Investigation on World Bank support for Mongolia mining project deferred

SUMMARY

The Inspection Panel has deferred a decision to investigate a complaint regarding environmental, social and economic damage related to a World Bank funded mining project in Mongolia.

In February 2015, community representatives and local organisations in Mongolia and Russia filed a complaint with the World Bank’s accountability mechanism, the Inspection Panel (IPN), regarding the World Bank’s $25 million Mining Infrastructure Investment Support project (MINIS), providing technical assistance aimed at facilitating infrastructure investments to support mining operations in Mongolia.

MINIS finances sub-project assessment studies, including for the Shuren hydropower plant (see Update 83). The complaint raised concerns regarding potential irreversible environmental, social and economic impacts on the Selenga river basin and Lake Baikal, a World Heritage site, related to the project. Quoting “multiple engagements” with World Bank staff over two years, the complainants noted “we do not find that their responses have resulted in acceptable resolutions to our procedural and substantive issues with the project including the lack of disclosure of project documents, poor quality of design and practices of stakeholder consultations, weak assessment of risks, questionable criteria for sub-project selection, and lack of assessment of viable alternatives.”They concluded: “we are deeply concerned that the Bank’s involvement in these preparatory studies will serve as the launching pad for investments in the actual physical infrastructure in the future.”

In a July 2015 statement, the IPN admitted that project-related activities could violate Bank policies , but deferred a decision on a potential investigation, concluding that “the next stages in project implementation provide ample opportunities to address the requesters’ concerns and to introduce the necessary corrective measures.” It stated that it will revisit the case in a years’ time after assessing the progress of the environmental and social impact assessment “as well as a determination regarding the quality of the consultation process at that time.”

Source:http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org or voice critical of World Bank

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World Bank urges welfare reform in Mongolia

The World Bank has urged Mongolia to reform its welfare system by consolidating different benefits and targeting assistance better in order to improve the efficiency of spending.

In the country, the top 40% of the population by income receive 28% of total welfare transfers, while the poorest 40% receive 56% of welfare, the bank’s Review of Program Design and Beneficiary Profiles of Social Welfare Programs in Mongolia said.

Costs also outstrip the average for other emerging and developing countries. In 2013, Mongolia spent 2.78% of gross domestic product on welfare compared with 1.6% in other emerging and developing countries.

“As an institution devoted to ending extreme poverty, the World Bank strives to understand the drivers of poverty reduction and the factors affecting how prosperity is shared among the population,” said James Anderson, World Bank country manager for Mongolia.

“We hope that this review provides the evidence needed for Mongolia’s leaders to create a more effective and efficient social welfare system, one that puts Mongolia’s poor and vulnerable first.”

The report notes that not all welfare entitlements were linked to need. It urged the Mongolian government to eliminate or reduce benefits for wealthier citizens through means testing.

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Mongolia’s Rural Communities to Play Greater Role

The FINANCIAL -- Rural residents in Mongolia will benefit from a $34.1 million program funded by World Bank and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) that aims to make the government funding process more transparent and more responsive to community needs.

The program, the third phase of the Sustainable Livelihoods Project, was officially launched on September 17 in Ulaanbaatar with a workshop organized by the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank. The three-year program aims to help Mongolia implement the 2011 budget law, which gives rural communities a greater role in the government funding process.

“The project will empower rural communities by providing a transparent mechanism for funding to be transferred to support local development initiatives,” said James Anderson, World Bank Country Manager for Mongolia.

The program will build on the success of the first two phases of the project, which have helped set up community development funds financing more than 6,000 projects, mostly investing in education and health. It will build local government’s capacity for financing investments in infrastructure and services. Based on the budget law, funding allocations are decided each year through robust community participation, according to the World Bank.

“The Sustainable Livelihood Project has played an important role in developing rural areas in Mongolia through community participation. The Government of Mongolia and World Bank have worked together since 2002 to implement the project and increase the flow of public and private investment to herders’ communities,” said Kh. Gantsogt, State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance.

The project will also support local economic development by promoting investments for private sector growth in the more than 300 soums – or local administrative districts – throughout the country.

It will focus on financing based on governance performance, which awards additional funding for local development investments to local government entities that adopt participatory processes to reflect local needs and priorities in their planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes.

“The new phase of the project will ensure that the budget available at local level, especially Local Development Funds, will be managed and used effectively and efficiently, responding to the needs of local people. Strengthening capacities of local governments in rural areas will be key to achieving this goal,” said Markus Waldvogel, Director of Cooperation of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

The program is funded with a $22.7 million credit from the International Development Association (IDA), the Bank’s fund for the low-income countries and a $11.4 million grant from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

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Mongolia’s Ministry of Finance and World Bank sign credit agreements

The FINANCIAL -- Minister of Finance J. Erdenebat and World Bank Country Manager James Anderson signed on June 18 credit agreements totaling  US$63 million for three new projects: the Education Quality Reform Project, the E-Health Project and the SMART Government Project .

