Kilaparti Ramakrishna: UNESCAP - Helping Mongolia to reach its regional and global potential

Interview with Kilaparti Ramakrishna, the Director of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia /ESCAP/ and the Pacific Sub-regional Office for East and North-East Asia.


-I understand that this is your first visit to Mongolia. What is the main purpose of your visit?

-Yes, this is my first visit to Mongolia and before I tell you about why I’m here, I should explain to you how my office is created. This is a new thing for the United Nations. The United Nations has a regional economic and social commission in Asia and the Pacific; and that commission has 66 member countries.

Clearly, when you’re sitting in Bangkok, it is very difficult to be a meaningful partner to all 66 countries from Bangkok. So the UN General Assembly created four sub-regional offices. For example, there is one for the Pacific Island countries in Fiji. There is one for South and Southwest Asia in Delhi. There is one for Central Asia in Alma Ata. My office is in Korea and it covers six countries: China, Mongolia, Japan, Russia, North and South Korea.
 
So I was the first formally recruited director of the sub-regional office for eastern North-East Asia. My job is really to work with all 6 countries. But I realize that these 6 countries have tremendous diversity in terms of their economic wealth and their economic need. For example, four of the six countries are economic giants in the world. Of course, you know those four are: South Korea, Japan, Russia and China. That leaves me with North Korea and Mongolia as countries that require and continue to require support from the UN.

Although this is my first visit to Mongolia, my office in Korea as well as our office in Bangkok, already had very robust engagement with Mongolia. My job is to build on their activities.

-What is your first impression of Mongolia? Have you had any progress with your Mongolian Projects?

-My first impression is I have always wanted to come to Mongolia. As a kid, I read books about Chinggis Khan; and I have seen movies about Mongolia. But the reality of course is away from the books and the movies. I believe this is a country with great potential. Despite the economic crisis in the world, Mongolia has recorded an extraordinary growth rate of 17.3%; and it is moving forward in the right direction. But it has very huge challenges. Forty percent of its people and still very, very poor. Mongolia is onto a very large scale mining operations. It needs to get it right in terms of how the extraction of resources and economic development and poverty eradication and sustainable development go hand in hand. I am here to see what little contribution the UN can make in helping Mongolia.

That is the background, my first impressions of Mongolia are extremely positive. The weather is beautiful. We have nice fun days and people that we’ve met in various ministries are eager and sincere in trying to do the right thing by the country and by its people. We have met with political leaders and government officials.

So far I am extremely impressed.

-Have you seen any actual projects going on in Mongolia?

-We have several projects underway. You have a huge problem with dust storms and sand storms. You have major issue with ever increasing desert. If we don’t put a stop to that, the productivity rate will go down. Mongolia is part of the sub-region and has a much higher rate of intra-regional trade. But all the studies we have seen tell us that it could be lot more. Our goal is to help Mongolia benefit from further increases in trade. So one major project we have is the “trade facilitation project.” What we’re trying to do is provide access to sea for Mongolia through China and Russia. In doing that, we are trying to look at the whole picture, from the time someone places an order to how the goods are shipped and then ask what are the inspection processes involved. So we are offering Mongolia assistance with drafting legislation and providing capacity.

-How difficult is trading between Mongolia-China and Mongolia-Russia? If we have difficulties trading with countries nearby, how will we trade with countries that are far away from Mongolia?

-That’s a very interesting and important question. It is interesting and important because your trade costs will be far lower than with other countries. That is why intra-regional trade is low. So our goal is to reduce those transaction costs and increase intra-regional activity so that small people that help products to sell can sell them and make money and improve their standard of living.

-Is this ongoing study or is it finished?

-No, it is ongoing.

-What other issues is Mongolia facing?

-The social issues Mongolia has right now are the same issues that we have in other countries: the gap between the rich and poor, question of gender equality, the role of younger generations in policy making, and finally, old people. Mongolia also has important leadership roles in the world. It is not just about the UN providing capacity to Mongolia, but Mongolia showing its leadership in getting some things right in the world.

-Mongolia is facing a huge mining boom. From an environmental perspective, what advice can you give us?

-This is a huge economic opportunity for the country. The country needs the resources and the money those resources can bring in. But if you don’t do this right, it is going to devastate the environment. You know the story of “floods and drought,” suddenly too many resources coming into the country. If the social network is not properly set, it can bring about a great disequilibrium. So the challenge is extract resources in an environmentally sustainable way. Make sure that the wealth that it brings in doesn’t just make few people rich; but enriches the whole country. Because in the end, these are resources of the country.
-Amongst the six countries, our population is the smallest and I get the impression that our impact is very small. What do you think?
-It’s a very important country for me. Because of the size of the population, you get the great opportunity to bring about changes more rapidly. This could be an example to countries that say that “well, you cannot do the right thing because it is too difficult.” I would like Mongolia be an example of how to fix the problem.
-Since our GDP is rapidly increasing, how can this influence other countries?
-It may not influence the other 5 countries, though it might have good influence on North Korea. It has implications beyond the sub-region. There are many countries within the UNESCAP that are like Mongolia. If Mongolia makes progress, the others will take confidence and think “if they can do it, then we can do it too.”
Each country has its own big challenge. Let’s start with Russia. It is a European and Asian power. Politically, it looks more like Europe. But the business sector looks more like Asia. North Korea has huge issues with reference to nuclear security. Resolution of that issue is tied up with a lot of economic and social matters. We can do a number of things with North Korea and we are waiting for opportunities to work with them. Japan, a giant in the world economy, has now taken a second place to China. Given the recent tragedies in the country, it is trying to put its economic house in order. But they have a huge issue with aged people. Statistics tell us that people beyond the age of 65 could be as much as 25% of the population. China is already a world power. It too has huge problems with its resource consumption, environmental degradation, issues pertaining to economic disparity amongst its population and also the issue of aged people. South Korea went from a per capita that is less than that of sub Saharan and African countries to a per capita that is about the average of the countries of the EU in one lifetime. It moved from a country that is entirely reliant on foreign aid to a country that has joined the Development Assistance Committee. I already told you about Mongolia, given this kind of diversity, these six countries make the sub-region an extraordinarily interesting place to live and work.
-What is your stance on the two Korea’s issue and on other pressing issues in the six countries?
-I work for the UN and North and South Korea are members of the sub-region. We treat them as two separate countries. My job is not to intervene with political issues. If North Korea wants support with their social and economic development, we are there to help them. If both Koreans are to come together sometime in the future, we will be there to help and do whatever it takes to make the transition smooth and easy. This is despite the fact the tension between the two countries comes home to us often. When the North Korean leader died, there was an increased alertness among the UN staff members.

-Compared to other sub-regions, what is the main characteristic of our sub-region?

-That is the difficult and at the same time important question. The potential for the six countries to come together is huge. But the reality is the sense of community is not as palpable in this sub-region as it is in the other sub-regions. In other words, your question is: is there really anything fundamental that binds the six countries as part of a community. The answer has to be that there is a great potential, but it has not been realized.


You have the opportunity and you have the potential, but you need to realize it and we are here to help you realize it.

-What is the sub-regional office’s biggest goal?

-To double up the community’s feeling. This community has ¼ of the world’s population and 1/3 of the world trade. The world community has 193 countries. We are only 6. But we are 1/3 of the world trade and so that is a good thing. On the negative side, we contribute ¼ of the greenhouse gasses. They cause climate change and global warming. So the goal for us is to get all these issues, economic growth and sustainable development to meet the demand of the people in the sub-region. It is a very tall order and it is a very big challenge, but I think we are ready for it.

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