Being one of the most dynamically developing regions of the world, North East Asia is blessed with dynamic and pragmatic nations, natural rich, scientific and technological capabilities. The region hosts almost 30 per cent of the world population and accounts for 17% of world export and 14% of world import. On the other hand NEA is characterized by the existence of distinctive and homogenous nations with ancient civilizations, which have stunned the world, by the creation of the largest land empire, rich cultural heritage, deep philosophical thoughts and economic miracles. One has to admit that North East Asia is characterized by great disparities in the size of territories, populations, both in terms of numbers and density, natural wealth and development levels and by diversity of cultures and traditions.

The existence of the hard security realities, Cold War borders and active security influences of extra-regional powers are the reality of the region. The resentment between the nations, inherited legacies of the past wars add to the complexities of international relations in the region. The removal of the old sentiments and attitudes remains to be a challenge. The tension in the Korean Peninsula evokes legitimate security concerns among the countries of the region.

The new non-conventional threats to the security are yet to be addressed by the nations of the region. Though most of the countries of the region are not facing acute danger of terrorism as compared to many other regions of the world, this is one of the dangers that does not recognize borders or cultures. Human security issues represent another set of challenges to the nations of the region representing an area of prospective co-operation. Pollution, migration, depletion of natural resources are the issues that would be effectively addressed through regional efforts.

We have to admit that in terms of regional integration Northeast Asia is lagging behind both in hard and soft security environments. The countries in the region have to deal with tensions elsewhere in the region, a need of regional economic cooperation and further collaboration in many areas. Intra-regional trade in the region is still dominated by bilateral trade. Obviously the process of intra-regional economic integration is yet to gain momentum.

MPRP stands for the peaceful resolution of the disputed issues in the region, which could become a strong impetus toward the regional dialogue. While the official structures are slow to act on the issues of regional integration, non-government actors, such as political parties, NGOs, businesses should start the active dialogue between themselves, based on the potential complementarities of the region. Such a dialogue could act as another soft infrastructure for possible regional cooperation.

Given the hard and soft security realities the political parties in the region should cooperate with each other to promote mutual understanding, people to people contacts through which one can overcome old sentiments and attitudes, inherited legacies of the past and mutual distrust. This is specifically significant given the tradition of distinctive civilizations and homogenous nations in the region.

Free exchange of views between Asian political parties over the common problems facing the region might be a welcome input in furthering regional economic cooperation. The creation of framework of exchange of views between the political parties in the region would further allow the regional dialogue to proceed. MPRP would be happy to play a role of moderator should such ideas be supported by the political parties in the region.

Being a “straddle” country in the region bordering with Islamic Central Asia and non-Islamic North East Asia, sandwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia historically used to play a bridging role, connecting these civilizations. Mongolia sees its future with the development and prosperity of North East Asia as a region. Mongolia has been actively looking forward for the participation in regional projects such as oil, gas pipelines, energy transmission lines etc. These are the projects that would connect Mongolia and Russian Far East to the dynamically developing region of NEA.

Closing my speech I would like to say that there is a general feeling that the process of integration in North East Asia is already overdue and the efforts to bring this process are still slow and limited. The existence of tensions, nascent stage of economic ties as well as the fact that many countries of the region are in stage of transition, are so far acting as limiting factor for the active start of regional dialogue for integration. But the speed of world development, process of globalisation and emergence of new security threats are urging nations of Northeast Asia to think and act, both regionally and globally.