Deputy Permanent Representative expresses position of Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Deputy Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the United Nations (UN) Ms G.Battungalag Monday delivered a speech at a meeting of the UN General Assembly session’s Economic and Financial Committee (Second Committee) in New York. She expressed her country’s position on agricultural development and food safety. Mentioning that price boost of foods is triggering the inflation rate and negatively influencing the economies in developing countries, Ms Battungalag introduced to gathered measures taken by the Mongolian government for reducing the food price soar and for slackening a pressure over vulnerable strata. She also reported about measures being taken at all levels by the government for supporting food productions, decreasing a dependence of food import and improving the public knowledge about food quality and safety. In conjunction with this, the Mongolian parliament last year adopted the laws on foods and on ensuring safety of food products, and the government aims now to fully provide its population with consumer products such as flour, meat and vegetables, she added. Our Representative said that a specific measure should be taken urgently for reducing food waste due to a fact that the size of the waste has reached 1.3 billion ton a year around the world. Then she appreciated well-timed marking of this year’s World Environment Day under a motto “Think.Eat.Save”, and thanked the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for successfully organizing the event together with the Mongolian government. Applauding actions of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for supporting member states’ efforts of developing and intensifying agriculture, Ms Battungalag said Mongolia will host the 32nd FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific next year, and urged the members to actively participate in it. An ensuring of agricultural sustainable development and food safety is closely related to reducing of poverty rate and natural disasters, so these issues must be reflected in new goals of sustainable development and in the Developmental Programme after 2015, she went on. She also underlined an importance of co-operatives and women’s role in the agricultural development, and appealed the members to back a draft resolution of the UN initiated by Mongolia on supporting co-operatives and rural women’s status.