May 12, 2021. Chairman of the State Great Hural G.Zandanshatar received the Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in Ulaanbaatar Mark Koenig.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Chairman thanked for Asia Foundation for its continued support and collaboration in promoting deliberative democracy in Mongolia. The Chairman expressed his interest in continuing the cooperation with The Asia Foundation. 

The Chairman noted that this session of the State Great Hural is paying greater attention to the human rights issues. Promoting and advocacy of human rights situation in Mongolia is an integral part of its democracy and promoting human rights respected legislative has become a priority action. We are now working on the human rights situation report of 2020 and it’s the 20 report of the Human Rights Commission. The State Great Hural has just approved the Law on the Legal Status of Human Rights Defenders and aims to ensure its implementation.

The Chairman further noted that public participation in legislation and parliamentary education is another area for consideration. The State Great Hural has just introduced digital platforms to engage with the public in legislative process. Therefore, your experience and cooperation promoting human rights and parliamentary transparency are important areas for further development of our cooperation.

The Asia Foundation's Country Representative, Mark Koenig, said he fully supports the Chairman’s proposal and expressed the opportunity to work together to promote the platforms to increase parliamentary transparency and citizen participation. He also mentioned that he had recently met with members of the National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia and said that it was possible to establish a joint working group on this issue.