Groundbreaking ceremony at the Five Hills Peacekeeping Training Center

On March 29, Ambassador Mark C. Minton participated in a groundbreaking ceremony at the Five Hills Peacekeeping Training Center.  Chief of General Staff LTG Ts. Togoo and Ministry of Defense State Secretary M. Borbaatar represented Mongolia at the initiation of a $500,000 project to renovate a barracks building and the cafeteria.

In his remarks, Ambassador Minton praised Mongolia's growing international peacekeeping role, both through its troop deployments around the world and as a training venue.  The Ambassador noted Mongolia's successful hosting at Five Hills of the multinational training exercise Khaan Quest 2006, which had involved 125 UN recognized staff officers and more than 500 peacekeepers.  Ambassador Minton expressed appreciation for Mongolia's agreement for Khaan Quest 2007 to again be a major multinational peacekeeping training exercise.

Ambassador Minton announced that the United States has already allocated funding for a master plan for the Five Hills facility, as well as for renovation of the clinic and another building at Five Hills.    He stated, "These projects will bring much closer the shared goal of Mongolia and the United States for Five Hills to become a leading regional peacekeeping training facility."