On August 5, 2016 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the newly elected Mayor of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, S. Batbold and Ruth Erlbeck, Project Director of the “Integrated Resource Management in Asian cities: the Urban Nexus Project”, financed by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), to formalize and structure cooperation for the follow-up phase of the Regional Urban Nexus Project to be implemented between 2016-2018.
The agreed-upon cooperation will concentrate on thermo-technical retrofitting of buildings and pilot sanitation projects in Ulaanbaatar.
The Mongolian Ministries of Construction and Urban Development (MCUD) and Environment and Tourism participate in the Urban Nexus Project complementing the efforts of Ulaanbaatar City within the framework of the “Mongolian Green Development Policy” (approved in 2014) with regard to the introduction of innovative engineering technologies as well as governance aspects concerning mandates and decentralization policies empowering the cities as drivers of development.
The “Green Development Strategy” of Ulaanbaatar, approved in December 2015, is embedded in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement of December 2015 (COP 21). In particular Goal 11 “to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” and Goal 13 “to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” as well as other SDGs shall be concretised through cross-sectoral infrastructure pilots in collaboration with the Urban Nexus Project.
At the invitation of the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar City, Mr. S.Batbold, the GIZ Urban Nexus project represented by Ms. Ruth Erlbeck, Project Director and Mr. Ralph Trosse, Technical Director, participated in the 3rd North-East Asian Mayor’s Forum “Green Growth of Cities-Green Energy Solutions” on 3-5 August 2016 in Ulaanbaatar City, Mongolia. An MoU for the implementation of the second phase of the Nexus project was also signed between the Nexus project and Ulaanbaatar City Government.