Posted on 4/5/2009

On 19 February, the Government of Mongolia’s (GoM) Financial Regulatory Commission (FRC) approved the Regulations for Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) developed with the technical and advocacy support of USAID’s Economic Policy Reform and Competitiveness (EPRC) Project. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on 20 February between EPRC and the General Agency for Specialized Inspections to prepare for implementation of a Single Electronic Window for Foreign Trade Facilitation and to provide improved public access to trade policies and procedures. After weeks of negotiations and project assistance, ten freight forwarding companies signed an MoU on agreeing to establish the Logistics Park Corporation (LPC) as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the GoM.

The GoM’s Independent Agency Against Corruption (IAAC), long supported by USAID’s Mongolian Anti-Corruption Support Project, made a presentation to a Parliamentary Committee on its accomplishments this past year. This included: a) the filing of 46,768 Asset and Income Disclosures, which equals 98.9% of the total possible; b) the investigation of 447 officials;, and c) 192 corruption cases adjudicated by the courts.  Of the 192 cases adjudicated, 58 (30.2%) were referred for prosecution, 37 were dismissed (19.2%), and 40 (20.8%) were referred to other investigative bodies. Damages caused by these cases were estimated to amount to 31.163 billion MNT. Some 4.366  billion MNT was paid back during IAAC investigations, and the IAAC froze assets worth 6.05 billion MNT. The corruption conviction rate has increased by 20.8% to 94.8% compared to the rate from the prior five years, which was 74%.

Lastly, USAID Mongolia welcomes back its Senior Program Manager, Jeffrey Goodson, who returned to Mongolia at the very end of February from annual leave in the U.S.