On October 25, the Foreign Ministry of Mongolia initiated “U.N. Week” to mark the 60th anniversary of Mongolia joining the United Nations. Mongolia’s history in the United Nations also serves as a window the country’s foreign policy, geopolitical challenges, as well as perseverance.

It took Mongolia 15 years from its first application to join the U.N. Mongolia’s repeated attempts to join the U.N. were challenged at every step, as superpower competition and geopolitical dynamics hindered these foreign policy goals. The Americans, Russians, and the Chinese were all opposed to Mongolia’s membership in the U.N. under different political circumstances and different timeframes.

Mongolia first attempted to join the U.N. in 1946, just after World War II. The Mongolians at the time believed that the change in world order was perhaps a chance to expand the country’s connections to the outside world.

On June 24, 1946, the prime minister of the Mongolian People’s Republic (MPR), Choibalsan Khorloo, applied for U.N. membership. Given the post-war mentality, the five permanent members – the Soviet Union, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France – were occupied with agendas of their own, which did not directly concern Mongolia. In July 1946, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, Herschel Johnson, supported the entry of a bloc of states – including Mongolia, as well as Afghanistan, Albania, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden – into the United Nations. However, A.A. Gromyko, the Soviet representative to the U.N., opposed Mongolia’s membership in the U.N.

The 1950s and 1960s were no better. The Cold War between the U.S. and the USSR ultimately divided other global and regional players as allies and enemies, communists, and capitalists. This global instability did not help Mongolia’s case to join the U.N., since the Soviet Union still had enormous influence in Mongolia. After multiple failed trips to New York, then-Prime Minister Marshall Tsedenbal Yumjaa said in frustration during a December 7, 1961, speech, “For many years, the aspirations of the Mongolian people have been ignored. Because the United States employed discriminatory policies towards the Mongolian People’s Republic and Chiang Kai-shek and his group, who has long lost its reputation in the eyes of the world and the support of its people forever, the Mongolian People’s Republic’s desire to become a member of the U.N. has been protracted for 14 years. It is still unfulfilled.”

Indeed, Mongolia’s admission had become tied up with the conflict between Chiang’s Republic of China (ROC) government on Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, which took over the Chinese mainland in 1949. Chiang still clung to the fiction of representing all of China – which, in his mind, also included Mongolia, despite his government having been pressured into recognizing Mongolia’s independence amid the Chinese civil war. The ROC government, therefore, strenuously opposed Mongolia’s entry into the U.N.

In the summer of 1961 and again in the fall, U.S. President John F. Kennedy voiced to Chiang that the United States would no longer prevent Mongolia from joining the U.N. The United States was aware of both the advantages and the disadvantages of having Mongolia join the U.N. The disadvantages had nothing to do with Mongolia per se but involved geopolitical issues related to Russia and China.

A declassified memo from the JFK era argued that “U.N. membership might provide Outer Mongolia with defenses against further encroachment by the USSR or Peiping [Beijing] in that area. Outer Mongolia will be less isolated, and the world organization would be alert to developments there. It would be a generally popular action for the United States to take in the United Nations.” Disregarding these known advantages, on February 1, 1961, Kennedy’s White House reached the opposite conclusion: “Weighing the foregoing considerations; it appears that on balance our national interest would be best served by continuing our opposition to the admission of Outer Mongolia to the United Nations.”

However, these barriers did not stop Mongolia from pursuing diplomatic relations with other nations around the world. The fact that Mongolia was establishing bilateral relations with other countries, including Western countries, reflected positively on Mongolia’s independence and its foreign policy as a whole. As well-known Mongolian studies scholar C.R. Bawden wrote, “Since joining the U.N. in 1961, after some hard campaigning, Mongolia further consolidated her world status by exchanging diplomatic recognition with a number of Western countries – in the first place in 1963, with the United Kingdom.”

On October 27, 1961, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 166, admitting Mongolia’s to the U.N. with nine votes in favor and one abstention – the United States (the ROC, which still held China’s UNSC seat at the time, did not participated in the vote). On that date 60 years ago, the Mongolian delegation – led by the first deputy minister of the Foreign Ministry of the MPR, D. Tsevegmid, Ambassadors B. Jargalsaikhan and B. Dashtseren, and diplomats O. Damdindorj, B. Orsoo, and B. Vanchin – witnessed a turning point in Mongolia’s history.

