PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE HEAD AT MONGOLIAN-GERMAN JOINT SYMPOSIUM

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Head of the Presidential Office of Mongolia P.Tsagaan has delivered a keynote speech at a symposium titled “A Dialogue of Political Foundations: A state with judiciary and responsibility” which has been co-run at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the Conrad Adenauer Foundation. Mr Tsagaan thanked these foundations for organizing such an event, dedicated to the 40th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and Germany, saying that thanks to these foundations the German have been closely contacting with Mongolia since our country chose the path of democracy. "It was also very helpful in establishing the Democratic Party and shaping our democratic political culture". Mongolia is decisively pursuing the path of democracy in the last 20 years and is solidifying the state with judiciary and responsible government, "but there are lots of work needed to be done, a process of forming a state and shaping it has its own difficulties, weakness and deficiencies, for example, matters on election financing and regarding it laws and regulations,' he said. The Mongolians must have equal opportunity to run for elections at every level without any financial barriers, "it is essential to separate money and business from politics in order to strengthen our achievements of the past 24 years, and parliament should not become a club of the wealthy, this is causing a problem for those who endear their state and who stand for fairness." he stressed. Mr Tsagaan said the President of Mongolia and many others are worried about this matter and reminded that the President initiated a whole series of actions to reform the judicial system, instituting responsibility mechanisms such as the Fiscal Accountability Law (known in public as the Glass Account Law), Public Hearing Law, and strategy to establish a Smart Government. Mongolia and Germany have a long and rich tradition of cooperation and friendship, especially in education sector since our country’s independence, and Mongolians want to bring European way of life and European standards to their country, he noted. Mongolia is the fastest-growing economy in the world, he said and requested these foundations to cooperate with German businesses to participate in our country’s development. At the end of his speech Mr Tsagaan said he will work on implementing the advice and proposals that will come from this symposium.