Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (Mongolian: Цахиагийн Элбэгдорж, Mongolian Latin alphabet: Cahiagiin Elbegdorƶ, sometimes referred to as Elbegdorj Tsakhia, born March 30, 1963) is the President of Mongolia. He won the election on May 24, 2009. The candidate of the Democratic Party, he became Mongolia's first president to never have been a member of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and the first to obtain a Western education. Elbegdorj was one of the leaders of the peaceful democratic revolution in 1990 that ended more than 65 years of communist rule.

Elbegdorj has been the Prime Minister of Mongolia twice, the vice speaker of the Parliament of Mongolia once, the majority leader of the parliament once, and a member of parliament four times. He is known as a pro-democracy, libertarian politician. Elbegdorj is also the founder of the Ardchilal (English: Democracy) newspaper.

Childhood and Education

Elbegdorj was born into a herding family in Zereg sum, Khovd on March 30, 1963. His father, M. Tsakhia, was a veteran of Mongolia's border conflict with the Empire of Japan that resulted in the 1939 Battle of Khalkhyn Gol. Elbegdorj finished the sum's eight-year school in 1979. Afterwards, his family moved to Erdenet, and he graduated from Erdenet's No.1 ten-year school in 1981.

In 1981/82, he worked in the Erdenet copper combine as a machinist, and in 1982 was drafted into military service. For heading a Revolutionary Youth League group in the army, he was awarded with the possibility to study Journalism and Marxism-Leninism at the Military Political Institute of the USSR in Lviv (Ukraine) from 1983 on. He graduated in 1988 and then worked for the Mongolian army newspaper Ulaan Od (Red Star).

After his first term as prime minister, he spent a year at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Economic Institute, earning a Diploma in 2001. Then Elbegdorj studied with a full scholarship of Harvard University and graduated from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government with a Master of Public Administration (MPA) in 2002.

Marriage and Family

Elbegdorj and Bolormaa Khajidsuren got acquainted to each other at an ice breaker students’ party in Lviv, Ukraine. They were married when they were students and their first baby was born in Lviv. They have five children: four sons and an adopted daughter.

In addition, Elbegdorj and Bolormaa have helped over 300 orphans through Bolormaa’s Bolor Foundation. The Bolor Foundation opened savings accounts for most of the children. Elbegdorj and Bolormaa are foster parents to around 20 children of the “Baby Bear” class of the foster care state center in Ulaanbaatar. Elbegdorj and his wife Bolormaa visit their foster children as often as they can, taking care of the children for their all needs including medical, piano class and dance class for several years.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Sükhbaataryn Batbold

Sükhbaataryn Batbold (Mongolian: Сүхбаатарын Батболд) is the Prime Minister of Mongolia. He was previously the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of his predecessor, Sanjaagiin Bayar.

Personal Life and Education

Batbold attended the 14th high school in Ulaanbaatar. Afterwards he studied in Russia at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations between 1980 and 1986. Batbold also studied at the London Business School in 1991, and the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Moscow in 2002.

Batbold previously held an executive position at Mongol Impex Cooperative. He also headed Altai Trading Co. Ltd., which among others owns the Chinggis Khaan Hotel and the Skytel cellular operator from 1992 to 2000. He is rumored to be one of the richest Mongolian politicians due to his wide range of ownerships of different companies.

Political career

Batbold was elected twice as a Member of Parliament and was the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2000–2004 and Cabinet Minister of Trade and Industry between 2004-2006. In addition, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2008 until his nomination to prime minister-ship in 2009.

During his tenure as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he hosted United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Ulan Bator to discuss climate change in Mongolia. Batbold also substituted for then Prime Minister Bayar at a Prime Ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Mongolia

In 1990 Mongolia abandoned its 70-year-old Soviet-style one-party state and embraced political and economic reforms.

Democracy and privatisation were enshrined in a new constitution, but the collapse of the economy after the withdrawal of Soviet support triggered widespread poverty and unemployment.

