The Parliament of Mongolia is convening the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue on June 13-14, 2023, along with Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, the Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future, and Ewha Womans University as co-hosts. The joint gathering will spur new research and policy partnerships between experts from the United States and Asia on gender equality in higher education and government and empower youth to become leaders who advance the sustainable development agenda.

The State Great Hural (Parliament) of Mongolia, along with co-hosts Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), the Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future, and Ewha Womans University, announced today the convening of the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue (TASD) to stimulate cooperative action toward achieving the United Nations-adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Focused on expediting the implementation of gender equality and women’s empowerment, the fifth of the Agenda’s underlying 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the two-day Dialogue will be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on June 13 and 14, 2023.

The Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue is a subregional convening of the Trans-Pacific Sustainability Dialogue (TPSD), a joint initiative of the Ban Ki-moon Foundation and Shorenstein APARC held annually in Asia and aimed at scaling action on the SDGs by activating new research and policy partnerships between experts from the United States and Asia and between governments and non-state actors. Gender equality is crucial to driving development progress and is an overarching goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Yet persistent social and economic inequalities, gender-based violence, discrimination, and underrepresentation have impeded the full realization of women’s potential. This is why the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue is designed to translate cutting-edge humanities and social science research and data into meaningful gender equality solutions for local, state, and global government agencies and communities.

The first day of the gathering, held at the State Palace of the Parliament of Mongolia, will consist of multiple public sessions featuring government officials, academics, and practitioners from the United States and across Asia. Keynote speakers and panelists will discuss barriers to gender equality in education, the labor market, and government; examine issues such as gender-based violence and human rights and the connections between gender equality and sustainable development; and consider policy solutions to facilitate a more rapid shift to the empowerment of all women and girls. Keynote speakers include Ban Ki-moon, the eighth secretary-general of the UN and the chairman of the Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future, Kim Youngjoo, deputy speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Enkh-Amgalan Luvsantseren, Mongolia’s minister of education and science, and Zandanshatar Gombojav, chairman of Mongolia’s Parliament. Panelists hail from multiple regions across Asia, including Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Turkey.

We are pleased that the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue has resulted from our 2022 inaugural Trans-Pacific Sustainability Dialogue in Seoul and are eager to seize the momentum to spark and amplify interventions to advance a gender-equal and sustainable future.

Gi-Wook Shin

Director, APARC

"Gender equality has been my top priority as I served the UN as Secretary-General and afterward,” notes Mr. Ban Ki-moon. “In this regard, I am pleased to note that the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue has taken the agenda of gender equality as the main theme. Gender equality represents the core value of human rights. It also plays an essential role in implementing the SDGs. I am confident that this event will provide momentum to enhance public awareness of the importance of gender equality across the Altai region."

“As we approach the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Agenda, there remains much work ahead to expedite progress on women’s empowerment,” says Gi-Wook Shin, the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea at Stanford and director of APARC. “We are pleased that the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue has resulted from our 2022 inaugural TPSD in Seoul and are eager to seize the momentum to spark and amplify interventions to advance a gender-equal and sustainable future through our continued collaborative effort with Mr. Ban Ki-moon and his team, Ewha Womans University, and our partners in Mongolia.”

A major goal of the Sustainability Dialogue initiative is to mobilize and engage young leaders toward advocating for the SDGs in accessible and innovative ways. Highlighting the role of youth in achieving the SDGs, the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue includes paper discussions and poster presentations by students from Stanford University and Ewha Womans University. The Dialogue also aims to bridge between local grassroots activities and institutional SDG stakeholders. In this spirit of stimulating bottom-up cooperation across diverse outlooks, on the second day of the Dialogue, participants will engage in a field trip and cultural activities that provide a creative and open environment where they can freely share ideas and explore collaborations and next steps.

“Gender equality has been a significant value and practical social task pursued by Ewha Womans University, so I am very pleased that the TASD in Mongolia takes the theme of gender equality dealing with women’s empowerment, leadership, education, and work,” says Eun Mee Kim, Ewha’s president. “Through this conference, I hope to expand gender-equitable education opportunities in the Altai region and engage more women leaders in decision-making, bringing us one step closer to realizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. I hope that the Ban Ki-moon Foundation, Stanford University, the Mongolian team, and Ewha Womans University will continue to cooperate and produce meaningful results for realizing gender equality as an agenda of the SDGs.”

