview with IANS, Dambajav called PM Modi “one of the most popular politicians in the world” citing his numerous achievements, including taking India towards becoming the third largest economy in the world in the near future.

“He is one of the most popular politicians in the world due to his achievements since he became the Prime Minister in 2014… We know that there are more than 37 initiatives that have come up during his tenure as Prime Minister. All have been improving the quality of life for the Indian people, bringing the businesses back to India. Make In India, Digital India, you name it, the last on the GST initiative. So, all those initiatives are bringing the well-being and prosperity for Indian people, Indian businesses, and opening India up to the world. Based on all those achievements, world is recognising Modi ji as the most popular and most renowned politician. So, I hope with his vision, in the near future, India will become the third economy in the world and there are more achievements that India can fulfill, reach during his tenure as Prime Minister,” Dambajav stated.

Several world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, UAE President Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Dominican PM Roosevelt Skerrit, Bhutanese PM Tshering Tobgay, Australian PM Anthony Albanese, New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon, Guyana President Irfaan Ali, former UK PM Rishi Sunak extended wishes to PM Modi on the occasion of his 75th birthday on Wednesday.

Extending greetings to PM Modi, the Mongolian Ambassador mentioned: “I would like to deliver a heartfelt congratulations and well-being wishes from the Mongolian people to Honourable Prime Minister Modi ji. I was happy enough today that we celebrated his birthday by planting tree, one of the initiatives of him, plant a tree in the name of your mother. So, I was very privileged to plant a tree in the mother’s name today morning along with my colleagues, ambassadors and high commissioners and other diplomats. I’m very happy to do it in the honour of the Prime Minister Modi ji. Mongolia and India, given our historic connectivity and lifestyle, are very peaceful countries. Together, we can do a lot to bring the stability and prosperity as well as peace, not only in our region but also all around the world.”

The diplomat recalled PM Modi’s State Visit to Mongolia in 2015, during which the Mongolian parliament had a special session on Sunday where the visiting leader delivered his remarks to the country’s lawmakers. The honour, he said, has been given to very few politicians or leaders around the world.

He noted that India and Mongolia are commemorating 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic ties in 2025.

Highlighting the cooperation between two nations in various sectors, he said, “Our bilateral relations go back to many centuries… We have a long rich heritage history in bilateral relations. With the historic visit of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mongolia in 2015, our relations were elevated to the level of strategic partnership, which gave us a broad opportunity to enrich and deepen our partnerships, not only in political but also in the fields of defence, economy, health, education and the IT sector. For most of the Mongolians, India is a land of Lord Buddha. So, we have many Mongolians coming to India for worship or pilgrimage. Also, we have Mongolian monks studying long-term Buddhism in India.

“We also have many students who come in to study in India on the scholarship received from the ICCR besides for the short-term training through the high-tech programmes. So, there are a lot of opportunities and we see that economic cooperation is one of the engines of our bilateral relations. I’m happy to say that our pioneer project, the oil refinery, is now under construction and will be fully operational by 2027. It will provide the domestic use of 70 per cent of our petroleum and in the future if we enrich it, it can reach at a level of 100 per cent for our domestic usage,” he added.

–IANS

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