IRI Celebrates a Decade of Programming in Mongolia

November 26, 2002

IRI President George A. Folsom helped celebrate 10 years of IRI programming in Mongolia during a visit to IRI's Ulaanbaatar office in November. During his visit, Folsom met with John Dinger, the US ambassador to Mongolia, Mongolia Prime Minister N. Enkhbayar and Jonathan Addleton, Mongolia mission director for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In meeting Prime Minister Enkhabayar, Folsom discussed ways that IRI could assist the Mongolian government's ability to communicate with citizens.

Folsom also met with several parliamentary committee chairmen to support IRI's work in establishing open hearings on proposed legislation. In October, IRI facilitated Mongolia's first open parliamentary committee hearing in the Legal Standing Committee. IRI is seeking to expand the open hearing initiative to all committees in parliament.

At the conclusion of his trip, Folsom delivered a lecture on democracy to more than 200 students at the Mongolian National University. Folsom fielded questions from students on the specific issues facing Mongolians during their transition to democracy.

###

A nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing democracy worldwide