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India-Mongolia relationships are bilateral relations between Mongolia and India. They are also known as Indian-Mongolian relations or Indo-Mongolian relations. These connections are developing rapidly, with Indo-Mongolian cooperation earlier limited to diplomatic visits, the provision of soft loans and financial aid, and IT collaborations, but increased in recent years by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2015 visit to Ulaanbaatar, during which the two Asian democracies declared a “strategic partnership.”
Agreements signed during PM’s Mongolia visit
In December 1955, India established diplomatic ties with Pakistan. India was the first non-Eastern Bloc country to establish diplomatic ties with Mongolia. Since then, the two nations have signed treaties of mutual friendship and cooperation in 1973, 1994, 2001, and 2004.
Mongolia backs India’s bid for permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council, while India backs Mongolia’s full participation in the Non-Aligned Movement.
On May 17, 2015, Mongolia and India signed 13 agreements to promote bilateral ties and collaboration. India has also provided Mongolia with a one-billion-dollar credit line.
The agreements were inked during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Mongolia. Modi’s visit to Mongolia marks the first time an Indian Prime Minister has paid a visit to the country.
- Revised Aviation Services Agreement: This Agreement replaces earlier arrangements for international air services between Mongolia and India, both of which are signatories to the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
- Treaty to transfer the people who are sentenced: According to the treaty, Indian inmates convicted in Mongolia can be sent to India to spend the remainder of their sentence. Similarly, Mongolian people convicted in India may be extradited to their native country to fulfil their sentence.
- Cooperation Agreement in the Fields of Daily and Health of Animals: This Agreement envisions collaborative cooperation efforts in the quality control and dairy sector, current technology, dairy marketing, and its application, animal disease management measures, and so on.
- Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Traditional Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy: This Memorandum of Understanding aims to establish wider cooperation in areas like interchanging experts for practitioner training, recognition of formularies and pharmacopoeias, educational qualifications and traditional preparations, establishment of Academic Chairs, provision of scholarships, and others.
- Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of a Cyber Security Training Centre in Mongolia’s Ministry of Defence: Under this agreement, India will create a Cyber Security Training Centre and will also educate professionals in cyber security.
- Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of an India-Mongolia Joint Friendship School in Mongolia: This Memorandum of Understanding is for developing a school together with Mongolia and India, and it will follow an exclusive, open, and flexible study pattern to unleash the best calibre of each and every child for them to upgrade and upskill in every manner.
- Culture Cooperation Programme for the Years 2015-2018: This Agreement intends to improve amalgamation in the sphere of the cultural aspects of the production of exhibits, the festival of films, and the interchange of specialists, students, journalists, and so on.
- Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Cooperation between India’s National Security Council and Mongolia: This MOU was signed to have regular discussions alternately in New Delhi and Ulaanbaatar. It would address both non-traditional security as well as intelligence cooperation, counter-terrorism, and work on other topics.
- Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between India’s Ministry of External Affairs and Mongolia: The MoU will cover all elements of the given relationship, including scientific, economic, commercial, political, technological, and cooperation of cultures. The MoU supersedes the current Protocol on Cooperation between India’s Ministry of External Affairs and Mongolia, which was signed on September 17, 1996.
- Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on the development of renewable and new energy technology: This will cover cooperation on wind and solar energy via different modes of personnel and information exchange, equipment transferring and its operations with joint research on the development and technical projects, determining the energy resources and others.
- Memorandum of Understanding on Enhancing Border Guarding Cooperation: This Memorandum of Understanding envisions the formation of a collaborative joined driving committee between the Ministry of Home Affairs of India and the General Authority for Border Protection of Mongolia for cooperating in the sectors of interchanging the best movement and practices, capacity building, border guarding, joint exercises, policing technologies, surveillance, and so on.
- Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Tata Memorial Centre of India and the National Cancer Centre of Mongolia for the donation of a Bhabhatron-II Tele-therapy Unit as well as a Radiotherapy Simulator: The current MoU establishes the terms and conditions for the presentation by the Government of India, through TMC, of one unit each of the Bhabhatron-II Telecobalt Unit and the Radiotherapy Simulator designed, developed, and manufactured in India. It is guided by the MoU signed between the two countries on September 14, 2009, for mutual cooperation.
- MoU to strengthen the skills and training programmes in both countries: This MoU will facilitate the exchange of students, trainees, members of the faculty, and specialists between Mongolia and India.
Conclusion
Both the prime ministers agreed that a Strategic Partnership would be developed based on the universally recognised principles of sovereign equality of states, the United Nations Charter, the collective interests of our peoples, and the fundamental ideals of the Treaty of Friendly Relations and Cooperation between the Republic of Mongolia and India, signed on February 22, 1994, and other bilateral documents.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ireland on September 23, 2015. It was the second time an Indian Prime Minister had visited Ireland. The first being Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit in 1956. Ireland is an island nation located in Northwestern Europe and surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean.
