CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE OFFICE RECEIVES USACE REPS

Chief of Staff of the Office of the President Z.Enkhbold received representatives of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on March 27th. The sides considered cooperation opportunities for Civil Engineering Units of the Mongolian Armed Forces and USACE.

Present were, Chairman of the General Staff of Armed Forces of Mongolia Lieutenant General D.Davaa, US Army Pacific Commanding General Roger Noble, Senior Program Manager of Security Cooperation at Interagency & International Services Evan Ting and other related officials.

The USACE reps gave comprehensive introduction about the Corps’ activities and functions, and answered the questions from Mongolian side. The corps’ staff comprises 350,000 people, including civil engineers, academics, researchers, specialists and uniformed personnel. Scope of their activities covers wide range of issues, such as flood risk management, water supply, watershed regulation, infrastructure development, hydropower, ecosystem restoration and sustainability, military construction and overseas operations management. The representatives also mentioned some of the examples of their works outside the United States. The USACE, established in 1775, two days after the inception of the US Army and a year earlier than the independence of the US, is in cooperation with 132 countries and has 43 branches.

Last year, the USACE built two kindergartens in Mongolia, specifically, located in Zamyn-Uud of Dornogobi aimag and Bayanzurkh district of Ulaanbaatar. The representatives also mentioned the USACE has organized a workshop in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) of Mongolia on flood safety.

After receiving the full introduction, Chief of Staff of the President’s Office Z.Enkhbold underlined that, as understood, the USACE, in Mongolia’s perspective, runs similar functions to those of many organizations of Mongolia collectively, including the Civil and Engineering Units of the Armed Forces, Administrations of Specially Protected Areas, NEMA, Agency for Land Management, Geodesy and Cartography and Hydropower Plants. Mr. Z.Enkhbold thanked for the detailed presentation.

The Chief of Staff of the President’s Office said Mongolia has a great interest in the USACE’s practice of construction of flood protection dam, water reservoir and hydropower plants, and asked about the viability of Mongolian military civil engineers receiving training through the USACE on construction of flood protection dam.