Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai talks becoming a uranium producer, gladhanding Putin, and navigating Trump 2.0.

It was almost three decades ago that French miners decamped to the southern Gobi Desert in search of hidden riches. By 2006, they found what they were looking for: rich deposits of uranium lurking beneath the windswept sand dunes and rusting oil pumps. A series of pilot projects and environmental and economic assessments followed.

On Jan. 17, Mongolia’s first uranium mine, Zuuvch-Ovoo, was finally green-lighted with the signing of a $1.6 billion joint investment agreement between its government and French majority state-owned energy company Orano. “Uranium production in Mongolia will contribute both to low-carbon electricity generation and security of supply for our customers,” said Orano CEO Nicolas Maes in a statement.

The inking of that deal is both an economic boon for Mongolia and a welcome shot in the arm for the global fight against climate change just as returning U.S. President Donald Trump once again withdraws the world’s top economy from the Paris Agreement. While nuclear power remains controversial in some quarters, it has just a quarter of the carbon footprint of even solar, prompting more than 20 countries at COP28 to call for a tripling of the world’s nuclear energy capacity by 2050.

The Orano deal is also significant geopolitically, helping democratic Mongolia to further cultivate “third neighbor” links beyond the two authoritarian goliaths on its borders, China and Russia. But given the landlocked nation of 3.5 million is reliant on Beijing for 90% of trade and Moscow for 90% of imported gas and petroleum, the deal with France—a key backer of Ukraine in its war with Russia—isn’t without risk.

Tellingly, Mongolia hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin for a state visit in September, while controversially ignoring the International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest over alleged war crimes. “It’s unfortunate and damages our relations with third neighbors and also our democratic image,” Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, who served twice as Mongolian Prime Minister as well as President from 2009 to 2017, tells TIME. “I would have avoided it and advised [Putin] not to come.”

Aside from potential geopolitical blowback, Zuuvch-Ovoo is also a cautionary tale given the delays that have blighted it. When TIME visited the site last March, 11 tons of yellow-cake uranium produced by an 2021-2022 feasibility study were still being stored within dusty shipping containers, since Orano hadn’t been granted an export license. Even now, it will take another four years before the mine will start producing uranium, which is estimated at 2,750 tons annually over its 30-year lifespan.

Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai knows only too well the deleterious cost of delays. Despite winning a majority in June’s general elections, he chose to forge a “grand coalition” with minority parties. The goal, he says, is to try to build consensus on necessary infrastructure and development projects to prevent them becoming political footballs to be discarded and revived as one administration passes to the next. However, critics worry bringing minority parties into the majority tent weakens legislative scrutiny.

On Tuesday, TIME spoke via Zoom with Oyun-Erdene about the Orano deal, building relations beyond Russia and China, and boosting trade despite the expected tariffs of Trump 2.0.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

TIME: How significant is the Orano investment agreement for your goal of turning Mongolia into a major player on the global uranium market?

Oyun-Erdene: The Orano agreement is very important because Mongolia’s economy is based on our mining sector. The negotiation process with the French government took more than 10 years. Of course, there have been some challenges related to environmental issues as well as meeting some international standards, but … now Mongolia is one of the region’s uranium producers. And I would like to emphasize that it represents the second largest foreign direct investment from a third neighbor country to Mongolia.

How else are you strengthening Mongolia’s position in the global supply chain for critical minerals, especially with regard to third neighbors?

Of course, minerals are very important for Mongolia, as we have abundant resources, especially critical minerals. And besides the uranium project, we’re also in collaboration with the German and South Korean governments on exploration projects for critical minerals. In the future, we are very keen to cooperate with other third neighbors and we are very open to share data about Mongolia’s deposits. The government of Mongolia is planning to attend the PDAC Conference, which will take place in Toronto, Canada, in March. At that time, we will also have opportunities to talk with investors and share information about Mongolia’s mapping and deposits of critical minerals.

Mongolia is landlocked and uranium exports rely not only on your government retaining good relations with your two neighbours, Russia and China, but also France doing so. Are you worried that this boon may end up becoming hostage to geopolitics?

Indeed, there have been some challenges in the past 10 years negotiating this agreement. Of course, as you have mentioned, geopolitical tensions and transport challenges have been the main issues and causes of this delay. But now we have successfully agreed on this investment framework agreement, and we estimate that we won’t have any transportation or logistic challenges. And I would like to commend the French government on resolving this issue.

Putin visited Mongolia in September despite an International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest over alleged war crimes. Does this mean your government now rejects the jurisdiction of the ICC, and what message should third neighbors take?

The world has changed very fast over the past couple of years. But Mongolia’s position is very firm that we are a peace-loving country, and we always stand for peace not war. So we believe that all conflicts and disputes and tensions should be resolved through negotiations and diplomatic talks. And we were firm on this position, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the Russia-Ukraine war.

The governments of Mongolia and the Russian Federation have had friendly relations and historic ties since 1921. Every five years, the head of state of the Russian Federation pays a visit to Mongolia to celebrate the anniversary of our joint victory at the Khalkhin Gol battle. So we were explaining this situation to our partners, third neighbors, as well as to the ICC, in the run up to this anniversary, as well as the challenges and the economic dependency that we have regarding the Russian Federation. Also during and after the visit, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs worked very closely with our partners and the ICC to offer this explanation, and we do believe that we have made clear that we have some challenges in this regard.

