On August 9, Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene received UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who is on an official visiting to Mongolia.

At the outset of the meeting, the PM said he is glad to meet him again in Mongolia after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

PM said, “During the Olympic Games in Beijing, we discussed with you about hydropower plant to be built on the Eg River, which is the first important hydropower plant project of our country. Construction work for this project began in 2016 with a USD1 billion soft loan from China, but the work was put on hold due to Russia’s complaint filed with the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. However, studies conducted in the past have shown that this project will not have a negative impact on the water regime and resources of the Selenge River and Lake Baikal in Russia. In addition, our country announced an international tender. A French company is conducting a biological impact assessment. The results of the assessments and studies will be presented at the meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee next year. If the Committee issues a decision, it will become possible to continue the project”.

He asked Mr. Guterres for active support in resolving the problem of this project, which will play a crucial role in ensuring Mongolia's energy security.

In turn, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed that developing countries should not be in energy dependency. Therefore, in this regard, the UN is ready to provide policy support by familiarizing with the results of the studies at the 46th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. He also commended the Mongolian government for digitalizing its public services and making progress on e-governance to reduce the corruption index.

The Mongolian government aims to become a ‘digital nation’. In this context, the government intends to involve at least 90 percent of public services in a unified platform ‘E-Mongolia’ by 2024. The ‘New Revival Policy’ proposed by the government aims to decentralize the urban population, develop rural areas, and create new jobs.

At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed that the UN will conduct an assessment on urban and rural areas’ concentration.