The Prime Minister of Ireland, Enda Kenny, had hosted PM Modi during his visit. The PM was attended by other dignitaries such as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charles Flanagan, and Ireland’s Ambassador to India, Feilim McLaughlin. The main aim of the visit was to create stronger ties and improve trade and cultural relations. Described below is the impact of the PM’s Ireland visit.
Impact on trade and commerce
India and Ireland have strong bilateral trade and business relations. Before the PM’s visit, trades with Ireland were valued at €650 million in business in 2014. This included exports worth €248m and imports worth €402 million.
The indigenous exports increased from €32 million in 2012 to €55 million in 2014. In 2019, the total bilateral trade was around €1.2 billion. The exports and the imports have also increased to €636 million and €480 million respectively. Currently, the total trade between India and Ireland is valued at €4.2 billion. This resulted from improved bilateral ties between the two nations, owing to Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Ireland.
Indian Companies in Ireland
Many Indian companies carry out trade and commerce in Ireland. They provide services to Irish markets and consumers across various industries. Pharmaceutical giants such as Reliance Genemedix and Amneal Pharmaceuticals operate in Ireland. Major IT companies such as Wipro, Infosys, TCS, and HCL also have a strong presence in the country. The trade relations were bolstered after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ireland.
Other companies like Crompton Greaves, Deepak Fasteners, Jain irrigation systems, and Shapoorji Pallonji provide consumer goods and services. Likewise, many Irish companies conduct their business in the Indian market. These companies include pharmaceutical and nutrition players like ICON and Glanbia, IT firms like Globoforce and other companies like Keventer, CRH Taxback Group, and Connolly Red Mills.
Impact on Education
Ireland has been a coveted destination for higher education for Indian students. Over 5000 Indian students have enrolled for higher studies in various institutions in Ireland. The students are admitted to engineering, technology, medicine and management colleges. More than 30 research agreements have been signed between the two nations that allow institutes in both countries to collaborate.
Many reputed institutes like Trinity College, Dublin, and Thapar University, Patiala, have signed MOUs for engineering and science disciplines programmes. Thus, Ireland is an essential collaborator in graduate and doctoral research. This collaboration is also considered an impact of the PM’s Ireland visit.
Indian Community in Ireland
Ireland is diplomatically significant for India also due to the large number of Indian citizens residing there. The Indian origin population is approximately 45,000 people, of whom 18,500 are Non-Resident Indians (NRI), and others are Persons of Indian Origin (PIO). The majority of the residents are working professionals employed in engineering, healthcare and management positions.
It has helped in establishing many policies for the Indian origin population. Two such policies in practice are wearing hijab as a part of the police uniform and the non-requirement of obtaining an additional work permit for the spouse or the partner of Critical Skill Employment Permit holders.
Cultural Impact
As a result of a large population of Indian origin citizens in Ireland and the relationship between the two nations, Ireland promotes Indian culture in various forms. One such example is the celebration of Diwali in Ireland since 2008. The event is organised every year in collaboration with Irish and Indian committees.
Further, an annual contemporary film festival is also a part of the celebration of Indian culture. The promotion of such events indicates the importance of cultural exchange between the two nations. The Irish communities also take a keen interest in conventional practices such as cultivating and consuming Indian herbs and spices. This connects the agricultural practices between the two nations. The cultural ties between the countries were strong, and Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Ireland helped strengthen them further.
Another significant practice is the celebration of International Yoga Day in Ireland. The Irish communities have accepted Yoga as a form of a healthy lifestyle. The practice is similar to the Indian tradition.
Tourism
India attracts around 44,000 Irish tourists every year. Indian tourists too visit Ireland in similar numbers. This was facilitated by the introduction of the common British-Irish visa scheme. This scheme allows the tourists to visit the U.K. and Ireland under one visa, rather than applying for two separate visas. It is valid for short stays. India also extended its Electronic Tourist Visa facility to Ireland to digitally facilitate visa approval and generation. The impact of the PM’s Ireland visit was such that it has also helped establish the tourism sector in both countries.
Conclusion
The diplomatic ties between Ireland and India have been impacted positively after Prime Minister Modi visited Ireland in 2015. It was an essential step toward strengthening the bilateral relationship between these two nations. India and Ireland have been important to each other since the 1900s.
In 2010 and 2017, two honorary consulates were established in Chennai and Kolkata. Later in 2019, a formal and fully functional consulate general in Mumbai. Ireland and India have also shown their allegiance to fighting terrorism after the Pulwama attack. India has also hosted several Irish dignitaries on various occasions. These visits were directed toward engagement in business, education, health and tourism.
Further, many agreements were signed to provide opportunities for employment to people of both countries. Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Ireland helped revive relatively stagnant relations between these two nations. Several cultural and historically similar instances bind these two nations. From Yeats and Tagore to cricket and Diwali, the cultural semblance between these two nations has helped create a strong tie between them.
