The meeting on May 23, with Mr. Laurenz Melchers in the chair, was attended by 90 members and invited guests. Executive Director Jim Dwyer reported on the expanding work of the Working Groups. Membership now stands at 179 and those to join since the last meeting are:

1. KANU, recently established to provide contract mining, infrastructure and earthworks construction services, site services and equipment training. It is an alliance of Khishig Arvin Contract Mining Services and Nuna Logistics Limited, and between them these two have over 37 years of proven construction experience in Mongolia and Canada.
2. The Australian Trade Commission -- the Australian Government’s trade and investment development agency. Better known as Austrade, it assists international buyers in locating and identifying the right Australian suppliers; provides international investors with key industry and government contacts; and helps Australian exporters with a comprehensive range of exporter services. It has now opened an office in Ulaanbaatar.
3. General Electric, an advanced technology, services and finance company that operates in more than 100 countries.  Besides innovative, efficient and advanced technological solutions, the GE can offer vast experience in providing capital to meet financing needs, establishing partnerships with the Government, local businesses, partners, and foreign investors. It opened an official Representative Office in Ulaanbaatar on May 2.

The first speaker of the evening was Mr. N.Algaa, Executive Director, Mongolian National Mining Association, who provided an update on the mining sector. The recent tripartite agreement on basic minimum wages is likely to be revised to make it mandatory for certain sectors, like mining, to pay its workers more.  Fees for use of water in mining are also likely to be raised. The association will continue to protest against such discriminatory moves and to press for more equitable provisions in the draft Minerals Law.     
Mr. G.Badruun and Ms. B.Onon, both project officers at the Zorig Foundation, gave a brief introduction to the activities of the Foundation. Among its principal goals are the spread of democratic values and acceptance of transparency and accountability in all walks of public service. This it hopes to achieve through programs in three priority areas: Good governance, Community Development, and Youth and Education. This last has been receiving more and more attention at present through grant of scholarships mostly to acquire skills that meet the donor’s specific needs, pairing with schools abroad, and developing leadership qualities among the young, especially by providing environmental fellowships.
Mr. D.Bat-oktyabri, Founder, Startup Weekend Mongolia/Nu-idee LLC, explained the concept, a novel means to encourage entrepreneurship in Mongolia. Their first session will be from May 27 to May 29, when, in a span of 54 hours, some 60 young people will learn the basics of preparing to do business. The participants will write project proposals and BCM will give a prize to the two best submissions.  
Mr. Stephen Ujvarosy, President, Telchar Systems, presented a case study in legislative efficiency in which he detailed work Legistar had done with the Iraqi parliament. There was no overt or specific reference to Mongolia, but beneath the apparent dissimilarities, there are many areas of convergence in how legislatures work in different countries, and how this can be streamlined.