Fifteen years since its first application and thanks to the tremendous effort made by Tsedenbal and many before, Mongolia was now a fully fledged member of the U.N.

Since joining the U.N., Mongolia has ratified U.N. treaties and conventions and has been an active member in U.N. peacekeeping missions in the Middle East and North Africa. Mongolia has also participated in UNESCO, the U.N. Human Rights Council, and other significant initiatives. In 2019, the U.N. Peacekeeping Mission recognized Mongolia’s contribution in Western Sahara, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia. and South Sudan.

According to the Mongolian Mission to the U.N, “Mongolia initiated more than 70 resolutions in the General Assembly, of which 10 were adopted in the past five years.” Those include resolutions on “U.N. Literacy Decade,” “Support by the U.N. system of the efforts of Governments to promote and consolidate new and restored democracies,” “Improvement of the situation of women in rural areas,” and “Cooperatives in social development.” In addition, Mongolia’s non-nuclear weapons states (NNWS) status positions Mongolia as an important mediation actor within the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) in East Asia .

The Mongolian Foreign Ministry’s U.N. Week included a photo exhibition. Also as part of the event, for the first time in U.N. history, children representing 21 aimags and Ulaanbaatar wrote the U.N. Charter in traditional Mongolian script, Mongol bichig. The Foreign Ministry also organized a scholarly conference, “60 Years of Cooperation Between Mongolia and the U.N., and What is Ahead.” Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh and the U.N. Resident Coordinator, Tapan Mishra, made remarks to open the conference.

In a congratulatory message, Battsetseg stated:

For the last 60 years, Mongolia fully seized this opportunity, strictly adhered to the Goals and Principles of the UN Charter, and contributed to strengthening international peace and security, promoting social and economic development, and securing human rights, which are the three pillars of the United Nations activities. Today, Mongolia has established diplomatic relations with 193 countries of the world, became a member of more than 80 international and intergovernmental organizations, and acceded to more than 290 international treaties.

As Mongolia continues to be an integral part of the Asia-Pacific, its relations with the United Nations will only strengthen and expand. In the upcoming years, the United Nations and its agencies will play an important role in Mongolia’s implementation of its Vision 2050, a long-term development plan that aims to touch on issues of governance, human rights, education, and becoming a digital nation such as Estonia, Denmark, Israel, and Canada.

By:Bolor Lkhaajav

Bolor Lkhaajav is a researcher specializing in Mongolia, China, Russia, Japan, East Asia, and the Americas. She holds an M.A. in Asia-Pacific Studies from the University of San Francisco.

-Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi (ETT), one of Mongolia's largest mining companies, is helping to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mongolia through a massive contribution to the fiscus and a renewed commitment to continue investing in local infrastructure mega-projects. The mining giant has also negotiated good trading agreements with China, despite COVID-related obstacles.

Last year, confronted with the chaos of interrupted supply chain procedures due to Covid, ETT still managed to ship an impressive 15.5 million tons of coal, earning MNT 1.68 trillion, including MNT 1.5 trillion in sales revenue. The flagship company also reported a net profit of MNT 149.4 billion and contributed MNT 490.1 billion in taxes and fees to the state budget. Despite being prevented from transporting coal to China, its largest customer, ETT managed to negotiate receipt of advance payment for the coal, which will ship as soon as the borders open. As one the most profound consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have been interruptions to the supply chain and a decline in exports and imports due to logistical challenges, this represents a coup for the company, and the people of Mongolia.

According to a recent survey, net exports from Mongolia accounted for 6.2% of the country’s GDP in the second quarter of 2018, falling to 1.9% for the same period in 2021. A 2020 study by the World Bank and the National Statistics Office of Mongolia also found that 28% of Mongolians could be called ‘poor,’ and fears have been voiced that this number could swell to around 43%. Rising prices and shortages of goods are having a substantial impact on the livelihoods of ordinary Mongolians, who find that they have less purchasing power.

