UN Day 2024: Celebrating the Partnership Between the UN and Mongolia for Sustainable and Inclusive Development

The UN family in Mongolia celebrated its most significant day together with many esteemed guests, forging strong partnerships with new and longstanding allies to achieve sustainable and inclusive development in Mongolia. 

This eventful day kicked off with the visit of H.E Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, the Prime Minister of Mongolia to the UN House. His visit signifies the 63 years of mutually beneficial partnership between the UN and Mongolia. H.E L. Oyun-Erdene addressed to the UN family and emphasized the invaluable contribution and support towards Mongolia’s progressive development, where Mongolia today boasts to be an upper-middle-income country. 

In his remarks to the UN Family in Mongolia, the Prime Minister emphasized that “UNSDCF 2023-2027, jointly implemented by the Government of Mongolia, serves as crucial support for the effective implementation of development policies and programs, including Vision-2050, the New Recovery Policy, Digital Mongolia.”

The UN Country Team took great pride in presenting its substantive work in Mongolia, contributing to human development and well-being, green, inclusive, and sustainable growth, and as well as to strengthening governance, rule of law, and human rights. 

Partnering with the private sector for sustainable and inclusive development 

Our celebration continued with serious business talks and panel discussions with members of the private sector to build partnerships to advance sustainable development. Over 60 representatives from large and small-and-medium enterprises participated in the discussion on the UN’s meaningful engagement with the private sector. 

Mr. Mishra stressed in his remarks that “without meaningful engagement from the private sector, Mongolia will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).” 

He further highlighted the important role of the private sector in the critical gap for financing development in Mongolia. Mongolia’s SDG financing gap was estimated in 2022 to require an additional $43 billion beyond the government’s current commitments, amounting to 17% of GDP annually. These figures highlighted that public funding alone is insufficient, making private sector involvement essential.

Moderated by Mrs Bayasgalan Saranjav, Secretary General of the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI), an engaging and captivating discussion was held with the esteemed panelists, among whom were German Ambassador Mr. Helmut Rudolf Kulitz, who spoke on how Germany involves the private sector in achieving the SDGs in Germany as a best practice and in Mongolia through German Technical Cooperation (GIZ). Furthermore, UNDP Mongolia’s Deputy Director Mrs. Lin Cao highlighted the UNDP’s work on ESG standards and frameworks. Mr. Lkhamsuren Ganbold, Co-Founder and Head of the ICT group emphasized on green scoring of companies through real time data while Mrs.  Amarjargal Khenchbish, Chief Executive Officer, Rio Tinto Mongolia and Mr. Sergelen Nyamdorj, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Trade and Development Bank of Mongolia shared their initiatives on empowering the SMEs for ethical and responsible businesses to achieve SDGs. 

At the event, the UN highlighted its successful partnerships with leading private-sector companies in Mongolia. This includes the collaboration between Mobicom and UNICEF on the "Let's Learn Together" initiative, which established eight digital classrooms in urban and rural areas to enhance educational outcomes. Additionally, Rio Tinto and UNESCO have partnered to create Mongolia’s first UNESCO Global Geopark in the South Gobi region, focusing on sustainable tourism through heritage conservation. Furthermore, URECA, a Mongolian start-up, is working with UNDP to install solar panels in Ulaanbaatar's ger districts, helping households transition from coal to solar heating, with future plans to connect them to a national carbon market.

This event was geared to empowering and strengthening Mongolia’s SMEs to be further committed to SDGs through the application of ESG and other sustainability business models. 

Partnering with youth for leveraging science, technology and innovation for future generations

Last but not least of the series of events was the UNCT’s youth engagement, geared toward unpacking the recently adopted Declaration for Future Generations. With the keynote speech of the Advisor to the President on youth matters, Mr Davaadorj and further inspirational engagement with Ms. Sundari, who shared her journey to reimagine Mongolia education with the science, technology and innovations. 

The event also featured a lively panel discussion on how young people can leverage science, technology, and innovation to advance the SDGs and Mongolia’s social and economic development. With influencers, IT innovators including a visually-impaired engineer who makes the technologies accessible for visually-disable people, and youth advocates on the panel, the discussion sparked excitement among attendees about the future role of Mongolia’s youth in shaping the nation’s development through leveraging science, technology and innovations. 

Youth events can be not imagined without fun and entertainment, while celebrated youth band San Juniper added extra excitement and entertainment t with their live music. 

Over 70 young participants were called to act for a better future for the nation, joining their hands and efforts to make a difference through their real actions. 

UN Staff Day: Town Hall

Finally, it was time for the UN Family to get together for their annual gathering to celebrate this special day. It was a day for us to reaffirm our commitment and dedication to our organization’s noble causes, guided by the UN’s values and principles based on the UN Charter.

The most exciting and inspirational part of this event was the connecting with some Mongolian colleagues who trailblazed the career paths for serving in the mission abroad. Their remarkable stories and achievements were true inspiration for the local staff who aspire to go internationally.

As a tradition, the United Nations Day, observed annually on 24 October, was a great opportunity for the UN in Mongolia and its partners to reaffirm their commitment to the organization’s greater mission to achieve inclusive and sustainable development, leaving no one behind in Mongolia.