NAMBC hosts Mongolian delegation to international franchising conference and Eisenhower Fellow from Ministry of Finance

The NAMBC recently hosted meetings in Washington , DC , with a Mongolian delegation attending the International Franchising Expo and with Mr. Balgan Batbayar, Director General of the Finance Ministry's Financial and Economic Policy Department, who is on a two-month study tour of the US as part of his Eisenhower Fellowship.

In cooperation with Rio Tinto and the US Commerce Department, the NAMBC organized a series of briefings for the franchising delegation at the Washington offices of Baker & McKenzie law firm in a conference room with panoramic views of the White House. Briefers included Ms. Zhen Gong Cross, Head of Mongolian Affairs at the US Department of Commerce (USDOC), Mr. Daniel Keenaghan, an expert in international franchising at USDOC, Mr. Eugene Theroux, senior counsel at Baker & McKenzie, who had negotiated several of the earliest US franchising deals in China, and Mr. Michael Flannigan, Global Practice Leader of Government and Corporate Relations for Rio Tinto, which also hosted lunch for the delegation. The delegation was organized by our brother organization, the Business Council of Mongolia (BCM), and the US Embassy in Ulaanbaatar.

Eisenhower Fellow Balgan Batbayar is looking into how the US federal, state and local governments regulate and interact with extractive industries and how American NGOs contribute to public oversight of the mining industry He discussed these and other topics at the NAMBC offices on April 13 with NAMBC President Steve Saunders The Eisenhower Fellowships is a Philadelphia- based international leadership development program which every year sponsors 40-50 emerging leaders from a range of professions and countries to visit the US on two month fellowships to meet with people with relevant professional interests. Mr. Balgan is among 19 Eisenhower Fellows from as many countries visiting the US from early April until mid May.