Mongolia held the national launch of UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring Report at the United Nations House in Ulaanbaatar. The edition is titled Access and Equity in Education and is the first in UNESCO's new Countdown to 2030 series of GEM Reports. The launch was organised by the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO together with UNESCO and the All for Education National Civil Society Coalition. Munkhbaatar Begzjav, Secretary-General of the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO, opened the meeting. Shahbaz Khan, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia, sent a video message. Speakers said Mongolia has widened school access and improved literacy, but gaps remain for rural and remote children, learners with disabilities and children affected by migration. A Mongolian case study on boys' education and talks on dormitory access and the digital divide were presented.
Report:Global Education Monitoring (GEM) ReportPublisher:UNESCOEdition theme:Access and Equity in EducationSeries:Countdown to 2030 (first edition)Launch venue:United Nations House, Ulaanbaatar
Why it matters for exams: Names the publisher of the Global Education Monitoring Report, the Access and Equity in Education edition, the new Countdown to 2030 series and the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO.
Mongolia's government and its United Nations partners launched a Call for Action for Clean Energy for Health at a national forum in Ulaanbaatar. The forum, on a stepwise approach to phasing out household coal use, also put forward a proposed roadmap running from 2027 to 2040. Four ministries - Health, Environment and Climate Change, Urban Development, and Energy - held it with the Governor's Office of the capital city and with support from WHO. WHO, UNDP and UNICEF joined the ministries in issuing the Call for Action. Air pollution in Mongolia, indoor and outdoor together, was linked to an estimated 2,895 deaths in 2021. About 76 per cent of urban residents cook with clean fuels and technologies, against 22 per cent in rural areas. The government aims to end solid fuel use in Ulaanbaatar by 2040, building on a ban on raw coal in households and the 100,000 Solar Ger Programme.
New call:Call for Action for Clean Energy for HealthProposed roadmap period:2027-2040Deaths linked to air pollution in 2021:2,895Clean cooking fuel use:76 per cent urban, 22 per cent rural
Why it matters for exams: Names the Call for Action for Clean Energy for Health, the proposed 2027-2040 roadmap for phasing out household coal, the three UN agencies behind it and the 100,000 Solar Ger Programme.
Mongolia closed the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games with ten medals, its best showing at the event. The haul was four gold, four silver and two bronze, and placed Mongolia 14th on the overall table. The country sent 44 athletes who competed in ten sports. Mongolia took its titles in para judo, para taekwondo and para powerlifting. In para powerlifting, Sodnompiljee Enkhbayar won the men's up to 107 kg gold with a lift of 246 kg, one kilogram ahead of Iran's Aliakbar Gharibshahi. These were the fifth Asian Para Games, held in Nagoya in Japan's Aichi Prefecture. The Asian Para Games are the continental Games for para athletes, run under the Paralympic movement led by the International Paralympic Committee.
Medals:10 (4 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze)Place on the table:14thMongolian athletes:44 in 10 sportsGames:Fifth Asian Para Games, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Why it matters for exams: Fixes Mongolia's record ten-medal haul, the fifth Asian Para Games at Nagoya in Japan, the gold medallist Sodnompiljee Enkhbayar and the International Paralympic Committee behind the movement.
Mongolia has become a donor to the International Development Association, the World Bank Group's fund for the poorest countries, after its parliament approved a contribution of MNT 4.8 billion, about US$1.3 million. IDA gives grants and highly concessional finance and currently funds work in 78 countries. It is replenished every three years, and Mongolia's money goes to the 21st replenishment, IDA21. Mongolia's Finance Minister Mendsaikhan Zagdjav called the contribution a milestone in the country's partnership with the World Bank. Lisa Finneran, World Bank Vice President for Partnerships, Innovation and Mobilization, welcomed Mongolia into the donor group. Mongolia has been a World Bank Group client since 1991 and has received more than US$1.62 billion in development finance, including IDA support for transport, rural development, health and education. It graduated from IDA in July 2020 and became an IBRD-only client, and the World Bank notes it reached upper-middle-income status in 2024. The country has therefore moved from receiving IDA money to paying into it.
Contribution:MNT 4.8 billion (about US$1.3 million)Replenishment:IDA21Countries IDA finances:78Mongolia's IDA graduation:July 2020
Why it matters for exams: Names IDA and its expansion, the 78 countries it funds, its three-year replenishment cycle and IDA21, Mongolia's July 2020 graduation from IDA, and the MNT 4.8 billion contribution that made it a donor.
The 14th defence Joint Working Group that met in Ulaanbaatar rests on a long relationship with its own vocabulary. The Embassy of India in Ulaanbaatar calls the two countries Strategic Partners, Spiritual Siblings and Third Neighbours. Diplomatic relations were established on 24 December 1955 and India's Resident Mission in Ulaanbaatar opened on 22 February 1971. Ties were raised to a Strategic Partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit in 2015, the first by an Indian Prime Minister to Mongolia, and Mongolia was the fourth country given that status. India's largest development project in Mongolia is an oil refinery in Dornogobi Province with a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes a year, begun with a line of credit of US$1 billion from EXIM Bank. An Atal Bihari Vajpayee Centre of Excellence in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is being built in Ulaanbaatar with a US$20 million line of credit. The 70th anniversary of relations was marked in 2025, the year President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa visited India.
Diplomatic relations established:24 December 1955Resident Mission in Ulaanbaatar:22 February 1971Refinery:Dornogobi Province, 1.5 million tonnes a yearRefinery line of credit:US$1 billionIT centre line of credit:US$20 million
Why it matters for exams: Carries the standing facts an exam asks: the Strategic Partners, Spiritual Siblings and Third Neighbours formula, the 1955 start of relations, the 2015 Strategic Partnership, the Dornogobi refinery of 1.5 million tonnes a year and the Atal Bihari Vajpayee ICT centre.