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Country visit in Mongolia

A middle-income country, Mongolia is a landlocked sovereign state in East Asia with the population of 2.9 million inhabitants. It suffers from 597 road traffic fatalities annually as per the WHO estimate, with pedestrians and passengers of 4-wheelers representing 31% and 23% of deaths respectively, according to its National Center for Health Development. According to the WHO, Mongolia has strong laws addressing seat belt use; however, the legislation on speed, drink-driving, helmet use and child-restraints need to be improved. Mongolia has acceded to two of six UN Road Safety Conventions.


On 20-23 March 2017, the Special Envoy had the following bilateral meetings in Ulaanbaatar:
H.E. Mr Elbegdorj Tsakhia, President of Mongolia
The Special Envoy presented his activities, terms of his mandate, and recent initiatives. The Special Envoy thanked the President for his welcome, mentioned his productive meetings with key Mongolian Ministers and urged the President of Mongolia to advance road safety in collaboration with the ministers and government officials concerned. The President assured the Special Envoy of his full commitment and shared about an upcoming discussion with the Minister of Education on road safety. 
H.E. Mr. Tsend Munkh-Orgil, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Ms. Ochir Enkhtsetseg, Director-General for Multilateral Cooperation of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia
Mr. Tsend Munkh-Orgil recalled their first meeting in September 2016 at the General Assembly of the United Nations. The Special Envoy gave an overview of his recent trip to Buenos Aires and his participation at a regional road safety workshop and of the road safety situation in Mongolia, and in Asia overall. The Minister agreed on the importance of law enforcement and urged the Special Envoy to discuss the matter with the Head of the National Police Agency of Mongolia. The Special Envoy gave an overview of the five pillars of the Global Plan and the Minister emphasised education as one of the priorities. The Special Envoy reminded the Minister that Mongolia was a signatory to only two of six UN Road Safety Conventions, and encouraged him to initiate accession to the remaining four. The Special Envoy offered technical support to Mongolia. Following the meeting, the Ministry sent a formal request for technical assistance to which the Secretariat is addressing. 
Mr. B. Davaazul, Head of Traffic Police of Mongolia
Mr. Davaazul and members of the National Police Agency presented road safety situation in Mongolia to the Special Envoy. The Special Envoy expressed his appreciation for a detailed presentation and insisted on law enforcement, especially on drink-driving, speed limits, child seats and helmets. The Special Envoy reminded the National Police Agency that Mongolia was not a signatory to four out of six UN Road Safety Conventions. To address resources constraints, the Special Envoy recommended that the agency develop a partnership with the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. The Special Envoy also noted large presence of right-hand drive cars in the country with left-hand traffic, as Mongolia imports cars from Singapore and Japan, and urged the National Police Agency to work with the government on appropriate vehicle standards. The Head of Police explained that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Road and Transport were working on developing vehicle standard laws.
H.E. Mr Ganbat Dangaa, Minister of Road and Transport of Mongolia
The Minister underlined his intention to develop vehicle standards linked to the issue of the export of right-hand drive cars to a left-hand traffic country. The Minister also mentioned the infrastructure and motorcycle helmet use issues in the country and of his interest to accede to remaining UN Road Safety Conventions.  The Special Envoy thanked the Minister for his welcome and shared about previous meetings, particularly the one with the Head of the National Police Agency.  The Special Envoy thanked the Minister for his interest to accede to the UN Road Safety Conventions and encouraged him to collaborate with the local UN agencies, UN ESCAP and to create a Road Safety Task Force with all road safety stakeholders in Mongolia. 
H.E. Mr. Munkhbayar Gombosuren, Minister of Construction and Urban Development of Mongolia
The Special Envoy presented his mandate and gave an overview of his recent meetings with high-level government officials in Mongolia. The Special Envoy noted the improvements that must be made in road infrastructure. Mr. Munkhbayar shared about the Asian Development Bank funded initiatives to improve road infrastructure, and assured that road infrastructure improvements are priorities. He also mentioned lack of funding for the issue. 
UN Country Team in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
The Special Envoy introduced the terms of his mandate and presented his activities. The Special Envoy emphasised high numbers of road traffic victims in Mongolia, as mentioned in WHO report. The Special Envoy provided an overview of UN Road Safety Conventions and ongoing consultations for establishing a UN Road Safety Fund. The Special Envoy emphasised the issue of distracted driving, especially among youth as well as a low rate of helmet wearing (7%). Mr. Roberto Benes presented UNICEF’s four goals regarding road safety in the region (data collection, technical assistance, raising awareness, and education in schools). The following members of the UNCT were present at the meeting:

o Ms Beate Trankmann, Resident Coordinator

o Mr Roberto Benes, UNICEF Representative

o Mr Jonathon Passmore, Technical Officer, WHO
H.E. Elisabeth Barsacq, French Ambassador to Mongolia
On 20 March, the Special Envoy presented an overview of his mandate and activities to the Ambassador. The Special Envoy gave an overview of the road safety situation in Mongolia and outlined his recent meetings with high-level government officials and ministers in the country. The Ambassador shared about lack of funding in the country.