“The World Bank and the Government of Mongolia have partnered for nearly 25 years on many projects in a variety of sectors. We are pleased to be working together on education, health, and smart government, three priority areas for the government, and we look forward to collaborating with the World Bank in the future,” said Minister of Finance J. Erdenebat.

The Education Quality Reform Project ($27.4) aims to improve the quality of education for primary school children in Mongolia. The project will create a results focus within the education system and strengthen the country’s capacity to provide classroom-level support for teaching and learning in every primary school in the country. The project will extend access to high-quality learning materials, establish a national assessment system, improve teacher professional development, and implement a school grants program. 

The E-Health Project ($17.9) will design an e-health system to provide faster access to more integrated health information systems. This will speed the processing of referrals, avoid duplication of tests and procedures, and facilitate follow-up care. The project will pilot the new e-health system in three aimags allowing for information to be shared among hospitals and healthcare providers, even in remote areas, according to the World Bank.

The SMART Government Project ($17.8) aims to use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to improve accessibility, transparency and efficiency of public services in Mongolia. The Project will support the government in achieving its vision of leveraging the ICT sector as a key driver of growth, competitiveness, and improved governance. The project will support competitiveness of the economy and contribute to Mongolia’s improved global rankings for e-government.

“We look forward to working with the government to improve the quality of primary education and health services across the country, and to leverage Mongolia’s vast broadband infrastructure and ICT to make public services more efficient and accessible to everyone,” said James Anderson, World Bank Country Manager for Mongolia.                      

The concessional credits are supported by the International Development Association, a part of the World Bank Group.

Source:The Financial

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Sandwiched Mongolia looks beyond its two gigantic neighbours

Mongolia’s unavoidable environment — surrounded by two big civilisations, with fast-growing markets and nuclear powers — created challenges and opportunities. The Western economic sanctions followed by the Tiananmen incident in 1989 led to the establishment of a strategic partnership between Russia and China; and a new regional organisation, the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, which is expanding to central and south Asia. Mongolia is the only country in inner Asia which is not a member of this organisation. Due to the crisis in east Ukraine, the West put sanctions on Russia. However, this gave the economic and energy co-operation between Russia and China a new momentum. Therefore, one can say geopolitics is an integral part of everyday lives of Mongolians.

The priority in foreign policy of Mongolia is to maintain friendly relations with its neighbours. However, while Mongolia is a landlocked country, it pursues a “third-neighbour policy”, with the purpose to be open and firmly connected with the outer world through political, economic, security and people-to-people links.

In the framework of this policy, Mongolia aims to effectively collaborate with Australia through bilateral and multilateral co-operation. I note with great pleasure the close bilateral co-operation within international financial institutions such as the World Bank.

Education became a strong bridge between Mongolia and Australia. More than 400 “Mozzies”, including parliamentarians and members of the cabinet, studied in Australia. The number of Mongolian students studying in Australia have tripled during the past three years, to nearly 900.

Like other nations of the region, Mongolia praises the New Colombo Plan, which has already started playing a great role in bringing Australia closer to the Asia-Pacific. Mongolia has been invited to participate and the first Australian students are on their way to Mongolia.

A visit by the Mongolian Foreign Minister last year was the first such trip in more than 20 years. It has deepened bilateral political understanding and expanded the partnership.

The bilateral consultations and exchange of high-ranking officials has also intensified. Mongolia received with great pleasure the recent announcement by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop that Australia will open its embassy in Ulaanbaatar. It was important that within the spirit of Australia’s economic diplomacy the Australia-Mongolia Business council was established, with the support of companies such as Minter Ellison and Rio Tinto. More than 60 Australian companies operate their offices in Ulaanbaatar, making this country one of the most important investors in Mongolia.

A concessional agreement was concluded between the Mongolian government and Australian company Aspire Mining early this year to build a 700km railway in the north of Mongolia. Mongolia welcomes the presence of Australian businesses in inner Asia. There is no doubt that the decision to continue the $5.4 billion second stage of the Oyu Tolgoi project will give fresh and greater opportunities to Australian investors. The government of Mongolia is also working towards utilising the Tavan Tolgoi deposit, which has one of the world’s largest reserves of coking coal — 6.5 billion tonnes. We hope economic utilisation of these two deposits could have a positive impact on global mining development.

There is a wide potential for bilateral co-operation in agriculture and tourism. The recently signed defence co-operation accord will strengthen links between our defence forces.

Redistribution of wealth within the Asia-Pacific region affects the balance of power. In these circumstances, the mutual trust and understanding within the international co-operation will remain greatly important.

Multilateral co-operation provides small nations with an opportunity to strengthen their interests and make contributions. Mongolia is actively participating at international peacekeeping operations under the UN mandate. Mongolian troops have been deployed in South Sudan for the past three years; it is the second-largest Mongolian deployment in Africa.

Mongolia will host the 20th anniversary summit of the Asia-Europe meeting in July next year. The heads of states and governments of 65 nations will convene in Mongolia. Mongolia is a small but responsible partner; it is actively determined towards its own sustainable development, also to the stability and peace in north Asia.

Ravdan Bold is the outgoing Mongolian ambassador to Australia.

Source:http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

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