PRESS CONFERENCE BY MONGOLIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER

At a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, the Foreign Minister    of Mongolia, Luvsangiin Erdenechuluun, discussed preparations for the Fifth International Conference on New and Restored Democracies, to be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 18 to 20 June 2003.

He began by saying that the themes of the Conference, which include democracy, good governance and the role of civil society, were all topics close to the hearts of Mongolians.  A national preparatory committee had been established, chaired by Mongolia’s Prime Minister and including government ministers and representatives from political parties.  He hoped the Conference, in addition to political declarations, would establish mechanisms to monitor implementation of any approved plans of action.

While acknowledging that democracy was becoming a widely shared norm throughout many regions of the world, he cautioned that there could be no one universal interpretation of democracy.  Democracy did have definite fundamental principles, but there was “no standard prescription for all”.

When asked about difficulties associated with transitions to democracy,   Mr. Erdenechuluun spoke of standard political developments versus the far more challenging social and economic ones.  Referring to his own country, he said that Mongolia had been a political democracy since 1990.  Since that same year, however, the percentage of its people living below the poverty line had increased to 36 per cent.  Nevertheless, in 2000, his Government adopted an official policy document supporting good governance and human security.  It was the first such document in the world.

Responding to a question about attendance, Mr. Erdenechuluun stressed that all Member States were invited and he did not see any problem with the Palestinians participating.  The previous conference was attended by 111 countries and 70 organizations, and he expected this one to bring in even more participants. He hoped that the role of a free press would constitute a major sub-theme of the Conference.

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