🧑‍🤝‍🧑 The color of the year in foreign relations

2025 was marked more by the President's outbound foreign visits than by the reception of high-level foreign state guests in Mongolia. During the year, the heads of state of Austria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Japan, and Australia paid official visits to Mongolia, while President U.Khurelsukh conducted official visits to 10 countries.

☝️ Outcomes of These Visits

As a result, Mongolia established comprehensive partnerships with the Czech Republic, Poland, and Kyrgyzstan, and elevated relations to strategic partnerships with Turkey, India, and Italy. This brought the total number of Mongolia’s strategic partners to 10 countries.

• 👍 Most Recent Milestone: On December 1, President Khurelsukh paid an official visit to Italy, elevating bilateral relations to a strategic partnership. Italy thus became the second European country to establish a strategic partnership with Mongolia, marking progress toward higher-level relations with all G7 countries.

💡 Special Summit

Furthermore, on September 2, the 7th trilateral summit of the heads of state of Russia, China, and Mongolia was held in Beijing, where the 3 sides finally agreed to move forward with the Power of Siberia II gas pipeline project. The previous trilateral meeting had taken place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in 2022.

🤵 Mass Replacement of Ambassadors

In the final stretch of 2025, the President recalled 21 ambassadors and submitted proposals for new appointments to Parliament, all of which were reviewed and approved during parliamentary sessions. Most of the recalled envoys had been appointed in 2021, meaning their 4-year terms concluded this year, prompting a broad diplomatic rotation.

• Among those recalled was A. Tumur, who had been implicated in a murder case. He was replaced by V. Oyu, a career diplomat with 30 years of service.

👀 Political Bureau Developments

Domestic politics in 2025 were largely defined by internal power struggles within the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP). In the first half of the year, youth-led protests lasted 21 days, demanding the resignation of then Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene following public outrage over the extravagant lifestyle of his son and daughter-in-law. On June 3, L.Oyun-Erdene resigned, bringing down the coalition government with him.

• 😵 On June 13, G.Zandanshatar was appointed Prime Minister, only to resign 127 days later. His resignation coincided with that of D.Amarbayasgalan, his rival in the race for the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) leadership. In an unexpected turn, both contenders withdrew from the party leadership race on the same day, creating a rare and unprecedented situation in which 2 of the country’s 3 top political leaders stepped down simultaneously.

In the second half of 2025, divisions within the ruling party became increasingly visible. The outgoing Prime Minister challenged the move legally and politically, and ultimately survived after a presidential veto, narrowly retaining his cabinet. However, resignation calls resurfaced once again due to controversy surrounding the appointment of 16 Deputy Ministers.

• 💥 Presidential veto: Due to persistent internal turmoil within the MPP, his own party, 2025 saw the President become active in exercising veto power, arguably the most effective tool at his disposal throughout the year. Notably, on September 24, he partially vetoed a parliamentary resolution related to the launch of the “Gold-3” campaign, ahead of the veto that ultimately kept G.Zandanshatar in office.

✊ Protests and Civic Movements

Against the backdrop of intense political infighting, civic activism remained vibrant. Major demonstrations included the “Resignation Is Easy” protest calling for the Prime Minister’s dismissal, the counter “Let’s Take Back Ukhaa Khudag” protest, as well as doctors’ and teachers’ strikes and wage-increase demonstrations in the second half of the year.

Finally… Kudos to Mongolians who once again demonstrated remarkable political endurance in a year defined by turmoil and serial disappointments from those in power. In the span of 12 months, the country came close to cycling through 3 Prime Ministers and 2 ruling party leaders, a feat few democracies could match.  

2025 will be remembered less for policy outcomes and more as a year of highly engaging political theatre. One can only hope that in 2026, policymakers retire their internal battles and power struggles, and finally turn their attention to the work they were elected to do.