UN WEBTV posted the full statement of H.E. Batchuluun Tsogtgerel, Vice Minister for Road and Transport Development of Mongolia.
Read the full text here as it was delivered at the conference:
Statement by H.E. Tsogtgerel Batchuluun, Vice-Minister for Road and Transport Development of Mongolia at the 3rd plenary session of the Secretary-General’s Global Sustainable Transport Conference in Ashgabat (Turkmenistan).
November 27, 2016
Thank you Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Government of Mongolia and my Delegation, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the UN and the Government of Turkmenistan for organizing this very important Global Conference.
Issues discussed during this Global Conference are of great importance to Landlocked Countries, especially for Landlocked Developing Countries.
Excellencies,
Mongolia continues to attach utmost importance to the collective and coordinated efforts of the landlocked developing countries.
Our countries face serious constraints in their socio-economic development endeavors due to their lack of territorial access to the sea and we all continue facing similar challenges in terms of the integration to international trade and transit transportation.
Most of our countries including Mongolia continue facing 30-50% higher transport costs compared to representative coastal economies.
Mongolia spends 6.2% of its entire GDP for transportation costs only.
It is exactly because of the constraints that I have just mentioned, we need to work together in a much more coordinated and dynamic manner.
With this in mind the President of Mongolia has proposed the idea of having an International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries that will stand for the interests of Landlocked Developing Countries in 2006.
This idea became an initiative designed to enhance the analytical capability of landlocked developing countries in coordinating and joining our efforts to pool the best minds and mobilize targeted resources from the donor community to implement the Vienna Program of Action and achieve our respective goals agreed in the SDGs.
Excellencies,
As we find ourselves in a new era of development thinking as well as the discussions on the implementation of the SDGs, the role of the International Think Tank for LLDCs becomes even more important to LLDCs.
In July 2009, ‘The International Think Tank for LLDCs’ was officially launched in Ulaanbaatar by H.E. Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General, and H.E. S.Batbold, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia.
Apart from many in kind contributions to the International Think Tank the Government of Mongolia has donated 1 million USD for the operations of this International Think Tank even in its interim phase.
However, the true work of the International think tank to a full extent can only happen with your support and a Multilateral Agreement with at least 10 accessions, which would make the International Think Tank an intergovernmental body.
It is not enough to have a dedicated host country and a handful of member states that support the International Think Tank to establish an intergovernmental body within a secure legal framework.
We need to realize that this think tank is not a Mongolian think tank working for LLDCs.
It belongs to all LLDCs and it should work for all of us.
Therefore, I would like to encourage the distinguished members of the group of LLDCs to demonstrate leadership and ownership by acceding to the Multilateral Agreement on the Establishment of an International Think Tank for LLDCs in order to bring the ITT to its full operation.
Taking this opportunity, I would like to forward the indication of the UN-Office of Legal Affairs that a State that has not yet acceded to the Multilateral Agreement and wishes to become a party to the treaty can deposit an instrument of accession in order to become party to the agreement.
The treaty event, which is being organized on the sidelines of this Global Conference gives all of you the great opportunity to accede to the Multilateral Agreement for establishment of the International think tank for Landlocked developing Countries. We sincerely hope that remaining members of our LLDC group will soon become a party to the agreement with a view to fully operationalize activities of the International Think Tank.
Mongolia, as the host country, will continue to promote and support the Think Tank in the future.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
.————————————
SOURCE:
http://webtv.un.org/…/h.e.-tsogtgerel-batchul…/5225696978001