US Ambassador: As proud democracies, we can overcome the challenges that face us
You’ve served as the U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia since 2019. What have you learned about Mongolia that stood out to you? Where do you see progress and where do you hope to see improvement?
I knew a fair amount about Mongolia before I even found out about my nomination to be U.S. ambassador here, and of course I studied a lot more about it before my assignment began. But two things really struck me as my wife and I began living here, and we continue to be impressed about both of them. First, from what I’ve observed, Mongolians truly value their democracy and all that it entails. They appreciate being able to express their views freely, for instance, and they value a free and vibrant social media and their right to vote. Second, they attach great importance to their traditions, which they integrate in fascinating ways with 21st century realities. I’m struck by the importance of traditions whenever I meet people who hand me a snuff bottle, for instance, or do something to visibly show respect for their elders. As for integrating those traditions with modern society, this is perhaps most striking when the band The Hu uses throat-singing and some very traditional instruments while playing very contemporary music.
Mongolia and the U.S. have strong shared values of human rights and democracy. Mongolia has been labeled as a ‘flawed’ democracy in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index and human rights issues like torture, human trafficking, and gender-based violence are pressing concerns in Mongolia. What can Mongolia, as a young democracy, learn from the U.S. with regard to protecting and fostering these shared values? And how important are these shared for Mongolia-U.S. relations?
In every country, democracy is a dynamic -- not a static -- process because it must respond to evolving challenges and shifting public opinion. It’s that dynamism that gives democracies their strength. In Mongolia, as throughout the world, the U.S. is committed to sharing our best practices on many issues. We don’t claim to have all the answers, of course, and we face the same problems that you listed in your question and many more. But we acknowledge our challenges and work to tackle them transparently and forthrightly, whereas some other countries try to hide them. And as we do so, we share our lessons learned with others, as we are doing with Mongolia. The lessons are countless, but among the most important of them is that a country with democratic processes is best equipped to tackle its problems in a responsible manner that takes into account the diversity of its people while protecting their fundamental rights and interests.
What are the current major focuses and activities of the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia? Tell us about joint endeavors and their progress.
We have had close and productive ties with Mongolia ever since our two countries established diplomatic relations, but the pace of our relationship has gained much more momentum in recent years. The pandemic complicated things logistically, of course – in-person exchanges are one obvious casualty. But it has not stopped us from continuing to cooperate in numerous areas. In the economic realm, we were proud to play an integral part in helping Mongolia get off the FATF gray list, and we see the changes in your system that this required as one of many efforts to help your country improve its investment climate. We also have a large program, implemented by a local NGO, that assists Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) expand their business, access financing, and create jobs. We continue to help Mongolia professionalize its Armed Forces and are delighted at the growing cooperation between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – a model military engineering entity – and your recently formed Military Engineering and Construction Directorate. Similarly, we’re sharing best practices in the law enforcement realm – the programs held in-person here before the pandemic, in which trainers from our FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency shared experiences with counterpart Mongolian law enforcers is one among many examples, and we look forward to resuming that as soon as possible. And, in non-partisan support for inclusive democratic institutions, a program focused on civic participation helped lead to an increase of 12 percent in young voters in the last election.
Among our biggest areas of focus is broadening Mongolians’ command of English, including by working with Mongolian English teachers. That’s one element of what we usually call people-to-people ties, which also includes helping Mongolian students find opportunities in
the United States – your Ministry of Education’s recent announcements about several American universities offering what we call in-state tuition is a great example. We also have five American Culture and Information Centers in Ulaanbaatar, Khovd, Sainshand, Uvs, and, I am happy to say, a new one in Darkhan, where Mongolians can freely avail themselves of our computers, books, English learning resources, information about studying in the United States, and cultural programming.
Mongolia is keen on attracting investment from the United States, what can Mongolia do to achieve this goal? Which area should Mongolia work on more, business or governance?
The most important thing Mongolia could do to improve the investment climate is implement the Transparency Agreement. The agreement requires both countries to publish draft laws and regulations for public comment, and for the significant public comments to either be factored into the final rule or else responded to publicly. Mongolia is now more than four years behind its commitment to implement this agreement, and it’s holding back deepening of the trade and investment relationship. Allowing the public to comment on laws that affect it is an important tool in improving the investment climate and fighting corruption.
Mongolia and the U.S. have established a strategic partnership. How has/will this benefit the people of the U.S. and Mongolia?
I view the strategic partnership as the latest in a series of official steps to deepen the U.S.-Mongolia relationship. Those steps, over the years, have steadily expanded the areas in which we cooperate and the programs that our two countries carry out in those areas. The strategic partnership signaled that both countries wanted to boost an already strong relationship. But what was even more important was that it resulted in very concrete, very practical measures.
Our cooperation in fighting the pandemic is perhaps the prime example. The United States has already provided some 4 million USD in direct COVID assistance to Mongolia, which includes a 450,000 USD comprehensive program that links the best U.S. critical care practitioners with their Mongolian counterparts to build the critical care skills of Mongolia’s healthcare providers. In addition to our direct assistance, the United States has provided an initial 2 billion USD to COVAX and 3.5 billion USD to the Global Fund’s effort to fight COVID in lowand middle-income countries. As the largest contributor to the COVAX Facility, we are pleased to see Mongolia is scheduled to receive 138,540 doses of vaccine through the COVAX Facility in the first half of 2021 and that 90,810 doses have already arrived. But all this should be seen in terms of the broader relationship that predates the signing of the strategic partnership. In the realm of health, for instance, I am proud of the great cooperation between your Health Ministry and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) over the decades.
What are President Biden’s policies on Mongolia and East Asia? During the presidential race, President Biden mentioned Mongolia as a supplier of “dirty” coal to China. Will President Biden’s policies on climate have repercussions on Mongolia, a major producer and exporter of coal?
