Welcome
The MBCC is a not-for-profit membership organisation established in 2009 to foster strong business links between Mongolia and the UK. It aims to provide a professional and social environment for business people who wish to be introduced to, and become part of, the British-Mongolian business culture and community.
Mongolia and Coronavirus
by John Grogan
Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Prime Minister of Mongolia
On the evening of Saturday January 25th I organised the annual Burns supper in Ulaanbaatar where the nighttime temperature can drop to -40c. A bagpiper from Glasgow dressed in a kilt and fortified by the finest Scottish whisky played outside the venue. With his rendition of ‘Scotland the Brave’ he welcomed a variety of ambassadors, business representatives and a Scottish judo team far from home. The event had been planned from my kitchen table in Yorkshire with the help of my business partner who is an adventure travel entrepreneur from Glasgow and the Honorary Consul for Mongolia in Scotland no less.
Yorkshire firms have imported cashmere from Mongolia for many decades. Stanley Burton, son of the founder of Leeds clothing retailer Burtons, visited the country twice in the 1970’s. He fell in love with the place and supported Leeds University with funding for Mongolian studies. I myself first visited as part of the inaugural parliamentary delegation from Westminster in 1998 just a few years after Russian troops pulled out and a democratic government was elected.
The relevance of my tale to the struggle against coronavirus is simple. The day after the Burns Supper on January 26th ( a Sunday) the Mongolian Cabinet met and stopped all large public gatherings because of fear of the virus. Our dinner was to be the last of its kind for many months. All schools and colleges were closed. Prime Minister Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh said simply
‘This is a time to govern ….I will prioritise the health and well being of the Mongolian people first, then the economy’.