MINISTER OYUNKHOROL MEETS CZECH AMBASSADOR

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Minister of Environment, Green Development and Tourism D.Oyunkhorol received the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Mongolia Ms Ivana Grollova on December 23 to discuss with her a cooperation in 2015. Agreement on Cooperation between the Ministries of Environment of the two countries was signed in 2001, in a scope of which several environment projects had been implemented successfully with the aid of Czech Government, for example, a project on assessing the mercury contamination of the bank of Selenge river in result of the minerals’ extraction was realized in 2006-2009 covering the territories around the Tuul, Kharaa and Eroo rivers as well. Certain areas near the shores and their soils have been neutralized of chemical toxins. Another project was realized aimed to study and dispense of the environmental pollution around the “Khargia” treatment facility of Ulaanbaatar. In frames of the Czech Development Cooperation Assistance, 12 takhi (Mongolian wild horses) were localized back to Mongolia from the Prague zoo in 2010-2013. The population of the takhi reached some 400 heads in 2013, of which 32 percent are the herds descended from the localized takhi thanks to the Takhi Conservation Project. These days, Government of the Czech Republic is realizing projects here on transporting and planting the trees able to grow in Mongolia, and on providing trainings on how to nurture the trees. The Czech Republic has been expressing an interest in providing professional assistance to Mongolia in assessing and eliminating soil contamination, and improving the environmental remediation.