Press Release
The United States Contributes to Mongolia’s Peace Keeping Operations
On 22 September 2009, at the Mongolian Armed Forces Five Hills Training Center about 60 kilometers west of Ulaanbaatar, senior Mongolian and United States personnel dedicated a major project to upgrade the Center’s cantonment facilities. Worth approximately 3.5 million US dollars, these upgrades are a major contribution to Mongolia’s Peace Keeping Operations.
The project is the latest in a series of upgrade projects paid for by the United States Global Peace Operations Initiative funds. The projects are helping Mongolia turn the Five Hills Training Center into a world standard regional peace operations training center, in support of United Nations peace keeping efforts globally.
The ribbon cutting ceremony dedicated a utilities upgrade project that included a new well, new boiler and hot water heat circulation facilities, a new back-up generator system, new electrical distribution and a new shower facility. The 3.5 million US dollar project is the most expensive yet undertaken at Five Hills. Since March 2007, over 5.7 million USD has been spent on 6 projects at Five Hills.
The projects have allowed Five Hills to become a valuable regional training center for UN Peacekeeping Operations. Five Hills Training Center is not only the site of the annual multi-national peacekeeping training exercise Khaan Quest, it also hosts UN Military Observer courses and a wide variety of Mongolian Armed Forces and bilateral military training events. Previous upgrade projects have included work on dining facilities, barracks, a modern medical clinic, and a large training classroom building, as well as the utilities overhaul. A renovation of the post headquarters building will be undertaken summer of 2010.