REMARKS BY H.E. MR. ENKHBOLD MIYEGOMBO, CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE GREAT HURAL, AT THE OPENING OF THE 2017 FALL SESSION OF THE STATE GREAT HURAL

(PARLIAMENT) OF MONGOLIA

October 02, 2017                                                                                                                                                          Ulaanbaatar

Your Excellency Mr. President,

Honorable members of the State Great Hural,

Distinguished guests,

The State Great Hural formed as a result of the 7th parliamentary election is greeting its second autumn and commencing its regular session.

During the recess following the spring session, we all were quite loaded, because of the Presidential election and irregular sessions held twice. 

After the spring session, the members of the parliament visited and worked in 21 aimags and 9 districts.

There were 46 members in repetitive numbers, who have worked in the countryside for 305 days. They have met with their voters, shared the opinions about the current socio-economic situation of Mongolia, discussed further policy and objectives and also promoted the legislation adopted by the parliament.  

The socio-economic situation of Mongolia demands more efforts and initiatives from us. However, the efforts should be taken towards addressing the problematic issues touching the essential current and future interests of the country.

The rest term of the parliament should not spend in a muddle on issues raised as a consequence of the politicization. Thus, I would like to say to you, parliamentarians, to emphasize the main duty to legislate, and the main goal to live up to the voters’ promises.   

As a result of the arrangement of fiscal policy, improvements to the budget performance and control, the implementation of the IMF program, the key economic indicators of Mongolia have improved.

The working group of IMF evaluated the first step of program implementation and concluded that the objectives were fully met. It was considered that accumulating the half of the excess revenues provides an opportunity to reduce the loan and limit the debt growth.

Mongolia's economy grew by 5.3% in the first half of 2017. Further, the growth is expected to continue and the inflation rate will stabilize at target 8 percent in the mid-term. Based on that, Mongolian monetary policy committee made the decision to retain the policy rate at 12 percent.

These are the realistic conclusions drawn from external and internal evaluators to Mongolian economic and financial situation.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to extend my gratitude to our neighbors, development partners, international banks and financial organizations for understanding and supporting our efforts to stabilize the economy in a short period and achieve further growth.

When the State Great Hural will adopt the state budget and monetary policy of 2018, it will retain the fiscal and financial policy carried out during the past and firmly promote the “Extended Fund Facilities” program jointly implemented together with the IMF.

Dear parliamentarians,

Although the government was dismissed by the irregular session of the State Great Hural, the promises, policy, and programs of ruling party, which is the majority in the parliament, remain the same.

The government to be formed newly must keep the continuity of the state policy and achieve the goals reflected in the Government Action Plan and “The Economic Recovery Program” adopted by the parliament.

Changing the Prime Minister and the government must not make the state policy uncertain or unclear, weaken the discipline and accountability of the state organizations, and make a trouble for private sectors and citizen.

Despite some positive changes, there are still problematic issues and challenges in front of the new government.

The ability to reduce the debt amount is not yet formed, thus it would not be lowered. The sum of internal and external borrowings of the government remaining as of August 2017 is 19.8 trillion MNT which equals to 73.8% of the country’s GDP.

In the beginning of 2018, the repayment of first round for the Chinggis bond and Dim Sum bond has to be covered due to the contract.

This is the big challenge not only for the government, but also for Mongolia.

It is clear that the method to refinance the payment through raising funds from the external market would not continue long.

Therefore, it is important to redefine the strategy and structure of government debt management, renovate the plan of debt service, implement the large projects reflected in “The Economic Recovery Program” and address debt issue through creating the accumulation and paying from it.

In addition, the policies to diversify the structure of the economy, reduce the vulnerable condition dependent on the commodity price must be stable and consistent despite who the Prime Minister and what the political force is.

The State Great Hural as the highest organ of the state must improve its oversight power on the executive governance. Beginning with this session, according to the law, the reports of the cabinet members on implementation of the legislation, policy papers adopted by the parliament, Government Action Plan, budget and key directions of the year must be discussed at the related Standing committees, and this process should be accustomed.

