Ulaanbaatar
“Joint projects with German financing should be accelerated”
PoliticsUlaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Minister of Energy Mr D.Zorigt last Friday met a delegation headed by Mr Matthias Machnig, the State Secretary at Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Noting that a new history of the Mongolia-Germany developmental cooperation started 23 years ago, Mr Zorigt said bilateral cooperation in the energy sphere has been contributing to the friendly relations. "In this sector several projects are being implemented with loans and capitals from the Federal Ministry of Economic Development and the Credit Bank of Reconstruction, and a realization must be accelerated of those that received non-refundable aid of EUR 10.20 million and a soft loan of EUR 19.0 million".
He also said Germany’s side tackled a matter on granting the Mongolian energy a soft-loan of some EUR 40 million in accordance with a Mongolia-Germany intergovernmental agreement on developmental policy.
Mentioning that the bilateral cooperation has been brought into a newer level of development--from a stage of loans and assistance--he said he is happy with a possibility of Germany to augment a loan size for several projects such as a renovation of the thermal power stations in Darkhan and Erdenet cities and investing a feasibility study of high electric lines between Ulaanbaatar and Mandalgobi soum of Dundgobi aimag. He asked the German side to focus on a collaboration in these projects. The Minister also expressed a satisfaction with the establishment of a cooperation memorandum with Germany’s Tussen Group on erecting a factory of producing methane from coal, which was done at the 5th meeting of the bilateral economic committee. "This memorandum will contribute to the air pollution reduction in Ulaanbaatar," he said.
In response, Mr Matthias pointed out that his country will activate the cooperation with Mongolia in the energy and in increasing its effectiveness. “It is vital now to accelerate small-sized projects instead of focusing on mega ones. We intend to launch a realization of several projects in near future,” he said.
