The Mongolian government and the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP)
organized activities to celebrate the upcoming International Day for
Preservation of the Ozone Layer on Friday.

S. Oyun, Minister of Environment and Green Development, told a public
event to mark the 25th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol that it was one of
the most successful multilateral cooperation agreements on environmental
issues.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer came
into effect with the support of 24 countries but 198 had now ratified it, Oyun
said.

She said the Mongolian government had taken an active position in
implementing the international conventions and agreements on protection of the
ozone layer and mitigation of climate change and the government would continue
to intensify its efforts in this field.

Megumi Nakamura, from UNEP”s Ozone Secretariat, told a press conference
on the celebrations the successful implementation of the Montreal Protocol had
led to significant progress in phasing out ozone depleting substances in
refrigerators, fire extinguishers and elsewhere and the ozone layer was slowly
recovering.

She also recognized Mongolia”s important role in implementing the
protocol. Mongolia had done its homework properly and worked diligently to take
action nationally to meet its obligations, she said.

The Montreal Protocol was ratified by Mongolia in March 1996. The
country has committed to phase out HCFCs progressively. For the first stage of
compliance, Mongolia has to freeze its baseline consumption by Jan. 1 2013 and
reduce HCFC consumption by 10 percent by Jan. 1 2015.