Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, October 18, 2011
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today signed two agreements with Mongolia to help improve food safety and adopt international regulatory standards, which are expected to support food producers in reaching new markets and to improve Mongolia’s business inspection system.
In the past two years, IFC advised the main inspection agency in Mongolia on amending the inspections law, helping the country to adopt a strategic risk-based approach with business inspections prioritizing the most risky businesses. The first agreement signed on Tuesday calls for IFC to continue the work with Mongolia’s General Agency for Specialized Inspections to implement the amended law.
"We will be working with IFC on making inspections more effective and transparent,” said Sodkhuu Rentsen, Head Chairman of Mongolia’s General Agency for Specialized Inspections, at a signing ceremony in Mongolia’s State Palace. ”Our cooperation will help to implement the risk-based approach to inspections. It will also improve food safety and increase companies’ competitiveness, especially in the food and agribusiness sector."
Under the second agreement, IFC will advise Mongolian legislators in drafting a food-safety law to improve the operations and hygiene requirements for food industries, introducing best international standards and practices to help reduce food borne diseases and poisoning.
“The new law will be important for the 2.7 million people in Mongolia,” said Purev Altangerel, Chairman of Mongolia’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment, Food, and Agriculture. “It will improve food safety in many households and increase the export potential of Mongolia’s agribusinesses.”
The collaboration is implemented through IFC’s Business Inspection Reform Project which aims to help Mongolia reform its inspection system and strengthen its private sector by improving the investment climate.
“By helping to reform Mongolia’s inspection processes, IFC is supporting a better business environment that allows companies to grow and provide jobs,” said Dorothy Berry, IFC Vice President for Human Resources, Communications, and Administration. “IFC’s Business Inspection Reform Project and work on the food safety law will help companies prevent health and safety hazards and raise the quality of their products to international levels. With that we are supporting Mongolia’s long-term economic growth.”
IFC launched the Business Inspection Reform Project in Mongolia in 2009. With financial support from Japan, IFC extended the program’s scope in 2011 to help Mongolia boost its agribusiness and market economy, and to improve the living standards of Mongolians.
Since 2002, IFC has invested more than $130 million in Mongolia’s private sector, focusing on banking, manufacturing, and agribusiness.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, providing advisory services to businesses and governments, and mobilizing capital in the international financial markets. In fiscal 2011, amid economic uncertainty across the globe, we helped our clients create jobs, strengthen environmental performance, and contribute to their local communities—all while driving our investments to an all-time high of nearly $19 billion. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
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