Speaking
at a round table meeting on September 22 on “Ensuring special needs of the
most vulnerable countries”, organized as part of the 65th session of the
UN General Assembly in New York,  Prime
Minister S.Batbold  said Mongolia’s total
expenses for transit transportation had grown to an amount equivalent to 8-10
percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. He cited this as an example of
the severe problems a developing country faced if it was landlocked. Batbold
said that the seaport nearest to Mongolia was 1,500 km away, in China.

He also
described how the global climate change had affected Mongolia”s economy,
particularly the traditional livelihood of its herdsmen. “The extremely
harsh 2009-2010 winter led to the death of 23 per cent of their total livestock.
Deprived of their only source of living, herdsmen are leaving the countryside
and moving to cities, to make a new life in conditions they are not used to. Mongolia
needs to create jobs and we repose a lot of hope in the mining sector. For this,
we have to arrange for extensive vocational training,” Batbold said.

He
urged international support to enable developing and vulnerable countries take
up programs to develop small- and middle-sized businesses.