Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Joint UN and Government of Mongolia Steering Committee meeting to review the implementation of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2017-2021 for Mongolia in 2019 was held on May 18 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minister of Foreign Affairs D.Tsogtbaatar, UN Resident Coordinator in Mongolia Tapan Mishra and officials from relevant ministries and agencies and the UN main and specialized bodies attended the meeting, exchanging views on results, achievements, challenges in projects and programs being realized by the UN in Mongolia and issues to be concerned in the future.

The UN specialized organizations that operate in Mongolia have developed and are implementing the UNDAF 2017-2021 document with a view to cooperate with integrated strategic direction.

Within the UN Development Assistance Framework 2017-2021 for Mongolia, the UN specialized bodies have fulfilled 109 activities in total with financing of USD 66.49 million in the past, providing tangible assistance in upgrading legal environment with three principle directions and developing strategies of the main sectors such as environment, health and education.

In particular, thanks to the collaboration within the objective “Promoting inclusive growth and sustainable management of natural resources”, western aimags have developed local development plan with concrete assessment-based ecosystem services, and as a result of the model projects to take a total of 5.7 million hectares of land under state and local special protection and to increase energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emission declined by 5220 tons in 2019. 

During the meeting, Foreign Minister D.Tsogtbaatar expressed gratitude to the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Mongolia and the UN main and specialized bodies, which have been rendering support and collaborating in ongoing measures by the Mongolian Government on the prevention and fight against Covid-19 pandemic. 

Highlighting that actions reflected within the Development Assistance Framework have made significant contributions in fulfilling development goals of Mongolia, the Minister noted innovative participation by domestic partner organizations and stakeholders is vital for effective implementation of the framework for its two remaining years.  

UN Resident Coordinator in Mongolia Tapan Mishra emphasized the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has brought a necessity to reorganize the UN development system and the UN is intending to enhance the benefits of cooperation with its member states with the help of forming responsible and productive team of countries. Mr. Tapan Mishra also noted that the currently-running UN survey on social and economic impacts of COVID-19 would serve as a basic assessment to define further scope of the sustainable development cooperation.

Within the framework of development system reform initiated by UN Secretary General A.Gutierrez, preparation works to elevate the UN Assistance Framework to Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework are underway with the aims of providing support to countries to achieve their Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, a transition road map was presented at the meeting, with the participants exchanging their views on it.