Category: interview

Batbold Sukhbaatar’s life
and work can be divided into three areas: education, business and
politics. Each one is separate, but they’re inextricably linked. 

Batbold
Sukhbaatar was born in 1963, in Ulaanbaatar. He graduated from high
school and studied at the prestigious Moscow State Institute of
International Relations. He later attended London Business School and
the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

His
career began in 1986, at the Import Division of the Ministry of
Economy. Two years later, he became an executive at Mongol Impex
Cooperative. He then started his own family corporation, Altai
Trading. Mr. Batbold timed his entry into commerce with the opening
up of the economy and the embracing of modern business methods and
practices. He was in the first wave of successful, visionary
Mongolian entrepreneurs, running Altai from 1992 to 2000, growing it
into one of Mongolia’s largest private groups with interests in
retail, imports and exports, cashmere production, telecoms, tourism
and hospitality.

Once
Altai was firmly established, Mr. Batbold felt it was time to give
something back, to help Mongolia.

He
entered Parliament as an MP for the Mongolian People’s
Revolutionary Party or MPRP (subsequently joining its Leadership
Council) and became a minister in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

He
then held a position in the Cabinet as Minister of Trade and
Industry, followed by Foreign Minister from 2008, until being made
Prime Minister in 2009.

Mr.
Batbold insisted that Mongolia pursue better governance and legal
procedures, including fighting corruption. Mr. Batbold has always
believed that democracy, human rights and development are among the
most important values.

Mr.
Batbold was also keen to bring other countries’ best practices and
standards to Mongolia. These included: cooperation between Mongolia
and the London Stock Exchange; partnership with a Cambridge
University consortium to introduce the Cambridge International
Education system into Mongolia’s schools and to reform primary and
secondary teaching; drawing on the Canadian Public Service Commission
to reform Mongolia’s public service; and Mongolia being certified
as fully transparent under the Extractive Industry Transparency
Initiative, initiated by the British Government. His cabinet also
supported the enactment of the Law on Gender Equality in 2011.

Mr.
Batbold hosted and held negotiations with world leaders including the
two neighbouring countries, Russia and China, the Vice President (now
President) Joe Biden, Chancellor Angela Merkel, and State Secretary
Hillary Clinton, among many others.

Under
the coalition government led by Mr. Batbold, the Mongolian economy
grew at an all-time high of 17.5 per cent. Poverty was reduced by
double digits for the first time, and household incomes almost
doubled. These are real statistics, not words. Numbers don’t lie.

That
success can be repeated and Mr. Batbold is confident that by
encouraging domestic and foreign investors, high economic growth will
be achieved by Mongolia in the near future, once the pandemic is
over.

It is no coincidence that Mr.
Batbold’s path accompanied Mongolia’s own progress from a closed
country to a democracy with an open economy. His achievements would
not have been possible without this shift.

Mr.
Batbold regards it as his duty to see that stability is maintained.
Mongolian roots may be traced back many centuries, but it is a young
nation politically and economically. It is vital that Mongolia does
not slip back into its old ways and that it continues to move
forward.

History
shows that one must never take anything for granted, one cannot
assume – and if one displays weakness, others are all too willing
to step in and fill the void. Mongolia’s story in particular
provides enough evidence of what could happen to a country that is
sandwiched between two extremely powerful neighbors.

Mr.
Batbold was one of the first Mongolians to study in the West and to
see at first-hand what benefits free market economics could bring. He
was also one of the first in Mongolia to put that realization into
practice as private enterprise became possible. When Mr. Batbold
became a politician, that belief in democratic principles and the
strength of the free market sustained him in Parliament, then as
Prime Minister.

Batbold
Sukhbaatar wants to see all Mongolians afforded similar
opportunities, to be able to make the most of their lives. Mongolia
is a relatively poor country, but it is rich in natural resources. It
is wealthy, too, in the determination and enterprise of its people.
Health, education, good governance, equality, increasing incomes for
all – these should be the country’s principle aims.

To
that can be added identity. It’s vital that Mongolia isn’t
exploited and subsumed. That would not represent progress and would
see the country become lost and ignored.

What
Mongolia has is an excellent foundation – but it is only a
foundation. In the years ahead, it must be built upon