The flags of Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan, hanging in Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar. Photo from the website of the president of Mongolia. From July 9–11, Kyrgyzstan’s president Sadyr Japarov arrived on an official visit to Mongolia. During talks, the parties discussed deepening relations and cooperation, strengthening mutual political trust and the legal framework of relations, as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest. The main outcome was the signing of the Joint Declaration of Establishing Friendship and Cooperation as well as 10 other cooperation agreements in the trade, environment, security, and cultural spheres. The visit was capped off with the inauguration of the Kyrgyz Embassy in Mongolia on July 11. the presidents of Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan with their wives. Photo from the website of the President of mongolia. There have been several examples of successful social and economic cooperation between the two sides. The outcomes of Japarov’s visit outcomes were similar to the outcomes of numerous previous visits by Kyrgyz and Mongolian leaders that may have fallen short of their stated goals in the economic sphere. However, his visit coincided with growing trade and an organic, bottom-up, people-to-people interaction, giving this effort a higher chance of bringing the two countries closer together. Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia have a shared history and culture. Their interaction counts thousands of years. The ancestors of the current day Kyrgyz people originally inhabited the Yenisey River valley in central Siberia as early as 201 BCE and later the Minusinsk Hollow in southern Siberia in the 12th century CE. Living in these areas meant neighboring and interacting with the Mongol people. The modern-day manifestations of this centuries-old interaction and shared history and culture are the extensive use of yurts and the central role of the horse in Kyrgyz and Mongolian culture, common among nomadic people. Another proof of the past geographic proximity and interaction between them is the lake called Khyargas Nuur (Kyrgyz lake), located in western Mongolia. The country is home to 2,000–3,000 ethnic Kyrgyz people who live in the western province of Bayan Olgii. One of them, Bulany Beisen, serves as a member of Mongolian parliament. Here is an Instagram video of the Khyargas Nuur (Kyrgyz Lake) located in western Mongolia. A post shared by Erdenebulgan Photographer (@erdenebulgan_photographer) The modern history of cooperation between the two countries dates back to the Soviet Union, when Kyrgyzstan was a part of it and Mongolia was a satellite state. In 1986, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, J. Batmunkh, arrived on an official visit to the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). The two sides signed an agreement establishing direct friendly ties. In the same year the two sides signed an agreement on the main areas of cooperation for 1987–1990, aimed at exchanging experiences in the development of mining, agriculture and animal husbandry. The history of cooperation between Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan can be described as slow and steady. In 1991, Kyrgyzstan became independent following the collapse of the Soviet Union and started its transition to democracy. In 1992, the People’s Republic of Mongolia ceased to exist and the country switched from the socialist regime to a democratic one under the name of Mongolia. That same year the two countries established diplomatic relations as sovereign states. In 1993, Kyrgyzstan’s first president Askar Akayev arrived on an official visit to Mongolia, and the two countries signed several documents that formed the legal basis for relations between them. Among them were the Treaty of Friendly Relations and Cooperation between Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan as well as agreements on economic, cultural, scientific, and environmental cooperation. Akayev visited Mongolia again in 2002. The negotiations ended with similar statements on mutual interest in economic, agricultural, and cultural cooperation. Despite the ambitious plans, the relations developed slowly and did not yield any major results. In 2012, Mongolia’s former president Elbegdorj Tsakhia visited Kyrgyzstan. The visit somewhat revived bilateral cooperation as the parties reaffirmed the importance of further developing cooperation between the two countries. It was followed up by the opening of the Ulaanbaatar–Bishkek–Istanbul flight that established a direct flight between the two countries for the first time. In 2014, Mongolia opened a General Consulate in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek. In 2015, Elbegdorj Tsakhia visited Kyrgyzstan for the second time and stated that the two countries were interested in active trade and economic cooperation.