The Dialogue demonstrates the shared commitment of its convening and co-organizing partners to the vital role of women and the need for their full and equal participation and leadership in all areas of sustainable development. Mongolia’s State Great Hural has been working alongside the Inter-Parliamentary Union towards becoming a gender-sensitive and human rights-focused parliament. This year, the State Great Hural is on track to implement several important activities as part of this work, including gender-sensitive law-making processes. The Ban Ki-moon Foundation continues to collaborate with international organizations and educational institutions toward implementing the SDG framework, which was spearheaded by Mr. Ban during his term as the UN secretary-general. APARC, drawing on its four-decade-long track record of bringing Asia scholarship to bear on policy questions, is capitalizing on Stanford University’s renewed commitment to improving the quality of human life and our planet through the new Doerr School of Sustainability. And Ewha Womans University, one of the world’s largest female educational institutes, is modernizing women’s education and pursuing new opportunities focused on advancing a sustainable society through its Ewha Vision 2030+.

About the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center

The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) addresses critical issues affecting the countries of Asia, their regional and global affairs, and U.S.-Asia relations. As Stanford University’s hub for the interdisciplinary study of contemporary Asia, APARC produces policy-relevant research, provides education and training to students, scholars, and practitioners, and strengthens dialogue and cooperation between counterparts in the Asia-Pacific and the United States. Founded in 1983, APARC today is home to a community of distinguished academics and practitioners in government, business, and civil society who specialize in trends that cut across the entire Asia-Pacific region. For more, visit www.aparc.stanford.edu.

About the Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future

The Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future follows and further develops the achievement and philosophy of Ban Ki-moon, the 8th Secretary General of the United Nations through upholding the values of unification, communication and co-existence, and dedication. It promotes three pillars of the UN including peace and security, development, and human rights, and contributes to making a better future devoid of conflict and deficiency. In particular, the Ban Ki-moon Foundation actively collaborates with the UN, international organizations, and stakeholders toward achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and realizing the 2050 carbon net-zero of all state parties of the Paris Climate Accord of 2015. For more, visit www.eng.bf4bf.or.kr.

About Ewha Womans University

Ewha was established in 1886 as the first women’s educational institution in the Republic of Korea by an American missionary Mary F. Scranton. Ewha began educating women and girls who had not had opportunities for any education during the late Chosun dynasty in 19th century Korea. In 1887, “Po Goo Nyo Goan” was established in the compounds of Ewha as the first women’s hospital to help cure women patients by women doctors and nurses. Since then, Ewha’s mission has stood firmly on two pillars: women’s education and women’s health and medical education. Today, Ewha’s mission is to educate and nurture women leaders of the world in all fields of academic disciplines based on the Christian spirit of love, devotion, and sharing. With 25,000 students, 250,000 alumni around the world, and 2,000 international students, Ewha has grown into one of the leading research universities in the world with a full range of academic disciplines from humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, arts and music, engineering, law, medicine, and two teaching hospitals. Ewha has 15 undergraduate colleges, 15 graduate schools, and 2 teaching hospitals, each with 1,000 beds in the capital city of Seoul, Republic of Korea. For more, visit www.ewha.ac.kr.

Media Contact

Journalists interested in covering the Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue should contact Enkh-Undram Bayartogtokh, Head of Communications for the Secretariat of The State Great Hural (Parliament) of Mongolia, at enkhundram@parliament.mn. For further information on the convening, please contact Cheryll Alipio, Shorenstein APARC’s Associate Director for Program and Policy at calipio@stanford.edu.

The National Academy of Governance (NAOG) of the Government of Mongolia, and MONTSAME - Mongolian National News Agency in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), through its Project Office on Governance (UNPOG) of the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG), and with the support of the UN Resident Coordinator Office in Mongolia and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Mongolia, is organizing a five-days National Workshop on “Effective Governance for Sustainable Development in Mongolia”, which will be held from 07 to 13 June 2023 in the National Academy of Governance, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

MONTSAME Agency clarified the workshop from Mr. Tapan Mishra, the UN Resident Coordinator in Mongolia.

1. We are going to have the first National Workshop on Effective Governance for Sustainable Development in Mongolia. So, what do you see the UN participation here? What outcomes are you expecting from this workshop?

This first National Workshop on Effective Governance for Sustainable Development in Mongolia is being designed with the National Academy of Governance and UN agencies led by UN DESA with strong engagement from the RC’s office from UNDP and other UN partners, including ESCAP. This workshop aims to bring out the best examples of governance of other countries to help our Mongolian colleagues in the National Academy of Governance to enhance their capacities.

