“Mongolia will determine the choices it makes about its
own future, but international experience, both good and bad, can also be
helpful and offer useful and important insights as Mongolia learns from both
the successes and failures of others.” This was said by U.S. Ambassador to
Mongolia Jonathan Addleton at a public forum organized earlier this month by
the Educational Advising and Resource Center in Dalanzagad, capital of Mongolia“s South Gobi
province.

Ambassador Addleton noted much change since his last visit
to the province in 2001. “At that time,” he said, “I was country
director for USAID [United States Agency for International Development] and we
were involved in a number of programs including the Gobi Initiative, the
establishment of the XacBank, and the revitalization of the Khan Bank.”
Today “the mining sector in particular looms large and presents tremendous
opportunities as well as enormous challenges”.

One of those challenges is environmental protection.
“That includes the preservation of not only the rangeland, but also the
water beneath it and the blue sky above it,” he said. “It is also
important to maintain not only the natural environment but also the cultural integrity
of the Gobi, maintaining and even
strengthening the traditions that help define communities and bring them
together.”

Another challenge is to ensure that the South
Gobi economy is not one dimensional, relying only on mining to the
exclusion of everything else. Rather, other elements of the economy – including
trade, tourism, cashmere and the production of goods and services – also remain
essential.

Good governance is also important to the region”s
development. This refers, among other things, to the quality of the various
institutions that help manage and shape change. “As international
experience suggests,” said Ambassador Addleton, “these key institutions
need to be fair, open, transparent, and display integrity.”