http://www.economist.com/node/21543113
“GOIN’ to OT?” drawls Andy, a burly tattooed man with that worldly air common to those who have done time in the American army. The gate at Incheon airport in South Korea is packed with travellers, mainly Mongolian expatriates on their way home, waiting to board a flight to Ulaanbaatar. Andy’s is a fair guess as to the destination of one of the few other Western passengers. “OT”—Oyu Tolgoi, or “Turquoise Hill”—is in the middle of nowhere, a desolate spot in the Gobi desert, another hour-and-a-half’s flight south of Ulaanbaatar (inevitably, “UB”). But it is the site of the biggest foreign-investment project in Mongolia, a copper-and-gold mine that is springing up at a remarkable speed and is expected, by 2020, to account for one-third of Mongolia’s GDP.
For Andy, who normally “does security” in places such as Afghanistan, Nigeria and Somalia, OT is a rest cure. Conditions are comfortable, the locals are a delight, and nobody tries to shoot him. And there are the transits through UB, a veritable Bangkok of the steppes—at least if your comparators are Kabul and Mogadishu. In the OT bus from UB airport into town, Andy is on tenterhooks waiting for the overnight hotel allocation. He is delighted with his billet—one where overnight guests are readily tolerated. The other news is less cheery: the airport bus will leave at four in the morning.
4 comments:
This is an interesting article. Mongolia is in an attempted transition to a capitalist economy, though it seems that it will take a lot of hard work. A big reason behind the need for work is that the mining, which is causing the boom is also causing some environmental side effects that some Mongolians don't like. A way to fix that could be through elections but the article portrays the Mongolian politicians as attempting to spend money they don't have yet, which could be disastrous if the ventures fail. On the positive side, Mongolia is lucky to be next to China, with its rising demand for material that Mongolia can provide. Though the fear of a Chinese economic takeover is unfounded it more represents the psychology of the people in Mongolia, who have had bad relations with China for millennium and have only recently come out from Soviet-imposed communism. The Asian market is going to be something to watch in the future, not just because of China, but also because of the smaller nations such as Mongolia that are started to grow. The only question seems to be how will that be done to help their people?
This will definitely cause the GDP to rise. More important, it will help improve the high rate of unemployment and inflation that seem to be growing at a very fast rate.
I have been inerested in Mongolia for a long time.
Indeed that a lot of economic cooperation between China and Mogolia, even though these two countries had many conflcts in the history.
I am looking forwar the reform and development of Mogolia. With its advantageous location and rich resources, it holds many chances.
But when talking about cultural habits, different than other Asian cultures, Mogolian is a more romantic one, according to my personal feeling from my Mongolian friends, they tend to enjoy current moments, they prefer enjoying now than saving. Cultural character cannot decide stuff, but definately would influence the developing process.
Republic of Mongolia is another good example of transiting from communism/socialism to capitalism. After the Hsinhai Revolution of China in 1911, part of Mongolia became an independent nation, which is often referred as "outer Mongolia" (in contrast to "inner Mongolia", which is still a part of China). After its independence, Mongolia has been greatly influenced by the (former) Soviet Union, and it abandoned its socialist system in 1992. The transition of Mongolia is fairly immature, compared to other former socialist countries in east Europe, as the article mentions a belief of populism. In addition, a development solely depending on natural resources is unsustainable, just like the “Dutch disease” mentioned in the article. Economic development for outer Mongolia can be hard, mainly because of their disastrous climate.
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