Last Friday, Cabinet appointed Deputy Speaker of Parliament T.Ayursaikhan as the minister of labor and social protection after presenting the order to President U.Khurelsukh and Parliament.

In accordance with Article 39.4 of the Constitution and Article 23.2 of the Law on Government of Mongolia, the newly-appointed minister swore his oath to Parliament. He vowed, “As a member of the government, I will respect the interests of our country, statehood, historical and cultural traditions and the Constitution of Mongolia. I will be free from corruption and conflicts of interest and be personally accountable to the state, people and the prime minister of Mongolia. I swear that I will fulfill my duties as a member of the government fairly. If I break this oath, I will accept punishment.”

T.Ayursaikhan graduated from the Dokuz Eylul University with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1999 and studied international economics at both the Seoul National University and Economy and the Business School of the Mongolian University of Life Science. He has 22 years of political experience.

The newly-appointed minister has an annual income of 235 million MNT, family income of 159.8 million MNT and savings worth 163 million MNT in addition to owning apartments and buildings worth 1.2 billion MNT, a car worth 87 million MNT, jewelry worth 87 million MNT and livestock worth 498 million MNT.

After the appointment, T.Ayursaikhan said, “The ministry will receive suggestions from the people during the public discussion on the draft 2023 Budget Law. Major reforms are needed for the Social Insurance Fund. The budget of the fund has been facing a permanent deficit. Therefore, in the future, we will make the fund transparent to solve the social security problems of citizens.”

“There are people who need welfare. We will work in the direction of supporting employment and household income. In other countries, social welfare amounts to 1 to 2 percent of the GDP, but in our country, it is about 7 percent. Therefore, the ministry will give welfare to those who really need it. More than 900,000 citizens are living in poverty. Therefore, we will focus on sharply reducing poverty and produce real results,” he informed.

Former Minister of Labor and Social Protection D.Sarangerel was fired on September 27 as she was deemed to have violated the Constitution and made an ethical mistake. In particular, the minister compared the citizens’ lives to “foot soles” (the untouchable or the bottoms), saying, “Our ministry calls poor families as ‘soles’ families. They will be trained as hairdressers.” Lawyers and citizens criticized the former minister for discriminated against citizens by calling them “soles” and violating the Constitution of Mongolia, showing that she has “no sense of human rights”.

Cabinet also appointed President of the Social Democracy Mongolian Youth Association M.Gankhuleg as the deputy minister of food, agriculture and light industry, to replace former Deputy Minister J.Bat-Erdene who is being detained over possible abuse of power and official position.

Chief Cabinet Secretary D.Amarbayasgalan said, “M.Gankhuleg, a young member of the Mongolian People’s Party, graduated from the Mongolian University of Life Sciences with a bachelor’s degree. As the party always supports the youth, we made this decision to prepare our youth for leadership.”

Born in 1990, M.Gankhuleg served as the CEO of Ard Content Group LLC, as a public relations adviser to then Chief Cabinet Secretary L.Oyun-Erdene in 2019 and as the head of the Political Policy Department of MPP in 2020. He was appointed as a member of the Prime Minister’s Office earlier this year and as the president of Social Democracy Mongolian Youth Association last March. He is also an executive director of the local council of Khentii Province.

According to his declaration of income and assets, M.Gankhuleg has an annual income of 31 million MNT, savings worth 25 million MNT and a loan of 201 million MNT. He owns an apartment worth 298 million MNT, a car worth 14 million MNT, livestock worth 124 million MNT, jewelry worth 75 million MNT and land worth 15 million MNT.

The newly-appointed deputy minister also owns 80 percent of Ashid Tuuchee LLC and 50 percent of Ard Content Group. 

In accordance with the Law on Government, a new replacement must be made within 14 days after a minister or deputy minister is dismissed.