The
1st Annual Mongolia Investment conference was held yesterday in Ulaanbaatar,
co-organized by Eurasia Capital, with a host of supporting organizations,
including the Business Council of Mongolia, the Corporate Governance
Development Center, Mongolia Development Resources, Thomson Reuters and The
Wall Street Journal.

In
their opening statement the organizers noted that this is the right time to
invest in Mongolia, and hoped the forum’s deliberations will provide insight
into the most promising sectors of the Mongolian economy through in-depth
discussion of the market and the products. The EBRD head here, Terre van Woort,
hoped the forum will showcase a range of Mongolia-based opportunities in the
natural resource and financial sectors and beyond and offer investors the
chance to exchange views and learn from one another’s experience.

The head of the National
Development Reform Committee, G.Batkhurel, who spoke on the macroeconomic
indices of Mongolia, later answered questions.

What
result do you expect from the forum?

It is significant that the forum has brought together present and prospective
investors. The Vice President of Mongol Bank spoke about the country’s
development potential. Finding investors is the crucial issue. The forum gives
foreign investors a chance to access accurate and correct information.

You
talked about problems for other sectors that focus on mining could cause.  What are these?

If
mining develops too quickly, other fields like agriculture and livestock will
be left behind. This may very well lead to the Dutch disease where laggards
draw the successes down. We have to ensure equal and corresponding development
in all fields. For example, we can produce organic meat, vegetables and wheat for
our two neighbor countries, after of course meeting domestic demand. The mining
sector will create many businesses around it and we have to coordinate their
growth so that there is all-round economic development.