U.S. Ambassador Mark Minton's New Year greetings to the Mongolian people.

Good evening,

I want to wish all the people of Mongolia a very Happy New Year.

I am speaking to you from my home in Ulaanbaatar. I am very happy to share this New Year’s with you and to send you my greetings and the greetings from the U.S. Embassy and the people of the United States.

This has been a wonderful year in the relationship between Mongolia and the United States. It has marked the 20th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. And there have been many achievements; there have been many exchanges of Mongolians going to the U.S. and Americans coming to Mongolia. Many private citizens have visited and contacted each other.

But of course, I think everyone believes that the most important achievement in our relationship this year has been the summit meeting in which President Enkhbayar was a guest of President Bush at the White House in Washington and President Enkhbayar’s subsequent trip to New York, to Chicago, Alaska and California, and the signing, in the White House, of a Millennium Challenge Account Compact for Mongolia. It is, I believe, the largest grant and aid ever given to Mongolia, in which the U.S. will provide 285 million dollars over the next five years to improve the Mongolian national railway, for a health care program, for a vocational training program and for land registration program.

This is a wonderful achievement in our relationship and I think it signifies that, after 20 years of diplomatic relations, our two countries now have a truly deep, close and friendly relationship, as the two Presidents announced at their White House press conference. So, it’s a special pleasure for me to be U.S. Ambassador in this country at this time- a time of success and a deepening of our relations. I want to thank all of my Mongolian colleagues in the Government and in the private sector and all the Mongolian people that I’ve met since I came here for their hospitality, and for working to make the relationship between our countries so strong and so friendly.

Thank you very much. And again, Happy New Year! Or, шинэ жилийн баярын мэнд хvргэе!