In landlocked Mongolia, this longstanding issue has been exacerbated by the pandemic-related closure of several border crossings. Although this situation is somewhat expected in places like Mongolia, the socio-economic ramifications of the pandemic have been unusually severe. The recent distribution of dividends by ETT are therefore most welcome, and play a significant role in helping to rescue the Mongolia and its citizens from an increasingly difficult situation.

Last week, Mongolian parliament backed a proposal of creating two new Ministries and four agencies during discussion of 2022 State Budget. A total of MNT 41.6 billion is allocated for the new Ministries and agencies.

Following the discussion, a parliamentary group of Mongolian People’s Party has advocated establishment of new Ministries for Economy Development and Digital Development as well as four new agencies for E-Mongolia Academy, Discipline Committee, General Department of Education, Forest Research and Development.

The creation of the Ministry of Economy Development with 11 functions is expected to cost of MNT 4.3 billion from State Budget and the Ministry of Digital Development with nine functions is MNT 1.8 billion.

Separately, parliamentary group of ruling party backed a proposal of developing economic cooperation zone between Mongolia and China

From today November 1, the Government’s decision to resume operations for culture, arts, and sports events with a 50 percent capacity will be coming into effect.

More specifically, the decision was made at the Cabinet’s regular meeting that took place on October 27. Furthermore, corresponding ministers were tasked to take measures to stabilize domestic airline industry operations by increasing the number of international flights being conducted.

The Government also made the decision to restrict government organizations from organizing New Year’s celebrations.

Tens of thousands of travellers are expected to arrive in Thailand today as the country reopens to tourists after 18 months of Covid restrictions.

Vaccinated tourists from more than 60 "low-risk" nations are allowed to enter the country and avoid hotel quarantine.

Tourist numbers are forecast to jump to as much as 15 million next year, bringing in more than $30bn (£22bn).

However, much of country still faces restrictions, with only around 42% of the population fully-vaccinated.

'Light at the end of the tunnel'

Thailand is still registering almost 10,000 Covid infections a day.

"It's like seeing a very dim light at the end of the tunnel - we haven't been able to work in two years," tour guide Chaiyagorn Boonyapak told the BBC. But he and his fellow tour guides haven't been contacted by customers and tour companies yet and it could take a month until tours are back up and running again.

"We don't know if [the government] can really open the country smoothly but I hope they can do it. We would very much love to get back to work again."

The coronavirus pandemic hammered Thailand's economy, which would previously attract 40m tourists a year. Last year, tourist arrivals were down more than 80%.

Airports serving Bangkok and Phuket are among those opening to countries including UK, China, Japan, the US and most of Europe.

The Thai government predicts revenues to rebound to their pre-pandemic levels by 2023, although many industry experts say China's ongoing border closures will hamper the sector's recovery.

Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists made up the biggest number of tourists, with some 12m visitors arriving from China in 2019.

Wiwan Siriwasaeree owns TALES Khaosan, a small hostel in the heart of Bangkok's famous tourist street Khaosan Road. She isn't optimistic about the prospect of tourism rebounding to pre-pandemic levels:

"I thought to myself what would I do if the situation in Khoasan doesn't get back to the way it used to be, I'm quite fearful about that.

"We fear that after we let the tourists in and the new Covid-19 cases spike again, will we go into another lockdown? I'm not so confident about the situation," she said.

Peeti Kulsirorat, who owns a restaurant in the area, is also fearful that visitors will lead to a spike in cases: "Then the tourism industry will be blamed as the villain again. It will be the scapegoat just like the way drinking alcohol is."

Mr Kulsirorat said ongoing restrictions - including the inability to sell alcohol in much of the country - will have a negative impact on people's holidays: "The complete tourism experience has to come in a package of both ambience and convenience.

"If they come here and many things are banned and closed, what's the point of coming here? It will eventually slow down and people will start to get bored with all the restrictions."

Dit, whose family owns a sun lounge and juice bar on the island's Kamala beach said they were making about $150 a day in 2019.

"We had to use our savings, grow vegetables and catch fish to survive," he said.

Now, after months of closure the juice bar has reopened and is generating about $30 each day: "We don't expect all the deck chairs to be filled straight away."