The Biden administration recently issued its interim National Security Strategic Guidance – it’s a public document that I hope your readers will look at, and it’s posted on our embassy website. It gives primacy to supporting and partnering with democracies, and Mongolia certainly falls into that category. It also gives primacy to sovereignty, and Mongolia certainly is a country that values its independence. The Biden administration also has made clear the importance it attaches to addressing climate change. On a practical level, that involves moving toward clean energy sources, and my government is developing programs to help countries make that transition.
USAID is currently developing a new energy governance program that will provide capacity building and technical assistance to the energy sector. We are hopeful this will help Mongolia’s energy sector become more competitive, financially sustainable, independent, and better able to meet domestic needs. We also hope this program will facilitate new private investments, particularly in renewable and cleaner fuels, smart grid systems, and technologies and processes to improve energy efficiency. Your government has made commitments to the Paris Agreement on climate change, an agreement to which the Biden administration attaches great importance. So while continuing to cooperate in so many other fields, we also look forward to partnering to combat climate change.
Amid the U.S.-China trade war, some countries and industries (garment) are being forced to take sides. As China is Mongolia’s immediate neighbor and the U.S. is a third neighbor, there are fears that Mongolia may be forced to choose a side. China holds the bigger lever as the country’s top trading partner. Do you think this is a legitimate concern for U.S.-Mongolia relations?
Mongolia is part of the Indo-Pacific region, and the United States has set out its guiding principles for our approach to this region in what we call the Indo-Pacific Strategy. Like the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance, the Indo-Pacific Strategy is well described in a public document that your readers may be interested to read. They’ll find that we do not talk about being against any country but rather about being in favor of some fundamentally important values, like sovereignty, democracy, good governance, and free and fair rules-based trade. We do not ask countries to choose between one partner or another.
With regard to the Third Neighbor Act, given the timeline specified in the act, do you think Mongolian businesses, particularly the sectors outlined in the act, will be able to realistically benefit from the act when/if it is enacted?
We know how tremendously important cashmere is economically to rural communities and women in Mongolia, and we want to be as helpful as we can. While I cannot predict the future of any legislation before the U.S. Congress, I can say that more broadly, we are working hard to support Mongolian cashmere in a number of crucial ways. For example, the quality of Mongolia’s cashmere is recognized around the world, but as most of it is exported in raw form, unfortunately other countries benefit from a lot of the valueadded production and are able to profit from labeling their cashmere as “Mongolian”. This costs processing jobs in Mongolia and sales of finished products in the world market. A recently released USAID-funded study by a well-known cashmere value chain expert identified several actions that the government and the private sector, working together, can take to protect the Mongolian cashmere brand as well as add more value, and in the process create more jobs, before it is exported. We are also providing financing assistance to support Mongolian cashmere SMEs, including 6 million USD to Goyol cashmere.
The U.S. Millennium Challenge Account’s Water Compact for wastewater management is an example of U.S.-Mongolia partnership, and the compact is critical for addressing public health and environmental issues in
Mongolia. How is this effort progressing so far?
The MCC Water Compact is a major sign of the importance the United States places on our strategic partnership with Mongolia, and it is progressing very well. Just last month we had a major milestone – I joined with Minister of Foreign Affairs Ms. Battsetseg and Mr. Mahmoud Bah, the acting chief executive officer of the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), to celebrate the historic entry into force of the Millennium Challenge Account Mongolia Water Compact. The United States is providing a grant of 350 million USD and working closely with Mongolian partners to increase Ulaanbaatar’s water supply by 80 percent over the five-year lifecycle of this project. It is important to note that there are strong anti-corruption transparency measures in place, and that this is a true joint venture with Mongolian partners, who wisely assessed Ulaanbaatar needs more water to fuel economic growth and ensure public health.
Asian communities in the U.S. have been growing concerned about their safety, taking to the streets to protest over recent violence and shootings targeting Asians. Are their concerns valid and what would you advise Mongolian nationals living in the United States?
As your readers no doubt know, the United States is a remarkably diverse country with a large, long established, and growing Asian American population. That includes many Mongolian Americans who live, study, work and thrive in the United States and contribute greatly to our country’s strength and dynamism. One of the great qualities of the United States is that when problems arise, we don’t hide from them, we tackle them and work to overcome them. Fortunately, like Mongolia, in the United States we have a free and robust press and media environment and people are not afraid to speak out when they experience or witness injustice. As any reader of the American press knows, there has been open, constructive discussion in my country about how to address discrimination against any group, with a current focus on discrimination against Asian Americans.
President Biden talked about this in his first prime time address; the way he said it was very clear, anti-Asian violence and xenophobia is wrong, it’s un-American, and it must stop. He has taken decisive actions to respond to the increase in acts of anti-Asian violence, and to advance safety, inclusion, and belonging for all Asian American and other communities. On his first day in office, President Biden signed an Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities. As part of this order, the president charged federal agencies with taking a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for Asian American and Pacific Islander – what we call AAPI – communities. That approach includes some very concrete measures.
As one of the longtime subscribers of The UB Post, would the U.S. Embassy like to address our readers with a message?
I am happy to hear that our Embassy was one of your first subscribers. We really value the service you and other media provide, as a free press is the cornerstone of a well-informed and healthy democracy. I guess my final message to your readers would be: the United States stands with the people of Mongolia as a friend, third neighbor, and strategic partner, in good times and bad. The last year has been particularly trying during the global pandemic, but I am optimistic it is nearly over and I am proud that we were able to help each other when it really mattered. Together, we will get through this pandemic. And together, we will rebuild our economies and make a better, more just, green, peaceful, and inclusive future. As long as the United States and Mongolia stand together as proud democracies, I have hope we can overcome the challenges that face us.