Sükhbaataryn Batbold

This was confirmed with an election at the 26th MPRP Congress.

During the Party Congress, Batbold was one of three proposed candidates for leadership, the others being Parliament Speaker Demberel Damdin and MP U.Enkhtuvshin.

After D.Demberel withdrew his name from the list of candidates, voting continued until 4:30am, ending with Batbold winning a majority of 85% (675 votes from 788 voters).

During the same party conference it was also decided that the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party would revert to its original name, the Mongolian People's Party.

(http://en.people.cn/90001/90777/90851/7190654.html; https://montsame.mn/en/read/262575) The name change was proposed by S.Batbold as chairman and Secretary-General of the party Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and signified full transition to the social-democratic values by the Mongolian People's Party.

Sükhbaataryn Batbold (Сүхбаатарын Батболд, born June 24, 1963) is a prominent Mongolian political figure and leader, who was Prime Minister of Mongolia from 2009 to 2012, as well as Chairman of the Mongolian People's Party.

He was previously Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of his predecessor, Sanjaagiin Bayar.

As all Mongolians, he goes by one name, given at his birth, Batbold.

Sukhbaatar is his father's name and Sukhbaataryn literally means "son of Sukhbaatar".

So, Sukhbaatar is used as the last name in the Western style documents and Batbold as his first name.

Because of this, he may also be recognized as Sukhbaatar Batbold or just Batbold.

Batbold was born in far eastern province Dornod of Mongolia to parents who worked as medical doctors in the provincial hospital.

As a child Batbold, graduated the 14th high school in Ulaanbaatar, going on to study in Russia at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, one of the most prestigious educational establishments in the former Eastern bloc, between 1980 and 1986.

He was one of the first Mongolians to be given an opportunity to receive an education in the West and studied at the Middlesex University London Business School from 1989 till 1991, residing at Netherhall House.

Before 1990, successive leaders of MPRP ruled Mongolia under one-party totalitarian regime and this is the only party among the former communist camp that managed to stay competitive in the new democratic system by transiting to social-democratic values along the line of German Social Democrats and British Labor.

As Prime Minister, Batbold oversaw a number of notable developments.

In 1992, he established Altai Trading Co. Ltd. (currently Altai Holding LLC), which among others owns the Chinggis Khaan Hotel, Altai Cashmere, E-mart Mongolia hypermarket chain and the Skytel cellular operator.

Among all of his businesses, only Chinggus Khaan Hotel was bought from the government at the auction in 1994 as a half finished building in complete ruin, which was completed and served as a flagship hotel till 2016 when Shangri-la entered Mongolia.

All other businesses were created from the scratch and introduced new standards of service and competence.

He headed the company until 2000 by which time it became one of the largest Mongolian private companies.

After Mongolia started a transition from the one-party authoritarian rule to market economy and democracy, he was one of the first Mongolians to start a private business and grow it to a large corporation.

Batbold entered Mongolian politics in 2000, by which time he was already an established and well-known businessman.

He was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2004 and became a member of the Leadership Council of the Mongolians People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) in 2001.

He also earned a doctoral degree at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Moscow in 2002.

Batbold previously held an executive position at Mongol Impex Cooperative.

Batbold held the Ulan Bator 75 constituency in the 2004 Mongolian Great Khural election.

He then became Cabinet Minister of Trade and Industry between 2004 and 2006.

As Minister of Trade and Industry, he contributed actively to the implementation of Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) with the United States, establishing an ongoing dialogue to help remove barriers to trade between the United States and Mongolia.

Also during his term as Minister of Trade and Industry Mongolia was awarded GSP Plus system of trade preferences by the European Union which allowed for preferential access for more than 7000 export items from Mongolia.

< >. As cabinet minister, he also proposed for the first time in Mongolia the special tax and regulatory treatment for small and medium businesses by proposing a special legislation to the Parliament.

In the 2008 Great Khural election, Batbold won a seat for the MPRP in the Ulan Bator 23 constituency in the same location of the capital city of Ulaanbaatar as during previous elections.

He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2008 until he was nominated to become prime minister in 2009.

During his tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs, he hosted United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Ulan Bator to discuss the topic of climate change in Mongolia.

Batbold also substituted for then Prime Minister Bayar at a Prime Ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

On October 29, 2009, Batbold was elected as the 26th Prime Minister of Mongolia, succeeding Sanjaa Bayar, who resigned due to health reasons.

Batbold received 62 of 66 votes cast by Members of the Mongolian Parliament.

On the 8th of April 2010, Batbold became the Chairman of the MPRP.

His cabinet supported the enactment of the Law on Gender Equality in 2011.

During his term as a Deputy Foreign Minister a decision was taken by Mongolia to contribute forces to multinational force in Iraq and Afghanistan (https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20140903_R41867_27863dd4cab95d3ac35bf0f58237d6b3f7211296.html).

He was instrumental in negotiating a visa regime with the USA under which the USA citizens became exempt from Mongolian visa requirements and Mongolian citizens became eligible for 10-year multiple entry visas.