Mongolia celebrates its 60th anniversary of its accession to the UN

It is a great privilege and honour for me to warmly congratulate the people of Mongolia on this special occasion of the 60th anniversary of Mongolia’s accession to the United Nations.

I extend my heartfelt congratulations to H.E U.Khurelsukh, President of Mongolia, H.E G.Zandanshatar, Speaker of the Great Khural of Mongolia and H.E L.Oyun-Erdene, Prime Minister of Mongolia on behalf of the entire UN system in Mongolia on this special diamond jubilee and as well as the historical milestone of the 100th anniversary of People’s Revolution in Mongolia.

I have always been fascinated by the rich history and culture of Mongolia. Your great history and legacy of your brave ancestors, once building the largest contiguous land empire in world history, have been inspirations for many generations of Mongolians for strengths and resilience. You have come through times of great challenges and struggles as a nation. Yet, Mongolia declared its independence in 1921.

Mongolia has once again demonstrated great resilience and determination towards its independence and sovereignty, which has been sealed by its rightful seat and full membership in the United Nations on 27th October 1961 as the 101st member. Today, we are celebrating this achievement and milestone in the spirit of great pride!

I would like to recognize and appreciate the efforts of all those who contributed to make this happen and who made valuable contributions over the last 60 years, which have brought us to this proud point in history.

Ever since then, Mongolia has made a tremendous stride to achieve social, economic and political development. For its successful transition to a vibrant and stable democracy with free media and a strong civil society, Mongolia is now known as a beacon of democracy in the region.

We are very proud that Mongolia ascended to “high” human development and an upper-middle-income country as the GNI per capita crossed the threshold between lower and upper-middle-income countries. Mongolia has made progress in achieving gender balance in education, employment opportunities in particular. 

Over the past 60 years, Mongolia has made progress in health development, significantly reducing maternal, newborn and child mortalities while achieving a steady increase in life expectancy. Some of the endemic transmission of communicable diseases were eliminated. Mongolia has become a polio-free country.

Mongolia made tremendous progress in the education sector, which has witnessed an eradication of illiteracy, building the foundations for an equitable, inclusive, quality education system aligned with the needs of the labour market. Today, Mongolia achieved a 98.4 per cent of literacy rate and with a high percentage of women with a higher level of education.

Our partnership has promoted stronger democratic governance and legislative reforms in Mongolia, ensuring a stronger voice and participation of citizens in the local decision-making process.

UN also has been partnering with the Government and other actors on combating climate change, conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, reducing the impact of natural and man-made disasters.

We have seen great progress in the industrial, agriculture and food systems development that contributed to reducing poverty, ending hunger and increasing quality of life among the population.

We also worked together on the promotion of human rights, including child rights, rights of minorities and labour rights, and sexual and reproductive health rights. We are proud to note that Mongolia is one of the first countries in the region to adopt the law on Human Rights Defenders.

What Mongolia has achieved over the last several decades has been remarkable! However, we still face many complex challenges in development.

UN and Mongolia partnerships in the last several decades have been focusing on many pressing socio-economic issues such as poverty and inequality, which is still very persistent and even further at risk to increase due to the current pandemic.

We must do more to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We have only less than a decade to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.

To raise awareness about the SDGs among the population at large, the UN, together with the national and international partners continues undertaking devoted efforts in popularizing the goals to leave no one behind and to ensure everybody’s contribution and action to realize the Goals. 

Mongolia has a big ambition towards achieving sustainable development, looking beyond 2030 having its vision up to 2050, the Vision-2050 adopted by the Parliament May last year and the UN and other partners have joined forces with the Government in its efforts for achieving the SDGs in Mongolia. For this purpose, we are currently in the process of developing the new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for the next 5 years.

I take this opportunity to thank the President, Parliament and the Government of Mongolia for their strong leadership and ownership in the SDGs.

This is a pivotal moment for all of us to work together so we are able to keep our promise to put Mongolia on a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive path.

Our highest priority is now to conquer the spread of the devastating pandemic and build better for inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth, that leaves no one behind.

We, as the UN Country Team in Mongolia, see a great potential for Mongolia’s development to overcome its current socio-economic and political challenges and to become a strong contributor and player in regional and global development through forging stronger partnerships.

As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Mongolia’s membership in the United Nations, I wish Mongolia and its people a bright, prosperous and inclusive future, and look forward to our continued partnerships for the next 60 years to come.

Happy 60th anniversary of Mongolia’s membership in the UN!