High-Level Meeting on Mongolia’s Sustainable and Green Development

High-Level Meeting on Mongolia’s Pathway to Sustainable and Green Development

Geneva, 31 October 2016 – A high-level meeting took place on November 24 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to discuss Mongolia’s pathway to sustainable and green development, with a focus on strengthening coordination and up-scaling finance.

The meeting “Mongolia’s Pathway to Sustainable and Green  Development” was organised by the Prime Minister’s Office of Mongolia, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, and the Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with PAGE, Education for Sustainable Development, the Global Green Growth Institute, the Mongolian Banker’s Association, and the International Finance Corporation.

Today, Mongolia, a PAGE partner country since 2013, is experiencing the challenges of decreasing economic growth, foreign and domestic investment and weak economic activities. Nevertheless, the Mongolian  Government believes that continuous efforts towards global development trends for sustainable and green development will help the country to overcome these challenges and stabilise growth by strengthening partnership between the Government, the private sector, civil society and international organisations.

Mobilising funds and resources from global capital and financial markets, creating an enabling environment for green business operations, transforming to environmentally friendly and resource efficient green industry, expanding trade opportunities for Mongolian products and creating and expanding decent job opportunities in Mongolia form the basis for Mongolia’s green development strategy.

Along with the high-level meeting, there was a consultative meeting for “Leadership in Development Planning and Implementation” for Aimag (provincial)-level government officials on the same day.

Additionally, the Mongolian Banker’s Association, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, and Golomt Bank, in partnership with PAGE and other stakeholders and supporters, hosted the Mongolian Sustainable Finance Forum the following day, November 25.

The meeting was dedicated to bringing high-level policymakers and other stakeholders together to initiate a dialogue on development policy coherence, institutions, and governance for sustainable development.

It focused on:

• Mongolia’s long-term development policies, institutions and governance capacities, progress, actions, and challenges;
• Views on development financing system including public and private, national and international funding, banking and financial sector initiatives;
• Views on further strengthening developing new ways of collaborating with international partners;
• Views on the role and contribution of international development partners for inclusive and sustainable economic growth, creation of decent and green jobs and reducing poverty;
• Proposals for collaboration on joint projects and mobilisation of financial resources.

Deliverables:

• An integrated approach for institutional coordination and financial system developmen;
• A common position on favourable legal, regulatory, tax and trade environment for greening the industry and creating green jobs in Mongolia;
• A Joint Declaration of Partnership for Sustainable and Green Development agreed upon by key partners for collaboration;
• A national program for sustainable and green education agreed upon to be developed and approved in the near future; and
• A proposal for collaboration between government and development partners