Kh.Battulga, the fifth and newly-elected President of Mongolia made a speech at the opening ceremony of the national Naadam festival of traditional games on 11^th of July. He was sworn in on 10^th of July as Mongolia’s new president, after taking 50.6 percent in the run-off against his establishment opponent, M.Enkhbold of the ruling Mongolian People’s Party.

Kh.Battulga is a well known business tycoon and ex-judo champion. His company, Genco, is one of Mongolia’s largest, with businesses including hotels, media, banking, alcohol, horsemeat and the famous Genghis Khan-themed complex located to the east of the capital.  In politics, Kh.Battulga is a prominent member of the Democratic Party. He was also minister of agriculture between 2012 and 2014, is a former member of parliament  as well as president of the Mongolian Judo Association.

The new president must work with Enkhbold’s Mongolian People’s Party, which holds 65 of the 76 seats in parliament, to turn the economy around. Mongolia, which is sandwiched between China and Russia, recently obtained its biggest-ever bailout led by the International Monetary Fund, worth $5.5 billion.