PRESIDENT BATTULGA: “OUR COUNTRY WILL START GROWING WHEN WE GET RID OF SMOKE”
President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga has initiated the National Forum on Reduction of Air Pollution. The Forum, jointly organized by the Office of the President, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Construction and Urban Development, Office of the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar and the World Health Organization, is taking place today in the Great Hall of the State Palace.
President Battulga gave an opening speech. “We gathered here today to discuss the most familiar, yet seemingly unfamiliar, topic. We have been talking about smog for many years. But it still stands. It makes the issue an unfamiliar one”, he said.
The President addressed the newly formed cabinet and newly appointed Ministers to call upon them to come up with the right solutions collectively.
“A medium-term development policy for Mongolia was approved on June 23 of 2010. This policy document outlined policies promoting development of agricultural sector, improvement of living standards of livestock herders through measures, such as setting up a complete cycle for the livestock herders living in the remotest of soums [administrative units] to sell their products through agricultural exchange to wool and cashmere factories. The policy document sets out a list of projects on building factories for processing up to 10 million pieces of animal hides, wool and cashmere.
Unfortunately, cabinets did not support them,” he went on.
The President said, “About 50 percent of the country’s population resides in Ulaanbaatar. More than 51 percent of Ulaanbaatar residents live in Ger Areas. Today, the reason why those people are sticking to the slums and burning coal for survival is that they do not have any constant income. Therefore, they are not qualified to access apartment mortgage loans. This situation can be traced back to the problems of poverty and unemployment.”
“Unluckily, political polarization and frauds for profit reigned over us and became the main obstacle for achieving the goals we have been setting,” he noted.
The President called on the forum participants to find the right solutions without endorsing political polarization.