Yearbook 2011
Mongolia. In its quest to exploit its potentially vast natural resources to eradicate poverty, Mongolia is taking a cautious balance between powerful neighboring countries and allies, a situation where it is important to stay well with governments of various kinds. Visit ABBREVIATIONFINDER for the acronym of MNG that stands for the country of Mongolia.
In the final of the tender competition to develop the giant coal field Tavan Tolgoi in the Gobi desert, one of the world’s largest coal deposits, participated an American and a Chinese company and a Russian-Mongolian consortium. According to Countryaah official site, the government said even a South Korean company could be involved.
Shortly after President Tsachiagijn Elbegdorj visited Moscow and had discussions with both President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, he traveled to the United States, where he was welcomed by President Barack Obama. Elbegdorj promised US companies to participate in the development of the Mongolian mineral sector. The same day the two heads of state met in Washington was the Mongolian prime minister in Beijing, where he was promised a loan of half a billion US dollars and Chinese support to the mineral and energy sectors in Mongolia.
Elbegdorj and Obama also discussed their common interest in a global work for democracy and human rights. Mongolia’s past as a Communist satellite state to the Soviet Union has not facilitated modernization, but the country’s governments have managed to hold on to a democratic line.
In July, Mongolia assumed the presidency of the international association Community of Democracies, founded in 2000 and in which Sweden also participates.
MONGOLIA
The people’s republic of Outer Mongolia. – Administrative division and population. – The country is divided into 13 aimaq (provinces, but actually tribes), for which here are the data relating to 1930.
The population in 1940 was estimated at 900,000 residents about, including g0,000 Russians, 7,000 Chinese, the rest Mongols. The capital: Ulān Bātor, the ancient Urga, has 50,000 residents
Economic conditions. – The country’s resources are essentially those that come from pastoralism, the main activity of its nomadic or semi-nomadic residents. The zootechnical patrimony, according to uncontrollable data referring to 1934, would be (in millions of heads): sheep, 13.0; goats, 3.7; cattle, 2.0; 1,7 horses and 0,7 camels. The trade is organized by the Russians (see below) who have created a company, the “Sovmontorg” (Soviet-Mongolian Society), which holds the monopoly, hoarding the local products (wool, skins, livestock, etc.) that it exports to Russia, importing Russian industrial products (textiles, sugar, matches, oil, cars, vehicles, etc.) into the country in exchange. The Government of Ulān Bātor, following the example of the socialist republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, has drawn up a five-year plan which, in 1950, should bring Mongolian farming to the fore throughout the Far East. The plan provides for the exploitation of 1 million hectares for the development of agriculture against 45,000 in 1934. Industry is also increased and in Ulān Bātor a first industrial complex has been built which includes factories of felts, footwear, chemical products, spinning mills, tanneries, the power plant as well as car repair shops, a printing house, a brick factory, andcc.
Communications. – The capital problem of the country is that of transport. Communications still take place mainly by traditional means (horses and camels). However, it seems that the railway linking the Trans-Siberian to Ulān Bātor, headed by Ulān Ude, has already entered into operation. There is also an airline that connects Ulān Bātor to Verkhne Udinsk, and regular steam services operate on the Selenga and Orkhon rivers. The five-year plan (which is linked to the Soviet one) provides for the construction of several railways and roads.
Education. – Considerable progress has been made in this field; in Ulān Bātor there is a university with 600 students and 60 teachers, half of whom are Russian; in 1944, there were also over 500 lower schools throughout the country.
Ulan Bator
Ulan Bator, (Mongolian Ulaanbaatar ‘the Red Hero’), formerly Urga, Mongolian capital, 1.32 million residents (2013). The town is situated at an altitude of 1300 m, surrounded by mountains and by the river Tola. The old Russian-Chinese trade route and the Moscow-Beijing Railway pass through the city. The city was changed. 1639 as the seat of the leader of Mongolian (Lamaistic) Buddhism. In the late 1700-t. the city was also the seat of the Imperial Chinese Governor of Outer Mongolia.
In the wake of the Russian Revolution, the city was alternately occupied by Chinese and Russian (white and red) troops. From being a smaller Asian city with Buddhist monasteries and commercial and residential neighborhoods with small clay houses and felt-yarns, the city from the 1940’s was changed by Soviet urban planning and some industrialization. textiles, blankets, footwear and food. The transition to market economy and the cessation of the great Soviet financial support of 1991 gave rise to major problems in the city, from which approximately half of Mongolia’s national product comes. Among its architectural monuments is Mongolia’s largest Buddhist temple, Megdzhit-Dzjanraiseg, from 1911.
During the 1999-2001 winter disasters, many moved to the city, but in the summer most returned to life with farm animals.