Lauren in Mongolia: Omnogovi (South Gobi)

On Monday I was given the opportunity to travel to Omnogovi aimag (South Gobi province) with Gerlee, the head of the Cooperatives and Micro-business division of my host organisation.

As you've probably gathered from my other entries, there is a lot of last minute planning here in Mongolia. And interestingly enough, I found out that I could accompany Gerlee Sunday afternoon, just a day before. I received the call whilst in the cinema with a Mongolian friend (who happens to be the Director of the Agency’s daughter) and answered the phone in the middle of the movie: true Mongolian style. The locals don't hesitate at all to do this in any type of public event, such as musical concerts, or meetings. I discovered over the phone call that in order to book my flight ticket, she needed my alien registration card (foreigners without one are charged about a quarter of the price more) so my friend and I had to get up and leave the cinema. We were just one hour into the movie, which I felt terrible about, but my friend didn't seem to mind. This is a great example though of how amazingly flexible the Mongolian people are.

The flight to Dalanzadgad, the capital of Omnogovi aimag, was at 8am Monday morning. Dalanzadgad is located 540kms south of Ulaanbaatar and has a population of just 15,000 (just over 50,000 people live in the province itself). Due to the mining and tourism in the region, the airport of the city is frequented with several flights to UB a day. To my relief, the one-hour flight went smoothly (as did that on the way back to UB*). Upon our arrival, the local SME Agency officer met us and drove us to the province government office.

From the airport to Dalanzadgad

Out front the Omnogovi aimag office

The purpose of the trip was to attend the opening ceremony for the promotion of local cooperatives government initiative. In March a national summit was held at Parliament House where the Prime Minister signed a Memorandum of Understanding that outlined the Government’s three-year commitment to supporting cooperatives. To raise awareness of this program, representatives from our Agency were travelling to each of the 21 aimags (provinces) in Mongolia to explain it in more detail and to consult with local cooperative members.

The official event began with a couple of presentations given by both Gerlee and a man who joined us on the trip from the Mongolian Agricultural Commodity Exchange. Both talked about the benefits of cooperatives and this new national agreement. This was followed by the typical Mongolian presentation of engraved plaques for each of the cooperatives in attendance, and finally, questions and comments from the audience, the longest part of the event as it is considered rude for even the chairperson to interrupt by saying time has run out.

I made it on the panel!

'Promoting Cooperatives'

The event was followed by lunch at a nearby restaurant for all attendees. A nice Mongolian man who spoke a little bit of English bought a round of vodka to celebrate the event (true Mongolian style).

Dinosaurs (similar to this one??) have been found in Omnogovi

We then went to visit a local cooperative that specializes in clothing manufacturing and felting wool. They are a supplier to Oyu Tolgoi, the large mining project operating in this aimag. This was really exciting to see as I have been doing a bit of research into how the mining companies are integrating local SMEs into their supply chains. I really hope that this can continue and that it can grow. I’ve been hearing that a number of SMEs have lost contracts with such large companies because of the low quality of their products. Apparently Oyu Tolgoi are establishing a Quality Management Centre for Excellence in Dalanzadgad in the next year or so, so this should assist with this.

A local cooperative's products

A local cooperative

Streets of Dalanzadgad

Around Dalanzadgad

Before our flight back to Ulaanbaatar the local SME officer took us briefly to the local museum. Unfortunately the power was out in the building so we could only see some sections. The aimag officers also gave us some gifts to take back to UB. This included dried curd, camel milk and Mongolian vodka.