Canadian & US official delegations attend inauguration of President Elbegdorj;
US Senate unanimously passes pro-Mongolia resolution on the same day

The governments of Canada and the US sent official delegations to attend the June 18 swearing-in of Ts. Elbegdorj as Mongolia’s fourth President. On the same day in Washington, DC, the United States Senate unanimously passed a resolution (Senate Resolution 192) honoring Mongolia's democracy and free market economy and re-affirming strong ties between the US and Mongolia. See below for link to the full text of the resolution.

The Canadian delegation was headed by Senator Anita Raynell Andreychuk of Saskatchewan, who has served in the Senate for 16 years, and included Canadian Ambassador Anna Biolik. Senator Andreychuk is the Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights.
 The American delegation was headed by US Ambassador Mark Minton and included the Honorable Stanley Roth, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific during the Clinton Administration and currently Vice President for Asia of the Boeing Company. Mr. Roth previously served as Senior Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council, and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and Pacific Affairs.
Mongolian voters elected two-time former Prime Minister Ts. Elbegdorj, 46, as Mongolia's fourth President on May 24, giving him a narrow victory over incumbent President N. Enkhbayar with just over 51% of the vote.

On June 18, the US Senate passed by unanimous consent a resolution (SRES 192)  sponsored by Senator John Kerry (D-MA), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “expressing the sense of the Senate regarding supporting democracy and economic development in Mongolia and expanding relations between the United States and Mongolia.” The resolution had bipartisan sponsorship including Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), the Republican Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Elbegdorj served twice previously as Prime Minister in 1998 and 2004-2006. One of the leaders of the student democratic movement that peacefully toppled the Politburo in 1990, and the editor of Mongolia's first independent newspaper, Elbegdorj was elected in 1990 to serve in the Baga Hural ("Little Hural"), which drafted Mongolia's democratic constitution.
Subsequently, he was elected to the State Great Hural (Mongolia's 76-member unicameral parliament) in 1992, 1996 and 2008. He also served as Vice Chairman of parliament and as head of the Democratic Party. He received a Master's in Public Policy degree from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2002.

Elbegdorj is the first Democratic Party nominee to be elected president since 1993; in that year, Mongolia's first president under the 1992 democratic constitution, P. Ochirbat, won the election as the  Democratic Party's nominee but was defeated for reelection in 1997. Of Elbegdorj's three predecessors, only one was reelected to a second term. Mongolian presidents are constitutionally limited  to two four-year terms.
Mongolia is no stranger to divided government. Twice previously in the 19 years of Mongolian democracy has the Presidency and the majority in parliament been held by different parties: 1993-1996 and 1997-2000.

Click here for full text of US Senate Resolution on Mongolia

President Ts. Elbegdorj (left) receives the seals of office from retiring President N. Enkhbayar at ceremony in the parliament chamber on June 18