AmCham monthly meeting hosts Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry

Economy | Mining
unurzul@montsame.mn
2019-04-17 12:31:00

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. The American Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia (AmCham) held its April Monthly Meeting on April 15 at Shangri-la Hotel, hosting Sumiyabazar Dolgorsuren, Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry. Amcham’s members, foreign and local investors, foreign embassies and ministry officials attended the meeting and discussed existing challenges and ways forward to promote competitive mining as the engine of the Mongolian economy. During the meeting, Minister Sumiyabazar provided an insightful and comprehensive overview of the government’s efforts to advance the policy reforms in the mining sector.

In his speech, Minister Sumiyabazar expressed his gratitude for AmCham Mongolia’s productive effort to support private sector-led economic development, and said, “We must trust, respect, and smartly cooperate with our foreign investors.” He continued by emphasizing, “It is of critical prominence to assure the confidence of foreign investors, and improve the reputation of the Mongolian mining sector on the international stage through the OT project. Mongolia has made an international contract thus, to uphold its reputation and integrity, Mongolia must respect contractual obligations. So I want to reassure our foreign investors that I stand with them to protect the mining industry.”

The Minister said the Oyu Tolgoi is currently extending an underground project with a USD5.3 billion project that Rio reports will unlock 80 percent of the resource wealth.

The Chairman of Amcham Mongolia, Oybek Khalilov highlighted in his opening remarks, “Mining agreements and contracts are critical in ensuring that mining-led growth is sustainable and inclusive to create conditions to support economic diversification. Needless to mention, as the constitution of law dictates, the sanctity of a contract is essentially what creates civic society, and is the blueprint of democratic rule. Contracts already in effect should not be subjected to government cancellation for arbitrary reasons, and honoring the sanctity of contracts is indispensable for business.”

 

Source: amcham.mn