German Minister for Economic Cooperation
and Development Dirk Niebel returned home yesterday after a five-day visit to
Mongolia. During his stay, Niebel met with Prime Minister S.Batbold, Foreign
Minister G. Zandanshatar, Finance Minister S.Bayartsogt and other Mongolian
leaders. He announced that his Ministry would increase the size of its
development assistance to Mongolia by Eur 3 million.

At their meeting the Prime
Minister said he looked forward to receiving German assistance and
support  in developing responsible mining and in improving its capacity to
optimize proper use of its natural resources by manufacturing value-added
products. He also stressed the efforts of Mongolia “to introduce standards of
the European Union in all spheres to preserve the environment, to ensure just,
responsible and sustainable development, and to improve governance”. The
Prime Minister noted the role played by the 35,000 Mongolian alumni of German
universities and institutes in taking forward bilateral cooperation and
collaboration.

Niebel appreciated Mongolia’s success in
stressing transparency in the extraction sector and hoped some of the German
aid would be used to improve corporate governance in mining companies, to train
workers, to manufacture value-added products and to develop small- and
medium-size enterprises, including mines.

This was the first visit of a German
Economic Cooperation and Development Minister to Mongolia since 1991, and apart
from holding talks in Ulaanbaatar, Niebel visited places like Darkhan to see
and learn about projects and programs implemented or assisted with German
development cooperation by GTZ, DED, and KfW.