This month, Mongolia celebrates Tsagaan Sar, the Lunar New Year. Across our country, extended families, whether in the sprawling buildings of our capital city or in traditional ger nomadic dwellings on our magnificent grasslands, will gather and celebrate traditions which have been passed down for millennia.
I find this period to be a chance to reflect on the last year and to make goals for the year ahead.
In 1987, the United States established bilateral relations with Mongolia. Shortly thereafter, with the support of the United States and other countries, Mongolia embraced democracy after nearly 70 years of communism. In 1992, our constitution established a parliamentary democracy guaranteeing fundamental human rights and a free market.
Since the Mongolian Democratic Revolution of 1990, we have regarded the U.S. as our “third neighbor” in addition to our immediate two neighbors — China and Russia. The reason our bilateral relations have made significant strides in just a few decades is that our values of freedom, gender equality, and self-reliance are also American values. It is hard to ignore the striking similarities between Mongolian nomadic herders, who migrate hundreds of miles every year, and the pioneers of the American frontier.
The year ahead will be marked by the delivery of three brand-new Boeing aircraft. I believe this heralds a new era of our bilateral relations — one that is based on mutually beneficial fair and free trade. These aircraft will play an important role in this new era by not only bolstering tourism, but also by boosting trade.
Mongolia prides itself on its free-market economy, and private sector-led growth will define the upcoming year. American goods exported to Mongolia are now $82 million, up 48.7 percent over the last two years.
We must use these planes to increase exports of world-class cashmere wool to American manufacturers and store shelves and to import American products.
In the early days of our now-blossoming experiment with democracy and a free-market economy, Democrats and Republicans in Congress granted Mongolia Most Favored Nation status. Seemingly overnight, nearly 40,000 women were employed in newly privatized cashmere factories. The largest American garment labels took advantage of our vast supply of cashmere wool.
For millennia, my fellow citizens have herded cashmere goats on our vast grasslands. I applaud that Democratic and Republican congressional leaders in Washington are once again working together for the Mongolia Third Neighbor Trade Act. If passed, it would remove tariffs on Mongolian cashmere fabrics for American manufacturers and garments for importers for five years.
International trade is dependent on transparency. Suppliers, exporters, and investors need predictability, and that is why our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs will devote this year to full enactment of the Transparency Agreement signed in Washington.
President Trump made clear first at the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit and subsequently in Davos at the World Economic Forum that economic ties will, in large part, define the relationship between the U.S. and our region. The continued focus of his administration and of bipartisan work in Congress is a blessing for our region.
As our nation peacefully began a democratic transition, I was a young businessman, eager to build a society where people would succeed if they worked hard. For many of us, the U.S. was the “city on the hill” that we strived to emulate.
My Lunar New Year’s Resolution is that Mongolia can be a similar beacon of liberty, justice, and free-market economics for many other developing nations. I hope that the U.S. will assist us in fostering these shared values over what promises to be a watershed year ahead.
Khaltmaagiin Battulga has served as the president of Mongolia since 2017.
Source:Washington Examiner
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/president-battulga-mongolia-happy-to-have-the-us-as-our-third-neighbor
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