Sirojiddin Aslov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan, met with Tsend Munkh-Orgil, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, at the United Nations Headquarters on 20 September on the margins of the 71 session of the United Nations General Assembly.

According to the Tajik MFA Information Department, during the conversation, the sides have exchanged views on topical issues of bilateral and multilateral relations between Tajikistan and Mongolia.

The parties have also discussed the accession of Tajikistan to the Multilateral Agreement on the establishment of the International Think Tank for landlocked countries.

Brief History of ITT

2003- The idea of establishing a think tank for LLDCs originates in the International Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries, Donor Countries and International Financial and Development Institutions on Transit Transport Cooperation, held in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

2006- The idea of having a think tank for LLDCs became an initiative when the President of Mongolia addressed a meeting of LLDCs heads of state in Havana.

2007- A Global Event of Landlocked Developing Countries and Transit Countries on Trade and Trade Facilitation, held in Ulaanbaatar conducted a mid-term review of the Almaty Programme. At the conference, LLDCs agreed to set up an international think-tank, which could be located in Ulaanbaatar.

2007-2008- The UN General Assembly in 2007 adopted the Ulaanbaatar declaration and in 2008 passed a resolution welcoming “the proposal to set up an international think tank in Ulaanbaatar to enhance the analytical capability of landlocked developing countries needed to maximise the efficiency of our coordinated efforts for the effective implementations of the internationally agreed provisions, particularly the Almaty Programme of Action and the Millennium Development Goals”.

April 2009- UNESCAP adopted a resolution entitled “Support for the Establishment of an International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries”.

July 2009- ‘The International Think Tank for LLDCs’ was officially launched in Ulaanbaatar by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and H.E. S.Batbold, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia.

2009- The UN-General Assembly adopted the resolution A/RES/64/214, welcoming the establishment of the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries in Ulaanbaatar.

September 2013 The official website of the ITT was launched.

December 2013 A lecture titled “Economic Development in a Land-Locked Country: The Case of Lao PDR”, organised by the ITT and the Japanese Embassy in Mongolia, was given by Mr. Norihiko Yamada, Researcher of Developing Economies, JETRO.

2014- 3-year project document for “Operationalization of the International Think Tank for LLDCs” was signed between the UNDP and the Government of Mongolia on January 15.