This National Workshop is organized under the leadership of the United Nations Project Office on Governance (UNPOG), located in Incheon. It consists of three main parts. The first part focuses on training individuals who will serve as trainers at the National Academy of Governance. These trainers will play a crucial role in facilitating the subsequent core workshop on governance, which spans three days.

The participants will be members of technical working groups of ministries on governance and projects aimed at enhancing the governance of ministries and the Government.

The workshop will provide valuable insights into different aspects of governance, such as the implementation of Sustainable Goals (SG), data enhancement, and digitalization. It will encompass a comprehensive discussion on these topics, aiming to identify the key challenges and opportunities. Subsequently, the results of the workshop will be translated into an action plan, allowing the participants to reflect on what they learned and make it into an action plan. So, we can plan for results at the end of the workshop.

We want to also present these action plans to a High-Level Panel of the Government to have a common understanding and a sense of ownership and commitment, so these action plans can be well implemented.

On the final day of the workshop requested by MONTSAME Mongolian National News Agency, we will focus on enhancing the capacities of journalists in disaster risk communication. The objective is to enable journalists to effectively communicate timely aspects of disaster-related information amid the challenges and risks.

So, I am very excited that this national workshop on governance has concurred with this critical moment when we are implementing our next five years strategy of UN. Governance, the third priority of SDG, is a key aspect of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF). We are delighted to be able to offer this workshop to the Government of Mongolia at such a timely moment.

2. Could you please provide some examples of countries that have successfully improved governance for sustainable development?

Certainly! During the workshop, we will mainly discuss the good practices of Asian countries, such as South Korea and the Philippines. These practices are more relevant to Mongolia, and we will examine them in detail. The aim is to learn from these examples and adapt them to the Mongolian context. With those practices, we can enhance governance efficiency in Mongolia.

3. In terms of governance, where is Mongolia now?

There are three things. Firstly, Mongolia has thrived as a democratic country since the 1990s, transitioning from a socialist to a democratic system. Mongolians adopted a new market mechanism - a free market economy. The country has three key institutions in terms of the Parliament, the legislation; the executive; and the judiciary. While governance is progressively becoming more transparent, a power imbalance persists among the legislature, judiciary, and executive.

I don't have an exact index to tell you where Mongolian governance stands among the 193 countries. However, it is worth noting that the Government of Mongolia has demonstrated a strong commitment to learning from other opportunities and improving its efficiency. The Prime Minister of Mongolia has been taking action to increase the transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness of the Government and reduce corruption.

I'm very pleased to see that our side is taking the first step to support the Government in this endeavor, and it's evident that the Government is genuinely enthusiastic and open to moving in this direction.

4. What are the challenges in implementing effective governance for sustainable development, given the significant disparities between rural and urban areas?

Thank you for asking the question about the importance of balanced development between urban and rural areas in Mongolia. It is indeed crucial to address the challenges faced by rural communities and create opportunities for them to improve their livelihoods.

One significant aspect of rural development is finding ways to enhance the economic conditions of herders and diversify their income sources beyond traditional productions based on meat, wool, and cashmere. This can be achieved by supporting and promoting the growth of small and medium enterprises, particularly in dairy processing. By creating an enabling environment for such enterprises, the Government can stimulate economic vibrancy in rural areas, encourage people to return to rural areas, and promote sustainable development.

It's encouraging to hear that the Mongolian Government is focusing on regional development and voluntary national reviews (VNRs). By continuing to push in the right direction, Mongolia can create more economically viable conditions in rural regions and provide incentives for people to move back, thereby fostering balanced development across the country.

Furthermore, more than 90 percent of educational institutions in Mongolia are located in Ulaanbaatar. Every year, over 90 percent of children migrate to Ulaanbaatar and settle there, leading to an increased population in the capital city. The majority of employment opportunities are concentrated in Ulaanbaatar as well. Therefore, it is crucial to establish educational institutions in aimags to distribute opportunities more evenly.

If we observe countries like the USA and India, we can see that top-tier educational institutions are spread across the country. By establishing educational institutions in rural areas, the overall economy can experience growth. The Government should explore various opportunities in education, employment, livelihood, and services throughout the country. This approach would not only make the lives of individuals in rural areas more prosperous but also make these regions more attractive for young people to return to, as they would perceive them as financially and economically rewarding.

