USAID/Mongolia :: Updates

In the 17 October meeting of the Government of Mongolia (GoM)-Donor Consultative Group on Investment Climate and Private Sector Development, the Chairman, Prime Minister S. Bayar, assigned the State Property Committee (SPC) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) the task of establishing, in collaboration with private investors, legal liability entities for: a) a single national electronic window (SEW) for trade facilitation; and b) a Logistics Facility at Zamiin-Uud on the Mongolian border with China. These proposed Public-Private Sector Partnerships (PPPs) in trade facilitation have been inspired and long advocated by USAID.

During 18-22 October, USAID Messrs. Barry Primm, Jeffrey Goodson, and Regional Contracting Officer (RCO) Raymond Edler, along with the Mission’s FSN Public Outreach Officer, Undrakh Bulgan, traveled to Mongolia’s aimags of Omnogobi and Ovorhangay to visit project sites. In the respective aimag capitals of Dalandzadgad and Arvayheer, the group met with governors and court justices to discuss the USAID financed Gobi II Regional Economic Development Initiative and Judicial Reform Project respectively. Both projects are scheduled to close out by year end. In addition, the USAID group discussed the progress of the Gobi Forage Project with the aimag governors and the respective Gobi II offices.

A letter from Mr. D. Zorigt, GoM Minister of Minerals and Fuels & Energy, was received on October 23rd by USAID requesting the latter’s assistance in developing a national consensus on developing Mongolia's minerals sector. As a result, a series of meetings and discussions are underway, with the Minister, concerned Members of Parliaments, and concerned donors including the World Bank (WB), Asia Development Bank (ADB) and GTZ regarding this request. Assuming a positive outcome, the proposed/requested technical support would be provided through USAID’s Economic Policy Reform and Competitiveness Project (EPRC).

During the last week of October, the USAID Mongolia Office with the assistance of USAID Philippines RCO Raymond Edler and USAID RDMA Bangkok’s Regional Legal Advisor (RLA) conducted its annual portfolio review. Each implementing partner (contractors and grantees) for each USAID funded project reviewed its accomplishments and performance of the past year. This information will feed into the Mission’s upcoming Performance Report and Plan which is due December first this year.

In the morning and early afternoon of October 28th the GoM-World Bank sponsored "Economic Growth Conference" was successfully conducted with an impressive list of internationally recognized speakers analyzing different national mineral sector policy frameworks. In the late afternoon of the same day/forum, the GoM and WB also held a donor roundtable on managing inflation and economic growth. See first attachment. The next day, the Conference was followed by a GoM presentation of an outline of the State Great Hural’s (Parliament’s) 2009 action plan to the donors.