International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries to launch

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On Wednesday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr L.Bold and the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative to Mongolia Ms. Sezin Sinanoglu signed a draft document on starting activities of the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries (ITTLDC). This institution is considered to contribute to the social and economic development of Mongolia and to raising its reputation. Key purposes of the organization are to promote the benefits for landlocked developing nations from talks and negotiations of international commerce bodies including the World Trade Organization (WTO), to improve human development and to reduce poverty rates in these countries by giving advice and conducting research works. The 2012-2016 action programme between Mongolia’s government and the UNDP reflects an issue of receiving a support from the UNDP for launching the international think tank. The UNDP demands that a draft document should be established for supporting any actions, thus, the UNDP is allowed to spend a specific amount of money in a resident nation. The project’s term has been fixed three years. Launching the project will improve the legal regulation for the organization, and many vital problems related to preparing trained staffers will be tackled. For attracting attention of the UN and the international community to matters of landlocked developing countries, Mongolia has set up an official group for the nations at the UN, and then put forward an initiative to found the international think tank in 2006. In July of 2009, a foundation stone was laid by Mr Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General during a visit to Mongolia.