US Embassy issues 2011 report on Mongolia’s investment climate

The full text of the US Embassy’s annual Mongolia Investment Climate Statement for 2011 can be downloaded through the link below. This  report -- which is a mandatory annual study compiled by all US Embassies around the world -- consists of 86 pages divided into 18 chapters and is regarded as one of the most comprehensive, objective and detailed analyses of Mongolian investment issues available.

The statement was the result of many months of research and was personally vetted and approved by Ambassador Jonathan Addleton before its release on February 28. The document is more than the just the views of  US Government officials. It is broadly based on a huge number of in-puts and interviews with a large cross-section of Mongolian and foreign businesspersons. The report also reflects candid inputs from other foreign embassies and international organizations in Ulaanbaatar. For example, the Canadian Embassy does not issue a similar annual report but did provide their views and observations to the US Embassy for this statement. The report is not based just on perceptions of the investment climate but also on the actual experiences of many foreign and domestic actors with extensive in-country experience.

The analysis suggests that the investment picture for Mongolia going forward is a mix of opportunities and challenges. Mongolia is enjoying increasing commercial opportunities simultaneous with continued concern about some aspects of the legal, administrative and business environment. 

Ambassador Addleton gave a preview of the statement in his January 24 remarks -- entitled "Sober Hopes" -- to the Business Council of Mongolia (BCM), our brother organization in Ulaanbaatar, expressing concerns about how Mongolia's investment climate might evolve during 2011. A link to the full text of Ambassador Addleton's speech also follows below.

Addleton emphasized the urgent need for the business community to commit to more united action to promote its interests with the Mongolian government, invoking Benjamin Franklin's famous advice to his colleagues at the Continental Congress in 1776, "We must all hang together or we will most assuredly all hang separately."

Click here for full text of 2011 Statement on Mongolia's Investment Climate

Click here for full text of Ambassador Addleton's speech