From September 18th to 22nd, IRSEM’s Director Marjorie Vanbaelinghem went to Mongolia, where she took part in the Security Dialogue between France and Mongolia, organised by the Institute for Strategic Studies (ISS) and the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) in Ulaanbaatar. She delivered the opening speech at the session devoted to various international defence issues, attended by the French Ministry of Armed Forces through the Defence Staff (État-Major des Armées) and representatives from the Directorate General of International Relations and Strategy (DGRIS).

This bilateral security dialogue had not been held since 2019 although it is of particular importance this year since Mongolia’s president will be visiting France in October. Mongolia is a close interlocutor for France on a wide range of topics, such as great power competition, Russia, China and Europe, but also the evolution of alliances and new security dynamics in Asia. 

Marjorie Vanbaelinghem also met several Mongolian think-tankers gathered around the team from Mongolia’s National Institute for International Studies (NISS). It provided an occasion to get a good grasp of the Mongolian “Third Neighbour Policy” as well as local researchers’ vision of the current security environment. IRSEM’s Director also answered a lot of questions with regard to France’s goals in the Indopacific as well as on France’s position on the war in Ukraine. A meeting with a wider circle of IRSEM researchers and Mongolian think-tankers should be scheduled soon.