Furthermore, the parliament has to be introduced with how the legislation adopted by the parliament regulates and coordinates the relations of the social, economic and civil life, and based on that to draw a conclusion.

Honorable members of the Parliament,

It is being a while since the school and kindergarten teachers, doctors and hospital staffs demanded to increase their salaries.

We set a goal to increase pensions, allowances, and salaries in stages and create a system of salaries and incentives for teachers, doctors, and hospital staffs which will depend on their workload, skills, qualifications, work results and years of work.

In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to inform public about the policy towards timeframe and level of measures to be taken to in clear and understandable way.

Furthermore, based on the financial resources of the country, it is important to increase the salaries of teachers, doctors and medical staffs in stages.

Government policy is in huge demand to resolve the air and environmental pollution of the capital city, in where about 1.4 million people, which is the 46% of the total population of Mongolia, live. It is not eligible that we only discuss air pollution as a formality once it becomes winter and forget about it in spring and waste budget resources for it in an ineffective way.

In this fall session, we plan to revise the Law on the Legal Status of the Capital City.

In order to reduce the population's excessive centralization, the capital city will be set up with special industrial zones, satellite towns and sub-centers, and tax policies to support private sectors and citizens moving and residing in new zones would be legalized.

We will aim to exempt from custom and value-added taxes the devices such as air fresheners and energy-efficient heater. A legal environment to reward citizens who contribute to addressing the essential to the capital city issues in a different way such as enhancing their living areas, planting the trees would be created.

The issue of amendments to the Constitution, which is on the agenda of the Fall Session, became a focus of public attention.

If the Constitution would be amended just because we think the time came or want to follow other countries’ references, it can turn into a one-sided issue or into a story of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Therefore, based on opinion and aspirations of the scholars, political parties, and the public, we should address this issue through a good research on what and how to amend and touching only the inevitable ones.

During the recess of the session, a successful nationwide debate on the draft amendments to the Constitution was successfully organized.

An overview of 300,000 proposals from citizens, organizations, and scientists is being undertaken.

It is assumed that whether public support the draft on amendments to the Constitution or not would be clear by each article, section and clause and mainstreams to change and improve them would be clarified as well.

The amendments shall be made only on the issues supported by all stakeholders of the society and consistent with the requirements to improve check and balance of legislative and executive powers, establish a stable and accountable governance, strengthen parliamentary governance, and to establish a legal basis for creating a new culture to the political parties.

The continuity of the state policy, its implementation, and the guarantee of the state admiring the people to sustain largely depend on whether the civil service can be professional and stable. It is no secret that the civil service has been too dependent on the politics.

Since the civil service is unstable, the public servants are not qualified, and because of no qualified professional civil servants, the state is getting weak.

The spring session has begun to discuss legalizing the system that ensures the independence of the public service and considers the issue of promotion and demotion, incentives and punishments in connection with the civil servants’ knowledge, skills and work efficiency.

There is a need to resolve this issue in the fall session and begin the next phase of civil service reform.

Dear citizens,    

The winter has almost come. The harvesting, hay, and winter preparation are about to end. It is important to note that in the past summer, because of a lack of rain, the most of the land is drought. Consequently, the winter can be hard and, thus, in order to avoid any risks, subjects such as Government, state organizations of all local level, government officials, herders all should prepare the haymaking resources and ensure necessary preparedness.

Honorable members of the Parliament,

The promises and the planned works are a lot, but the time is less.

Let's be united and remember the priorities of the interest and work hard with honesty to repay the confidence of our citizens placed in us.

I would like to ask you to be very careful about the agenda of the fall session, responsible and active in the works of Standing Committees and the plenary sessions.

Let me announce that the 2017 Fall Session of the State Great Hural is now open.

Foreign Relations Department of the State Great Hural of Mongolia