Reporting by Pasika Khernamnuoy and Katie Silver

Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 921 new local infections of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the national caseload to 361,505, the country's health ministry said on Monday.

Among the latest confirmed cases, 667 were detected in the capital city of Ulan Bator, which is hardest hit by the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the national death toll increased to 1,672 after 11 more people aged over 40 died from the virus in the past day.

Currently, 16,451 COVID-19 patients are being treated in hospitals across the country, according to the ministry.

The resurgence of the virus has continued due to the highly contagious Delta variant.

The country's health authorities have urged the public to avoid mass gatherings, wear masks in public and receive a booster shot.

President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh stated his intention to visit Russia with an official visit in December.

"I plan to visit the Russian Federation with an official visit in December," the Mongolian leader told TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman Thursday. "I am very happy that our interview precedes this trip and that Russian citizens will be able to watch it."

He noted that he is the first president of Mongolia, elected for a six-year term, after the Mongolian Constitution was amended in 2019.

"I assumed office 4 months ago. I’m only beginning my service, in other words," he said.

On June 9, Presidential elections took place in Mongolia, with a 69% turnout. Khurelsukh won with 67% of votes. Under the current Constitution, a president serves for six years without a re-election option.

Two-time world champion and Olympic champion Lukáš Krpálek, a Czech judoka visited Mongolia between October 18th and 26th, 2021. A joint training with prominent Mongolian judokas and young athletes from the Mongolian Judo Association in Ulaanbaatar, and also in Bulgan province was the main activity throughout his visit.

Lukáš Krpálek was welcomed by the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar and Governor of the capital city of Mongolia, a former wrestler, Mr. Sumiyabazar Dolgorsuren, and Deputy Foreign Minister Munkhjin Batsumber. During his stay he also met with the governors of three provinces (Orkhon, Bulgan, and Arkhangai).

In the city of Erdenet, Lukáš Krpálek took part in the opening of the next stage of apartment construction by the Czech developer Finep, the most significant investor in the Czech-Mongolian relations. Finep, in cooperation with a local partner in Erdenet, is implementing the construction of 1,650 European standard apartments and is significantly involved in the development of the city's infrastructure. Finep discussed future city development projects in Erdenet during the Investment Forum, also in Bulgan and Ulaanbaatar, and with representatives of major Mongolian companies in the field of logistics and construction. In Bulgan, a contract for the construction of 700 flats was concluded between the city of Bulgan and Finep. On this occasion, Lukáš Krpálek participated as a guest in a Mongolian National Wrestling tournament.

Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Mongolia Jiří Brodský said on the visit: “We had been preparing for this visit for a long time in the scope of cooperation with the Embassy of Mongolia in the Czech Republic and Finep. I am glad that we managed to realize it despite the COVID-19 restrictions. Mongolia is a country of martial arts, with a number of great wrestlers and judokas. Thus I respectfully appreciate Lukáš Krpálek coming to Mongolia to promote Czech sports and helping us open the door to new business opportunities between the two countries with the participation of Pavel Rejchrt, a Member of Board of Finep Holding, Honorary Consul of Mongolia in the Czech Republic, and a laureate of the Polar Star Order of Mongolia, in recognition of his invaluable contribution to Czech-Mongolian trade relations.

For the first time Mongolian carriers have transported freight by road to Czech Republic of the European Union, reports Ministry of Road and Transport Development through its website.

Specifically, four vehicles of ‘Montransauto’ LLC and ‘Khar Anar’ LLC carrying masks, medical gloves, equipment and other transit goods left Erlian, China on October 11, and the goods were delivered to the Czech Republic on the 23rd.

Road transport plays an important role in transportation of Mongolia, a country with a vast territory and where infrastructure is poorly developed, which means 98 percent of the passenger transport and 65 percent of freights are transported by road.

Since 1993, Mongolia has established intergovernmental agreements on international road transport with 12 countries, namely Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, DPRK, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary and Slovenia. Slovenia became the 12th country when Mongolia and Slovenia signed the “Agreement between the Government of Mongolia and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia on the international transport of passengers and goods by road” in Ljubljana on 19th of August of this year.