NEW DELHI: While China will be in focus during Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's forthcoming visit to East Asia , the real value would be his trip to neighboring Mongolia , where Indian grand strategy will meet the charms of "Art of Living" style of meditation and mindfulness.Constrained by geography and sandwiched between the great powers of China and Russia, Mongolia has looked upon India as a "spiritual neighbour". That's why Mongolia will greet the first ever prime ministerial visit from India by going the whole nine yards on a weekend. As India intensifies its efforts to engage with China's periphery, Mongolia has become more significant to New Delhi's Asia strategy.Chimed Saikhanbileg, Mongolian PM, will be opening up the Parliament for Modi on Sunday to address lawmakers in Ulaan Baator. Since this is also Mongolia's 25th anniversary of becoming a democracy, India will push two key elements of its soft power - Buddhism and democracy. Coming from China, the distinction cannot be more stark.But the "cool" component will doubtless be a special workshop of the popular 'Art of Living' practice, which apparently enjoys huge popularity in Mongolia. Saikhanbileg has promised to be part of the workshop, though it's not clear whether Modi will participate as well.Modi is scheduled to begin his visit at the famous 19th century Gandantegchinlen Monastery where he will plant a sapling from the 'Mahabodhi' tree. The Mongolians will lay out the rarest of rare visual treats - a special session of their national festival, the Naadam Games. This festival, featuring equestrian sports, wrestling and archery, is generally held in July and is on the UNESCO list of intangible heritage, apparently tracing its history to Genghis Khan.For the first time, this year will see a second celebration, albeit on a smaller scale, for the Indians on Sunday.India has always enjoyed a special place in Mongolia, but with China and India both engaging intensively in each other's periphery, this land-locked East Asian country has acquired strategic importance.Mongolia is rich in minerals, but India has consistently lost out to China in access to these resources. In 2014, China's Shenhua Corporation together with Japan's Sumitomo Corp and Energy Resources LLC took over the massive Tavan Tolgoi coal deposits. India came up with a non-serious bid that had little chance of going through. India even signed a uranium deal with Mongolia in 2009, but that has not gone further, and the Indians have cooled off.Modi is expected to announce a big assistance package to Mongolia. That is part of India's recent outreach to all of China's neighbours, a counter strategy to Beijing's own outreach to countries in India's periphery. Mongolia is also the only country where the Indian ambassador from 1990-2000 was the 19th Kushok Bakula Rimpoche, one of the leading lamas of the 20th century. A sign of his importance, and consequently that of India was that it was the Indian ambassador who hosted the Mongolian leadership, not the other way around.