MONGOLIA-AUSTRALIA DEVELOPMENT FORUM RUNS IN BRISBANE

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ A "Mongolia-Australia Partners for Development" NGO organized on October 31 a "Mining, sustainable development and partnership"-themed forum in Brisbane of Australia, jointly with the Griffith University of Queensland. The key lectors at the forum were Chief Operating Officer of Oyu Tolgoi LLC Ivan Vella, a director of Centre Social Responsibility in Mining of Queensland University Prof. Saleem Ali, and the CEO of BAEconomics Dr. Brian Fisher. Other lectors were representatives of several economic entities and academic organizations. The forum gathered some hundred representatives of 40 Australian organizations. They discussed an effectiveness of the mining sector in sustainable development, ways of intensifying a development through partnerships, an exchange of knowledge, and an improvement of a governance in minerals sector. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to Australia Mr R.Bold addressed the meeting. Present were also Vice-speaker of Australian parliament Dr. Robinson and representatives of the Queensland government. This NGO was founded this June by Queensland's professors and scholars and their 80 students--a part of 700 Mongolians in this country.