Ulaanbaatar
The UN to support the construction of Eg River hydropower plant
Politics
Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. On August 9, Prime Minister L.
Oyun-Erdene received UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who is on an
official visiting to Mongolia.
At the outset of the meeting, the PM said he is glad to meet
him again in Mongolia after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
PM said, “During the Olympic Games in Beijing, we discussed
with you about hydropower plant to be built on the Eg River, which is the first
important hydropower plant project of our country. Construction work for
this project began in 2016 with a USD1 billion soft loan from China, but the work
was put on hold due to Russia’s complaint filed with the UNESCO World Heritage
Committee. However, studies conducted in the past have shown that this
project will not have a negative impact on the water regime and resources of
the Selenge River and Lake Baikal in Russia. In addition, our country announced
an international tender. A French company is conducting a biological impact assessment. The
results of the assessments and studies will be presented at the meeting of the
UNESCO World Heritage Committee next year. If the Committee issues a decision, it will become
possible to continue the project”.
He asked Mr. Guterres for active support in resolving the problem
of this project, which will play a crucial role in ensuring Mongolia's energy
security.
In turn, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed that
developing countries should not be in energy dependency. Therefore, in
this regard, the UN is ready to provide policy support by familiarizing with
the results of the studies at the 46th session of the UNESCO World Heritage
Committee. He also commended the Mongolian government for digitalizing its
public services and making progress on e-governance to reduce the corruption
index.
The Mongolian government aims to become a ‘digital nation’. In
this context, the government intends to involve at least 90 percent of
public services in a unified platform ‘E-Mongolia’ by 2024. The ‘New Revival
Policy’ proposed by the government aims to decentralize the urban population, develop
rural areas, and create new jobs.
At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed that the UN will
conduct an assessment on urban and rural areas’ concentration.
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