The Government decided at its last meeting of the year on
December 29 to observe 2011 as the year to support employment. Prime Minister
S.Batbold will head a national committee to formulate the work plan and then to
monitor its implementation. The committee will include several other members of
the Government, the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar, Governors of all 21 aimags, and the
heads of the Professional Education and Training Board, the Social Welfare
Service, the Mongolian Employers’ Federation and the Confederation of Trade
Unions.

MNT70 million from the Government Reserve Fund will
finance the programs to be adopted. Related Ministers have been asked to list
the laws that need to be amended to help generate employment by restructuring
the legal framework for businesses, to reduce the tax burden of small and medium
enterprises, to encourage investment in business, to grant soft loans and to
reduce tax rates for businesses in the agriculture and animal husbandry sector so
that more processing factories can come up in the countryside, generating jobs
locally.

The committee will also prepare more Mongolians to seek
employment in the mining, mineral resources, energy, road and building
construction and urban planning spheres. Courses in universities, institutes
and vocational training centers will reflect employers’ needs and demands. Such
training centers are also likely to receive tax incentives.

Special programs will be taken up to improve the skills
of herders and to protect them from risks so that they do not have to seek
employment elsewhere. These will be part of the Mongol Livestock and similar
programs and projects. Environment rehabilitation and reclamation programs will
be encouraged to generate jobs, especially for citizens with low income.  

Along with all this, care will be taken to protect the
interests of both employers and employees to ensure harmonious labor relations and
to increase productivity as a social partnership. The committee will review
progress of the program every three months.