Forget Uranium. Real Reason Behind PM Modi Mongolia Visit is China

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Exploration, Mining, Marketing, & Acquisitions

Date posted: 05/09/15

Rajeev Sharma reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a master move in deciding to undertake an official visit to Mongolia next week. Uranium is definitely a big-ticket agenda for the Modi official talks with his Mongolian interlocutors. Mongolia was among the first few countries to sign a uranium deal with India. France was the first country to sign the civil nuclear deal with India in 2008 after the complete waiver was provided by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). This was followed by nine other countries - Russia, Mongolia, Namibia, Argentina, UK, Canada, Kazakhstan and South Korea, and from the biggest, the U.S. Though India and Mongolia signed a civilian nuclear deal for uranium supplies in 2009, India is still awaiting its first uranium supply from Mongolia. Moreover, Mongolian uranium will not be supplied until well after the PM Modi visit to that country. That is because the Mongolian internal processes are still being completed. Why then has the Prime Minister decided to visit Mongolia, a large country with an area of over 1.5 million square kilometers but a population of only three million, roughly a quarter of the Delhi population? Uranium is only an excuse because India has enough foreign resources now buy it from a number available world sources. The real reason behind the PM Modi Mongolia visit is China. The Modi trip to Mongolia is a win-win situation for the two Asian parliamentary democracies to take their bilateral relationship to the next level for mutual benefit. Mongolia may be a giant-sized country, but it is dwarfed by two much bigger giants between which it is sandwiched - China and Russia. Mongolia is keen to open up to the world in a big way and is ill at ease with Chinese influence, economically and politically, though it is largely due to its geographical proximity to China with which it shares borders. For this reason, Mongolia wants to put in place its third-neighbor policy aimed at invigorating ties with India.