We’ve spoken before about your efforts to combat corruption. In December, Orano agreed to pay a €4.8 million [$5 million] fine to settle a bribery investigation in relation to its mining operations in Mongolia. Is this not a concern given your firm stance on corruption?

We are aware of the bribery case, and the government of Mongolia wants to be as transparent and open as possible. So we have openly discussed this issue during our Cabinet meetings and we are also in talks openly with our prosecutor’s office. But we don’t believe that we have to lose time because this agreement is beneficial to both the government of Mongolia and the French government. So we believe in the judicial process. The judicial process will go on separately, but the investment framework agreement will be implemented as agreed.

Also, I participated in the One Water Summit in Saudi Arabia in December. I met with President Emmanuel Macron and discussed this issue, and we had excessive talks on how the two sides can cooperate closely. So we are confident that this bribery case will be solved according to the laws and rules, and the investment agreement will proceed smoothly.

Mongolia recently established a sovereign wealth fund. What steps have you taken to ensure investments meet international ESG [environmental, social, governance] standards?

Yes, Mongolia has approved the law on the sovereign wealth fund, which has three funds: a savings fund, future heritage fund, and the development fund. As of December 2024, we have accumulated $1.3 billion, and this revenue will increase as these mining projects proceed successfully. In our E-Mongolia digital platform we have opened accounts for each citizen who will receive revenues from mining projects [as part of the saving fund]. So when the [Orano] project starts and revenues start coming, people’s accounts will get money from this project [which they can spend in critical areas such as health care, education, and housing.] It’s very important that the Mongolian people can actually feel and see the benefits of our natural resources.

The U.S. has a new President who has campaigned on raising tariffs on many nations, including a possible 60% tariff on Chinese exports. Mongolia’s own economy is very much dependent on China, so are you worried about this new term of Trump and possible trickle down effects on Mongolia’s economy? As well as the effect of tariffs on the broad global trade landscape?

The Mongolia-U.S. relationship is very robust. I’m also confident that the relationship will be expanded because President Trump personally knows about Mongolia. In 2019, during President Trump’s first administration, the Mongolia-U.S. relationship was elevated to a strategic partnership, and President Trump is actually one of the few U.S. Presidents who have received our President for a visit. Also, President Trump’s family has paid several visits to Mongolia on personal trips to get acquainted with our nomadic lifestyle and beautiful landscape. So I’m confident that during his second tenure, our relationship will deepen further, as his administration understands the situation and challenges of Mongolia and will extend its support for our parliamentary democracy.

As regards to China, of course, we export our coking coal to the People’s Republic, and there is an issue that the price might decrease because of the tariffs on electric vehicles [owing to reduced demand for steel]. But we are cooperating very closely with the Chinese government on expanding our cooperation, especially on exports. We are working to establish a railway connecting agreement with China Energy Group so that we can export more coking coal to China. So we do believe that by increasing exports of our coal, we would not have any large disadvantages in terms of loss of economic revenues. Also, during my recent visit to Abu Dhabi, I met with Eric Trump, and we had an exchange about possible effects on Mongolia’s coking coal exports from this electric vehicle tax.

After last June’s election you entered a “grand coalition” with the [Mongolian] Democratic Party and HUN Party even though you had a parliamentary majority. Why was that, and are you satisfied with the results?

In the history of Mongolia, there have always been more than 10 mega development projects that were discussed but were never actually realized. So this government has introduced 14 mega development projects that we aim to implement within our term of office. And the [parliament] approved a constitutional amendment [to expand the legislature and adopt a mixed electoral system]. So these were all catalysts to form this coalition government, because I saw that Mongolia was too politicized. As a small kid, I looked forward to my country’s development, and there have been some projects that people discussed at that time, but still no progress has been made because of political divisions.

As we all know, the world is getting very polarized, especially with these wars, and the situation is very unpredictable. So we want to be ready, and we want to stand for our fundamental values, which is very important for our economic stability and resilience going forward. And also, I would like to emphasize that this new government has seen a drastic change in Mongolian politics, because now we have representatives of five political parties, and 70% are totally new MPs, and 25% are women. So we have actually become the leader in terms of [female representation] in Asia. So the bottom line is that consensus is very important in this parliament, in this government, and Mongolia.

Anti-government protests have flared up in recent weeks in Ulaanbaatar. What is the takeaway for your government?

One of the main reasons for these protests was the energy price liberalization that our government enacted recently. Of course, this was a difficult decision for our citizens, but it was very important because costs were not reflected by the price that we were actually selling energy. And to advance our energy projects, it is important for us to reform our energy sector. Of course, there are many projects, especially mega development projects, ongoing, including the Orano project. Not everyone can be content with everything that is going on.

There is also much discontent among the public regarding the judiciary system, because there are still ongoing cases related to the coal theft issue that happened two years ago, and also some issues related to the development bank, so the people were asking about those processes. We met with representatives of the protesters to listen to their demands. This is part of the democratic process, and it is very important for us to understand our people’s needs and to make information available and transparent to the public.

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