However, Mongolia sits on vast quantities of untapped mineral wealth, and foreign investment in a number of gigantic mining properties is expected to transform its tiny economy in coming years. Analysts say it could become one of the world's fastest growing economies.

Once the heartland of an empire stretching to Europe under Genghis Khan, Mongolia is a landlocked country dominated by sparsely populated steppe and semi-desert.

Mongolia spreads across 1.5 million sq km of the Central Asian plateau, but its population is far smaller than the Mongol population of China.

Sunni Muslim Kazakhs in the west are the only significant national and religious minority, comprising some 5% of the population. Migration to Kazakhstan in the 1990s reduced their numbers.

A third of the population lives in the capital, while around forty percent of the country's workforce herds livestock in Mongolia's extensive pasturelands. However, the centuries-old nomadic lifestyle is coming under pressure from climate change and urbanisation.

Mongolia has an extreme climate, with a temperature range to suit. Droughts and unusually cold and snowy winters have decimated livestock, destroying the livelihoods of thousands of families.

Mongolia has expanded political and financial ties with the US, Japan and the European Union, but its main trading partners are neighbouring Russia and China. The latter is the biggest market for Mongolian exports; Beijing is also keen to exploit Mongolia's mineral and energy resources.

Despite generous funding by the International Monetary Fund and donor countries, economic progress has been slow and growth has been hampered by corruption.

The legacy of Genghis Khan, the warrior who united warring tribes and established the Mongol empire in the 13th century, has been invoked in an attempt to foster national pride.

Facts

    * Full name: Mongolia

    * Population: 2.7 million (UN, 2010)

    * Capital: Ulan Bator

    * Area: 1.56 million sq km (603,909 sq miles)

    * Major language: Mongolian

    * Major religion: Buddhism

    * Life expectancy: 65 years (men), 73 years (women) (UN)

    * Monetary unit: 1 Togrog (tugrik) = 100 mongos

    * Main exports: Copper concentrate, dehaired cashmere, textiles, hides

    * GNI per capita: US $1,850 (World Bank, 2010)

    * Internet domain: .mn

    * International dialling code: +976

Leaders

President: Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj Mr Elbegdorj was elected on a pledge to fight graft and poverty.

Standing for the opposition Democratic Party, Mr Elbegdorj won just over 51% of the vote, to 47% for Mr Enkhbayar, whose ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) said it accepted the result as fair.

The peaceful outcome came after fears of a repeat of the violence which followed opposition claims of fraud after the Democratic Party's defeat in the 2008 parliamentary elections.

To achieve the second aim, he planned to tighten rules for contracts under which foreign mining firms operate.

His message proved popular in the big cities, especially the capital Ulan Bator, and was helped by widespread poverty.

However, he faced a parliament which continued to be dominated by a solid MPRP majority, but the then MPRP prime minister, Sanjagiin Bayar, promised to ensure that his government would work well with the president.

Although the prime minister and parliament exercise real political power, the president heads the armed forces and has the power of veto in parliament. Frequent changes of government have enhanced the role of the presidency.

Born in 1963, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj was one of the leaders of the peaceful revolution that ended the Communist dictatorship in 1990.

Since then, he has served as prime minister twice, briefly in 1998, and in 2006-8.

Prime Minister: Sukhbaataryn Batbold

Foreign Minister Sukhbaataryn Batbold became prime minister unexpectedly in October 2009 when his predecessor Sanjagiin Bayar resigned for health reasons.

Mr Batbold consolidated his hold on power when he also took over from Mr Bayar as leader of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) in April 2010. The party renamed itself the Mongolian People's Party in November 2010.

Born in 1963, Mr Batbold ran the Mongolian side of a major gold-mining venture with the Canadian company Centerra Gold in 1992-2000, and his wife now runs his hotel and cashmere industry interests in the Altai Trading Company.

Mr Batbold has continued his predecessor's policy of encouraging foreign investment in the mining industries.

From : BBC News