Ulaanbaatar, May 4, 2023/ MONTSAME/. The regular meeting of the Government of Mongolia was held on May 3, 2023, and the following issues were discussed and resolved.

Draft amendments to the Constitution of Mongolia were discussed and submitted to the Parliament

After the discussion at the Government meeting, Minister of Mongolia, Chief Cabinet Secretary D. Amarbayasgalan submitted the draft amendments to the Constitution of Mongolia to Chairman of the State Great Khural G. Zandanshatar.

In 1991-1992, when the Constitution of Mongolia was adopted, one member of the State Great Khural represented an average of 27,000 citizens. Today, the number of citizens represented by a single member has nearly doubled, reaching 44,700, reducing the parliament's representative capacity. In order to improve the parliament's ability to represent citizens, the number of members of the Parliament will be increased to 152 in proportion to the population, as the draft amendment to the Constitution reflected.

The use of the majoritarian election system alone has created negative aspects such as the loss of votes of citizens, the interests of constituencies being placed higher than the interests of the country, and giving preference to those who are known to the public and have financial resources. The proportional electoral system has advantages such as lower loss of votes, equal representation of social groups, and optimal formation of political parties. Therefore, an election system that reflects the advantages of majoritarian and proportional representation and provisions for electing 50 percent of total members of the State Great Khural by majoritarian and 50 percent by proportional is considered.

By clearly defining the voting system in the Constitution of Mongolia, it is important to ensure the stability of the electoral system of the State Great Khural of Mongolia, fair competition of parties in elections, transparency to the citizens, and guarantee of voting rights of citizens abroad.

The Prime Minister mandated that 80 percent of all citizens should be included in early detection examinations, tests, and diagnoses in 2023

Minister of Health S. Chinzorig informed the Government about the process of participating in the screening, test, and diagnosis for disease prevention and early detection of the population, and the amendments included in Resolution No. 06 of 2022 "On Approval of Packages, Amounts of Payments, and Procedures" of the National Health Insurance Council.

The Government of Mongolia and the Ministry of Health have been organizing the prevention, early detection, and diagnosis of common infectious and non-infectious diseases based on the age, gender, and health risk of the population starting from May 1, 2022.

As of May 1 of this year, 30 percent of the population has been enrolled in this campaign, and the Prime Minister has mandated to cover 80 percent of citizens within 2023.
 
Minister of Justice and Home Affairs Kh. Nyambaatar: We are working to improve the assessment of the Corruption Perceptions Index

The corruption index of Mongolia on 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International and the anti-corruption strategy to be followed in 2023-2024 were discussed.

In the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index issued by Transparency International, Mongolia scored 33 points and ranked 116th out of 180 countries. Mongolia has taken some commendable measures to restore the anti-corruption system last year, but it is not enough to fight the existing corruption risk, and the following conclusion was made.

- In Mongolia, which has abundant natural resources, information about the natural resources revenue, its distribution, and decision-making regarding it is not disclosed in a unified way, and insufficient regulation is a major issue.

- Government employees are giving priority to personal interests over public interests, which leads to demonstrations in the capital city.

- The Government needs to take several measures to improve the situation. It is necessary to update the law on public procurement, release corrupt officials from public service, standardize the governance of state-owned enterprises, and ensure transparency at all levels in order to stop the evasion of government-appointed officials from being charged.

The Minister pointed out that the Government of Mongolia has declared 2023-2024 as the Year of Fighting Corruption and is implementing the "Five W Operation." In this context, the Government is working to improve the Corruption Perception Index of Mongolia. 

Digitally traded coal will be transported through Gashuunsukhait port via a special gateway

It has been three months since the start of online coal trading, and 1.2 million tons of coal have been sold in 26 auctions.

Foreign exchange reserves reached USD 3.7 billion in April

The official foreign currency reserves decreased to USD 2.5 billion in September 2022, then by the end of April 2023 increased to USD 3.7 billion. As a result, real economic growth accounted for 7.6 percent in the first quarter of 2023, according to the preliminary estimates of the National Statistics Committee. The mining and service sectors mainly affected this growth. However, annual inflation was 12.2 percent in the first quarter and decreased to 10.3 percent as of May 1.

Foreign exchange reserves have increased and remained stable in recent months due to increased activity at border ports and increased exports. For example, coal export, which reached 19.0 million tons in the first four months of 2023, increased by 7.5 million tons from the same period of 2019 and 15.2 million tons from the same period of the previous year, respectively. 

Brief news

The cabinet agreed to issue a Government resolution on some measures to be taken to resolve foreign investment complaints and Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Development Ch. Khurelbaatar was instructed to take measures to openly upload reports on the resolution of complaints and applications submitted by foreign investors on the Ministry’s website.