M.Batchimeg, national security
adviser to the President, has emphasized the likely impact of the fast changing
foreign and domestic situation on Mongolia’s security concerns. The President
has decided to restructure several specialized organizations, improve
inter-agency relationship and cooperation, and work for a better legal and
management environment. This can be achieved only with cooperation from
Parliament and the government.

She defended the President’s decision to temporarily discontinue issue of mining
licenses even though it had led to some disaffection among people whose
interests were hurt. The President was responsible for protecting the national
interest, and not that of a certain group of people, National security concerns
were paramount in the face of the present intense competition for energy and
natural resources. The possible effect on the nation’s economic security must
be carefully evaluated at a time when around 50% of the territory of Umnugovi
and Dornogovi provinces is covered by mining licenses. It is difficult to
predict how exactly such large scale extraction will impact the local
communities’ livelihood and the environment, so it has to be ensured that the
licenses go to responsible people.

Batchimeg referred to the international acclaim the Mongolian President had
received when he proposed at the World Economic Forum that there should be well
defined norms to govern any agreement in the minerals sector anywhere. This
showed that a country’s importance was not to be “measured by whether it was
small, like Mongolia”. This could very well turn out to be “our significant
contribution to international cooperation”, she said.