Mongolia, 2014

At the outset, Sir, may I join

others in extending our heartfelt congratulations to

Mr. Sam Kutesa on his unanimous election as President

General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. Mr. Kutesa

can count on my delegation’s full support in the

discharge of his enormous responsibilities in steering

our work in the months ahead.

The world is faced with multiple crises — violent

conflicts in various parts of the world, terrorist activities

by extremist groups, unprecedented epidemics and

natural calamities. At this time of turmoil, we, as

a family of nations, must rally around this world

Organization as a centre of multilateralism, upholding

the Charter of the United Nations and the universal

principles of international law.

We need peace and development. We need to do

our utmost to implement the right of peoples to peace

as emphasized by the Declaration on the Right of

Peoples to Peace, adopted 30 years ago at the initiative

of Mongolia. We have consistently supported the

joint efforts of the international community against

terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Mongolia

is a party to the majority of international counter-

terrorism instruments. The seemingly unthinkable

atrocities committed by the terrorist group called the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant pose alarming

threats to regional peace and security. The international

community must take resolute action to defeat these

threats comprehensively and in compliance with the

Charter of the United Nations.

Mongolia commends the Secretary-General’s

leadership in rallying international support and

establishing the United Nations Mission for Ebola

Emergency Response to ensure a rapid, effective and

coherent response to the Ebola crisis. We support the

Security Council and General Assembly resolutions to

that effect.

The situation in Ukraine should be resolved only

through political dialogue, without the use of force. The

current ceasefire needs to be made more sustainable; all

efforts towards finding a solution, including the Putin

plan outlined in Ulaanbaatar earlier this month, as well

as the Minsk protocol of 5 September and its follow-up

memorandum, should be taken into account.

Just 25 years ago, Mongolia chose its development

path, deciding to embrace the rule of law, democratic

governance, a market economy and an open society.

Although we are among the countries known as

the third wave of democratization, the transition to

democracy was in many respects unique in Mongolia.

We made a simultaneous transition to democracy and a

market economy. We made that transition peacefully. In

1990, democratic parliamentary elections were not only

the first of their kind in the region, but they were fully

free and fair. To ensure inclusive growth and citizens’

participation, a national policy on decentralization

through direct democracy was introduced. As a

result, citizens are now able to directly participate in

identifying development priorities and allocations and

monitoring local budgets.

To identify a long-term development pathway

and regain the confidence of investors, a number

of multi-stakeholder events have been held in

Mongolia — the Economic Forum, the Business

Summit and Discover Mongolia. In addition, new

laws, particularly on investment, investment funding

and petroleum, and budget transparency, have been

adopted.

At the international level, Mongolia served as

the Chair of the Fifth International Conference of

New or Restored Democracies and the Community of

Democracies. We currently chair the Freedom Online

Coalition. It is the first time that an Asian country

leads the Coalition. We support the Human Rights

Council’s decision that Internet freedom is a basic

human right. As a staunch advocate of democracy

and freedom, Mongolia will use its opportunity as

chair of the Coalition to promote, both nationally and

internationally, an Internet that is free and secure for

all.

To support emerging democracies, Mongolia has set

up an international cooperation fund. We have nothing

to preach, but we have experience and lessons learned.

We therefore shared with Kyrgyzstan our experience in

parliamentary democracy and legal reform, and we held

training sessions for Afghan diplomats and Myanmar

journalists.

Mongolia highly commends the Secretary-General’s

leadership in galvanizing and catalysing global action

on climate change. Climate change is not a challenge

for the future; it is a matter of urgent Permanent

Representativeiority today. Yesterday’s United Nations

Climate Change Summit 2014 offered world leaders a

unique opportunity to voice their commitments to cut

the emission gap and to pledge their commitment to the

two-degree scenario in the lead-up to the twenty-first

session of the Conference of the Parties to the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate, to be held

in Paris next year.

But that pledge will remain a mere ambition if it

is not backed up by bold action and strong political

will. We are running out of time, but we cannot run

out of planet Earth. The time to act is now. Moreover,

the Green Climate Fund needs to be made fully

operational. If resources are actually transferred as

an incentive to countries that reduce their emission of

greenhouse gases, that will have a multiplier effect. No

one country is immune to climate change. Even my own

country, Mongolia, which has a centuries-old tradition

of living in harmony with nature, is experiencing its

disproportionate effect. Conscious of that reality,

Mongolia has recently adopted a green development

policy. We expressed our support for the statement on

carbon pricing, and for the New York Declaration on

Forests to combat deforestation.

This session of the General Assembly has the

important task of articulating the post-2015 development

agenda based on the legacy of the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs). In that regard, we look

forward to a synthesis report by the Secretary-General

Permanent Representativeior to the intergovernmental

negotiations for the sustainable development goals

(SDGs) during this General Assembly session. We

also welcome the outcome of the Open Working

Group on SDGs and commend its hard work over the

past 18 months. The United Nations Conference on

Sustainable Development underscored the special

challenges facing the most vulnerable countries,

including landlocked developing countries (LLDCs).

However, we believe that the outcome document of the

Open Working Group could have better reflected the

special needs of landlocked developing countries. We

hope that the upcoming intergovernmental negotiations

will redress that situation.

In the run-up to the 10-year review of the Almaty

Programme of Action, in June 2014 we hosted a

high- level international workshop, “The World

Trade Organization Agreement on Trade Facilitation:

Implications for LLDCs.” We also joined the

Intergovernmental Agreement on Dry Ports in order to

become involved in regional connectivity. Facilitation

of transit transportation, infrastructure development

and reduction of trade barriers were among the issues

discussed during the recent visits to Mongolia by

President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin. We

agreed to expand our cooperation in those areas. Those

agreements were reiterated at the first ever trilateral

summit that brought together Mongolia, China and

Russia on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation

Summit in Dushanbe earlier this month. The expansion

of our cooperation with those two neighbours augurs

well for regional trade and investment and paves the

way for enhanced economic collaboration with our

other neighbours.

Mongolia is redoubling its efforts to join the Asia-

Pacific Economic Cooperation, to become a dialogue

partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

and to constructively engage in the East Asia Summit.

Last July we also signed an economic partnership

agreement with Japan. Strengthening peace and

stability in North-East Asia is one of our national

security Permanent Representativeiorities. We firmly

believe that dialogue and open discussions enhance

confidence among nations. Following up on the

Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asian Security, we

have successfully hosted a series of fruitful platforms,

including a meeting of women parliamentarians, an

international research conference and a meeting of

mayors from cities in North-East Asian countries.

Stability on the Korean peninsula is crucial for

maintaining regional peace and security. We support

an early resumption of the Six-Party talks. As a country

with a declared nuclear-weapon-free status, Mongolia

firmly believes that the Korean Peninsula must be

nuclear-weapon-free.

In a time of major geopolitical change, the United

Nations system must reflect new economic and political

realities. We need to accelerate the reform process,

including the long-overdue expansion of Security

Council membership in both the permanent and the

non-permanent categories. The issue of the Council’s

working method is also important for all small States,

which make up a majority in the United Nations.

Out of 193 States Members, 105 belong to the

Forum of Small States. Of the 70 States that have never

been elected as members of the Security Council,

50 are small States, including my own country,

Mongolia. As a responsible member of the international

community, Mongolia has put forward its candidacy for

a non-permanent seat on the Security Council in the

elections to be held in 2022, and is seeking the valuable

support of its fellow members.

In conclusion, I would like to express my

confidence that this session of the General Assembly

will be able to deliver a common development strategy

beyond 2015, a strategy that will inspire and guide us

to work collectively towards a safer, more equitable and

prosperous future in the years to come.