The President of Mongolia, Ts.Elbegdorj, who is participating in the 45^th World Economic Forum (WEF) currently being held in Davos, Switzerland, has participated in the World Water Programme conference. The President exchanged views with the world’s political leaders on strategic competition in a new global environment. 

President Ts.Elbegdorj answered questions from journalists about the meetings he has attended so far, issues which will be discussed in the upcoming "Meeting and Discussion of Mining and Metallurgical Policy” at the WEF, and on geopolitical and humanitarian issues. 

World leaders are agreed that economic stability is related to the issue of water resources. How about Mongolia? Did we make some progress on this issue and what have our mistakes been?

There are several issues in which Mongolia is participating in Davos forums.  The main issues are the mining sector, issues regarding infrastructure, governance, corruption, and one of most important issues is the water issue. Water is a very important issue for Mongolia.  Today, participants encouraged and promoted my presentation and views presented at the forum. In Mongolia, economic development is concerned to the mining sector. The state will impose high taxes if mining companies use groundwater and soil water. Instead, there are some methods which allow using reserved water from rain and snow. In addition, there is wastewater from settlement areas. We should promote and encourage companies which are using reserved water. We need to take new measures and steps on this.    

Among issues discussed at Davos, one of the most important issues is mining and the economy of China. You have just participated in the mining meeting. Could you share with us the important issues discussed at this meeting?

The Davos economic forum is the center of attention in the international arena this week. Each year, the forum is opened by an honored person. This year, the forum was opened by Prime Minister of China, Li Keqiang. This proves that the Chinese economy is reliant on the world's economic growth and slowdowns. 

Mongolia is a very close neighbor country to China and a country that has a close economic relationship with China. Thus, the influence of China on the Mongolian economy is very high.

The main issues which we should put attention on in the first stage are issues we discussed during last year’s presidential visit. In particular, we should realize infrastructure investment. If investment in the mining sector is decreasing, or prices for strategically important natural resources are decreasing, we should realize and implement issues concerned with infrastructure, such as building new power stations and railway. On the other hand, besides the mining sector, what are the sectors which will positively influence the economy and which require investments?  In the case of Mongolia, it is the agricultural sector. We need to invest in  the processing and manufacturing efforts of the agricultural sector. In good news, during the last 20 years, and in 2014, plenty of manufacturing and small and medium factories have been launched.  

Importing from abroad is quite expensive, so we need to begin produce domestically.

We need to change policy this way, and take transitional steps. It is very important to pay attention to the issue of making decisions. We should not fail now, if we failed before.

Moreover, it is important not to change commitments and always realize commitments. In addition, we shouldn’t hurt the business environment by making the wrong decisions.

 We are an open country, so there are many issues which should be corrected in the state's policy.