Japan to send mission to survey snow damage in Mongolia

Asian Economic News, Oct 2, 2000

TOKYO, Sept. 26 Kyodo

Japan told Mongolia on Tuesday it will send a mission to Mongolia in October to see what it can do to help repair the damage caused there by extensive snowfall last winter, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono made the offer in a meeting with Mongolian Foreign Minister Lubsangiin Erdenechuluun, the official said.

Kono told Erdenechuluun that Japan has been ''worried'' about the situation in Mongolia and that it wants to reciprocate the quick help that Mongolia provided following the Great Hanshin Earthquake which hit western Japan in 1995, the official said.

Erdenechuluun is stopping in Japan on his way back from the U.N. Millennium Assembly in New York.

Heavy snowfall in Mongolia last winter caused a severe food shortage in the country as about three million livestock died because the vegetation they fed on remained covered by snow most of the season, according to the official.

There have been reports earlier this year that some 500,000 nomads have perished as a result of starvation and cold, with temperatures said to have reached the lowest in 30 years.

''The mission is aimed at studying how such a situation can be prevented, how to deal with such a situation when it happens, and what can be done to help the people who suffered damage,'' the official explained.

Japanese civic groups and individuals have already provided funds, food and other materials to Mongolia.

Erdenechuluun, who was appointed foreign minister last month, said Mongolian Prime Minister Nambaryn Enkhbayar is, like him, considering making Japan the destination of his first bilateral overseas visit, the official said.

Kono was quoted as saying he appreciates the new Mongolian government's consideration of Japan as an important country in terms of its foreign affairs.

Erdenechuluun met Prince Akishino and his wife, Princess Kiko, on Monday and held brief talks earlier Tuesday with some Japanese lawmakers. Prince Akishino is the younger son of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.