The international Ulaanbaatar Dialogue conference, organized by the Strategy and Research Institute of the National Security Council and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss security issues concerning Northeast Asia, started on June 16, in Ulaanbaatar. The conference is being held under the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue Initiative on Northeast Asian Security. A series of discussions are being held among scholars and researchers attending the conference on the current situation of security in Northeast Asia, challenges, steps toward building regional understanding and mutual trust, and promoting regional economic ties. The conference attendees are exchanging views on environmental protection and disaster management cooperation for the first time since the initiative was launched. Representatives from the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Deputy Director of the Sejong Institute of the Republic of Korea, a senior researcher from Johns Hopkins University, Deputy Director of the China Institute of International Studies, and researchers from Russia are presenting lectures on regional security, current economic conditions and future trends, and cooperation in environmental issues. More than 150 researchers from Russia, China, the U.S., India, the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Great Britain, Japan, Germany, France, Australia, and Mongolia are being joined by representatives from the United Nations, International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation to take part in the two-day conference.