5. What significance is the UN giving to the workshop to be jointly organized with MONTSAME Agency?

As I mentioned before, governance is one of the most important facets of transforming Government in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and ensuring inclusive and sustainable development for all Mongolians, leaving no one behind.

So, We, the UN, are giving utmost importance to this workshop, which will be jointly organized with the Government, MONTSAME, and the National Academy of Governance.

Thank you!

On June 6, the Standing Committee on Economy supported discussing a draft revision of the Law on Civil Aviation Law, which was submitted by the government on May 25.

Minister of Road and Transport Development S.Byambatsogt informed that the bill has 10 chapters and 51 articles. In the bill, the control, regulation, functions and operation of civil aviation are included in accordance with the Model Civil Aviation Safety Act recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

The draft revision provides for new economic regulations aimed at developing competitive air transport and protecting the interests of passengers. Considering that the current law only regulates the aircraft owned by the carrier, it is considered appropriate to regulate the operation of many types of aircraft, and the relevant regulations are included in the bill, Minister S.Byambatsogt said.

In the bill, the regulation of airports under various conditions of use and various types of ownership, service operations that ensure flight safety and the unity of air traffic, and state regulation are newly reflected.

Air navigation services in Mongolia’s airspace are provided by state-owned legal entities certified by civil aviation rules, according to the bill.

The bill sponsors believe that by approving the bill, the safety, efficiency and accessibility of civil aviation operations in Mongolia will increase, aviation safety will be improved, investment and competition will grow, and a legal framework will be created to optimize and upgrade the structure and organization of the industry.

Member of the government of Mongolia and Minister of Defence Saikhanbayar Gursed arrived on a working visit to Singapore on June 2-4.

During the visit, he took part in the conference of the Ministers of Defence of Asia and the Pacific region on international security Shangri-La Dialogue 2023, which is being held in the country for the 20th time.

Minister Saihanbayar Gursed held official meetings with Colonel General Li Shangfu, member of the Central Military Commission of China and Minister of Defence appointed in March, Heng Chee How, Senior Minister of State for Defence of Singapore, and State Minister of Defence of Qatar Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah. The sides exchanged views on assessing the level of defense cooperation between the countries.

He also held a bilateral meeting and discussed in detail the current level of bilateral relations, defense cooperation and future development trends with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Minister of Defence of Canada Anita Anand, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Korea Lee Jong-Sup and Federal Minister of Defence of Germany Boris Pistorius.

Saikhanbayar held bilateral meetings with Acting Secretary of National Defense of Philippines Carlito Galvez, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Deputy Secretary General Angus Lapsley and Association of Southeast Asian Nations Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn. A bilateral meeting was held with these ministers, during which bilateral relations, the current level of defense cooperation, future development trends and new opportunities were discussed in detail.

The Czech government is planning to again change the quotas for applications to work in the Czech Republic, to offer jobs to more low- and medium-skilled applicants at the embassies in Manila and Ulaanbaatar, rather than Ukraine, based on a proposal from the Interior Ministry.

In the Philippines, it will offer work permits to 3,000 people per year, up from the current 2,500, and in Mongolia it will offer 2,000 permits instead of the current 1,230, according to the proposal to be discussed at a cabinet meeting later this month.

The government does not intend to increase the overall number of migrant workers from third countries, so the quota at the embassy in Lviv, Ukraine, will be simultaneously reduced from the current 38,000 to 33,000.

The ministry’s proposal also includes a plan to allow Skoda Transportation to recruit 300 skilled workers from Indonesia on a one-off basis, primarily welders, electricians and locksmiths for the production of wagons. Jakarta’s permanent quota is set at 130 work permits per year.

The government previously redirected part of the quota intended for employment of Ukrainians to other countries last September.

Quotas to employ skilled foreigners from outside the EU were introduced in September 2019. The maximum number of applications that embassies in each country can accept is set by the government. The cabinet reassesses these quotas periodically.

Employers have repeatedly complained of a shortage of workers and requested more workers from abroad. They also call for the recruitment process to be sped up and simplified.

The draft amendments, which institutions can comment on until the middle of next week, also envisage abolishing the quota for visa applications for travel of more than 90 days for business purposes at the diplomatic missions in Yekaterinburg and St Petersburg in Russia (currently 50 applications per year at each mission), due to the closure of both offices.