BCM Monthly Meeting Recap - April 27, 2009

Thursday, 30 April 2009 11:12

The BCM monthly meeting on April 27, with Mr. Laurenz Melchers in the chair, was attended by 82 members and invited guests. Mr. Jim Dwyer announced that total membership strength had reached 110. The eight new members inducted since the last meeting are FS Co., MIBG, Altan Taria, Mongolian National Broadcasting, Mongol Express, Development Solutions, Taipei Trade and Economic Representative Office, and Christina Noble Children’s Foundation. The National Council of Vocational Education Training has been formally launched, and the BCM and the Mining Association both have seats in it. Mr. Dwyer asked member organizations, representing a very significant part of the demand side of the Mongolian labor market, to come forward to BCM’s TVET Working Group with their requirements and expectations from the Council.

Mr. Takuo Kidokoro is new as Japanese Ambassador, but not new in Mongolia, having come here first in 1973. He recalled the times then, and traced how bilateral relations have grown, ending with the hope that Japan would become a leading partner of Mongolia in the mining sector.
Dr. Mandar Jayawant, a founder of Frontier Investment & Development Partners, offered a presentation on his company and what it hopes to achieve in “Private Equity in Mongolia - Unleashing the Full Potential of Mongolian Businesses”. The global crisis has made conditions in the emerging markets difficult, but Mongolia “continues to be of interest” and his company’s Mongolia Investment and Development Fund is being launched and will be ready to invest USD100 million in the country. With its “assets base unaffected by the crisis, and the basic economic drivers intact”, Mongolia “continues to be high on the international donors’ list”. The former ADB official said his company aimed to help “Mongolian businesses develop their international profile” and had three basic targets. The first was to provide expansion capital to proven businesses, the second was to help established businesses diversify beyond their core capabilities, and the third was value generation through divestiture.

In the absence of the MPRP representative the panel on the presidential election was limited to BCM Vice Chairman and Director of Sant Maral Foundation, Mr. L.Sumati, and Mr. Ts.Sukhbaatar, Head of Foreign Relations of the Democratic Party. Mr. Sumati said the Mongolian President had limited powers but still his election always generates lots of interest. This election is the first time there is a straight fight between the two major parties and voters have a choice, in very general terms, between the MPRP which stands for “establishment and continuity” and the DP which stresses “change and justice”. The DP candidate was enjoying a somewhat unexpected lead in public opinion polls, but it is still too early to guess what this marginal advantage really indicates.

Mr. Sukhbaatar described how the two parties, now partners in a ruling coalition, did not have too much difference in their economic policies. Both were keen to get mining operations started, even though their approaches to certain issues were not in agreement. Mr. Elbegdorj was calling for “an independent and impartial judiciary” to ensure “legal enforcement of human rights and business rights” and “wanted to improve the business environment to free investments from bureaucratic control”. Asked how fair the polling was likely to be, Mr. Sukhbaatar said this depends largely on the election committees that oversee the several stages of the election process. The two parties enjoyed parity in controlling these committees in Ulaanbaatar, but the MPRP had a distinct edge in the provinces. However, voters would find it easier to mark their choice this time than in the parliamentary election as there are only two candidates.

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