By U.Batchimeg

A press tour for introducing Japanese official development assistance to Mongolia was held on 17th of November. About 11 media delegates have joined this event including myself from Ub Post media team. We were provided with pamphlets and flyers about the projects implemented or being implemented in accordance to Japanese official development assistance to Mongolia. Also delegations from Japanese side were present giving us information throughout the day.

 New campus, new future

Our first spot was secondary school №118. The school building was one of the five secondary schools which have been granted by new school campus. Others are Bayangol, Khujirbulan, Tahily, etc. School number 118 started operating from this school year. As we arrived, teachers from the school welcomed us. The Interior design of the school was same as Japanese high schools. As it was newly opened, the school was very clean and fresh. The school has 16 classrooms along with a gym. We were introduced with the class, gym and bathrooms. Classrooms were clean and had enough lights. And desks and chairs were different depending on grades. The school teacher said, “Our school has over 700 students. We used to operate our classes in school number 60. Therefore, we had our classes for only one turn. Thanks to this project, we were able to operate our school in the morning and in the afternoon.”

 The project monitoring air pollution of
Ulaanbaatar

One of the biggest projects from JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) was related to a technical assistance partnership. The project for strengthening the monitoring capacity of air pollution in Ulaanbaatar will be implemented from March of 2010 to March of 2013. It is for analyzing the leverage of air pollution of Ulaanbaatar, measuring the pollution density, controlling the main factor of air pollution and decreasing air pollution in Ulaanbaatar. Japanese delegates for this project claimed, “People say due to the furnace that emit gas, air pollution is increasing. However, whether air pollution decrease or increases depends on how people use their coal, not what type of furnace they are using.”

The project for
construction of Railway Fly-Over

One of the lump-sum grants from Japan is a Railway Fly-Over in Narnii Zam that will be ready to be used by November 2012. Project manager from Mongolian side D.Manlai said, “It is for reducing traffic jams in Ulaanbaatar. It is metal bridge with steel design.” Council of company JFE Tsuji said, “Maintenance of the bridge can play a significant role in durability of the bridge getaway.”
Japanese Ambassador to Mongolia Shimizu
Takenory

Then we headed to the Japanese Embassy in order to meet and ask questions from Japanese Ambassador to Mongolia, Shimizu. Economic partnership of Japan with Mongolia dates back to the 1977 Gobi wool factory. International airport and underground are the projects that will be implemented in Mongolia with aid of Japan in the future. On Japanese consistent grants to Mongolia, Mongolian President Ts.Elbegdorj said, “When Mongolia has in most difficult and toughest time, Japan has helped us in improving various kinds of infrastructures.” The Ambassador said (in Mongolian) that Narnii Zam was built with the aid of Japan. That he was happy that today we are constructing railway fly-over in this area. “Our aid to Mongolia is not just granting it, but cooperating with Mongolians and offering jobs to the Mongolian people who can contribute their knowledge and skills to the project.” He also expressed his gratitude towards Mongolia by saying “Our aid is mutual. Mongolia has helped us when our country was in difficult time. Mongolians are always willing to help us in turmoil.” In response to his speech, one of the journalists there asked him “Japan has made so many contributions to our country’s development. Behind all these contributions, what does Japan really want from Mongolia in return?” Mr.Shimizu said, “We, Asians, tend to take something from someone and want to give something back in return. However, what we are going to take from Mongolia is not important. We are helping Mongolia with only good intentions in mind.” He also noted, “Although there are so many people who graduate from universities in Mongolia, unemployment is high, but vacancies are high in some sectors as well. Therefore, Mongolia needs people who can work in technical and IT sectors.”

National Cancer Center of Mongolia

We visited National Cancer Center of Mongolia. When we came to the hospital, deputy director of National Cancer Center O.Bayar welcomed us and gave a brief presentation on statistical data about cancer in Mongolia. “In our country, most common cancer is liver and Mongolians tend to be diagnosed in the late stage. In Japan, people are involved in diagnosis by an initiative from the government or the company they work in. Therefore, in Mongolia, our government should pay a great attention on calls for people to be diagnosed every year with allowance”. There are two volunteers working in this center from Japan. And they came to Mongolia via JICA. They said they are happy to work in Mongolia and working with doctors and nurses at this center is easy as most of them speak English. And on the scope of lump-sum grants with Japanese non-governmental organizations, the hospital was provided much-needed equipments as well.

Japan-Mongolia  

Mongolia established a diplomatic relationship with Japan in 1972. Japan has granted significant amount of aids and contributions to Mongolian development, especially in the sectors of education and technology. We all have heard about Japan granting aid to Mongolia before. However, after seeing the projects implemented or being implemented, I truly appreciated their help in Mongolian development.