Ulaanbaatar
President declares Mongolia's neutrality
PoliticsUlaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The leader of Mongolia Ts.Elbegdorj, attending the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, gave speech to the general debate on September 29. “Today, the world has achieved the highest degree of international cooperation in history”, he emphasized.
The President suggested that the UN forms a system of rules-norms, laws and institutions that every country agrees to abide by, in exchange for the benefits of peace and stability, in order achieve peace and stability.
He highlighted a significance of the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals, by describing it as “a roadmap” for humanity for the 15 years to come. “We agreed on urgent targets, on a broad range of economic and social challenges, and on environmental emergencies,” he said.
The President also stressed Mongolia’s achievements in the last two decades of democracy, saying that Mongolia created “one of the most unique, open, competitive and fair election systems in our region”, having adopted a nationwide electronic voting and biometric voter registration.
However, he went on, "corruption is still a big threat". “Yet, in the past 5 years, with transparent, determined, enforceable policies, our country’s corruption index dropped one third, according to Transparency International. We will continue to block the menace of corruption head on,” he said.
Mongolia has been hosting important international events in the recent years. The most significant one is the 11th ASEM Summit, which will run in Ulaanbaatar next year.
“Mongolia will further consolidate and strengthen our peace initiatives and role as mediator”, he noted.
Mentioning that Mongolia pursued nuclear-weapon-free status for 23 years, the President said the country has a peaceful, open, multi-pillar foreign policy.
“This stance enabled us to declare Mongolia in a state of permanent neutrality”. “Therefore, I kindly ask your sympathy and support for Mongolia’s peaceful, open, neutral, and active foreign policy efforts. I am convinced that Mongolia’s status of permanent neutrality will contribute to the strengthening of peace, security and development in our region and the world at large”, he stated.
A full speech is available at "http://president.mn/eng/newsCenter/viewNews.php?newsId=1674"
