VZCZCXRO1050
RR RUEHDT
DE RUEHUM #0232/01 2250136
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 130136Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2977
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 6500
RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI 0042
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0287
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 2580
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 3756
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 3409

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ULAANBAATAR 000232 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM AND H, PASS TO JOHN LIS AND MARGARITA SEMINARIO AT 
HDAC AND TO CRS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM EAID OREP MG
 
SUBJECT: HDAC STAFF WITH CODEL PRICE PROMOTE PROFESSIONAL 
PARLIAMENTARY RESEARCH SERVICE IN MONGOLIA 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Representative David Price led a Congressional 
Delegation to Mongolia on June 29-30, as part of the House Democracy 
Assistance Commission's (HDAC) engagement with Mongolia, which began 
in 2006.  Congressional Research Service (CRS) and HDAC staff 
members held concurrent meetings and training sessions focusing on 
fostering the professionalism of the Mongolian parliamentary 
secretariat and establishing an effective, professional and 
non-partisan research service.  Embassy Ulaanbaatar organized a full 
agenda of concurrent meeting with Members of Parliament, leaders of 
the Parliamentary Secretariat, and members of Mongolia's newly 
established parliamentary research service.  The Secretariat and the 
Mongolian research service staff expressed appreciation for the 
visit.  Secretary General of Parliament, Sharavdorj, stated his 
interest in additional training for parliamentary staffers, in 
signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the CRS, and in gaining 
access to the CRS research materials.  Sharavdorj invited the head 
of CRS and CRS representatives to a longer visit to Mongolia.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) HDAC staffer Margarita Seminario led the staff contingent 
of CODEL Price.  She was joined in the staffer program by Clay 
Wellborn, Sherry Shapiro, and Bruce Vaughn of the Congressional 
Research Service.  They began their program by participating in a 
full delegation discussion session on the importance of 
parliamentary research with select members of Parliament, including 
Vice Speaker G. Batkhuu and key Parliamentary secretariat staff. 
The staff delegation spent the remainder of their sessions meeting 
with different offices and members of the Parliamentary Secretariat 
and concluded their visit with a substantive training session hosted 
by Seminario for the staff of the Mongolian parliamentary research 
service. 
 
------------------------ 
BACKGROUND ON PARLIAMENT 
------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) Mongolia has a unicameral parliament often referred to as 
the State Great Hural.  Parliament has 76 members from four 
political parties and one independent.  Each member is elected to a 
four-year term from a single-seat constituency and has a small 
support staff.  The parliament is active for about six months of the 
year and is supported by a Secretariat that reports to the Speaker 
of Parliament.  The Secretariat is headed by Secretary General 
Sharavdorj, who oversees the nine divisions of the Parliament.  Six 
of the divisions have policy implications including (1) Foreign 
Relations, (2) Press and Promotion, (3) Legal, (4) Assembly/Standing 
Committee Support, (5) Office of the Standing Committees, and (6) 
the Center for Policy Analysis, Research and Public Relations 
(including the Parliamentary Library).  There are three additional 
administrative divisions. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The primary focus of the delegation was the Center for 
Policy Analysis, Research, and Public Relations (CPA) which is 
roughly equivalent to Congressional Research Service of the U.S. 
Congress.  The Mongolian Parliament established the center in 2009, 
which now has 30 staff, almost all of whom have graduate degrees. 
The staff is well educated but relatively young and not particularly 
specialized.  The Center provides research -- primarily comparative 
international analysis -- at the request of parliamentarians or 
standing committees.  This is the sixth attempt to establish a 
parliamentary research service since 1990.  The CPA recently laid 
off 25 percent of its staff as a result of the Mongolian budget 
crisis, but the Center now appears to have a more stable 
bureaucratic and administrative base and has gained wider support 
among parliamentarians. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Nonetheless, the center is still struggling to establish 
itself as a trusted, non-partisan research service and better to 
integrate itself with the work of the parliament.  In particular, 
the center must improve its coordination with standing committees 
and identify research requests earlier in the process of drafting 
and debating legislation.  The center is also hampered by limited 
foreign language skills which are essential to requesting 
international comparative analysis.  Finally, the CPA needs to 
develop expertise in developing and packaging information and 
analysis in ways that are more practical for parliamentarians and 
their staff. 
 
------------------------------ 
OUTCOME OF INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS 
 
ULAANBAATA 00000232  002 OF 003 
 
 
------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) After the initial plenary meeting with the Members of 
Congress and Parliamentarians, Congressional staffers met with 
Sharavdorj, the General Secretary of Parliament, along with several 
of his colleagues to discuss challenges the Secretariat faces.  They 
also focused on ways to improve training and increase the 
professionalization of the staff.  Sharavdorj requested that CRS 
consider passing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Secretariat 
and the CPA to improve capacity and eventually conduct joint 
research.  In particular, he stressed the need for additional 
training for CPA staff, including both Washington-based training and 
CRS-led training in Mongolia.  The areas for additional training, 
according to Sharavdorj, included survey methodology and improved 
language skills.  Sharavdorj also noted the Secretariat is looking 
to explore improved cooperation with the World Bank research team. 
The staff delegation promised to relay the request for an MoU back 
to the CRS director and to the HDAC committee, but expressed 
interest in exploring ways for further mutually beneficial 
cooperation.  Sharavdorj closed the meeting by extending an 
invitation to the head of CRS to come to Mongolia for a longer 
visit. 
 
¶7. (SBU) In the afternoon session, CPA Director Dr. Tsedenragchaa 
Norovdondog and her deputy met the staff delegation a visited the 
parliamentary library.  Participants identified the following key 
areas for improvement:  1) Improve coordination between the CPA and 
parliament, especially early on in the policy process; 2) The CPA 
must better tailor its materials to the needs of parliamentarians 
and make materials more user-friendly; and 3) The CPA needs to 
cooperate more effectively and share responsibilities with standing 
committee staffers. 
 
¶8. (SBU) After discussing these questions, staff member Seminario 
raised the possibility of CPA staffers participating in a ten-day 
HDAC legislative training session in Washington later this year. 
She also suggested that CPA contact the International Parliamentary 
Union, which may be able to provide further training and access to 
materials.  In particular, Seminario recommended that Norovdondog 
contact the head of inter-parliamentary relations who is responsible 
for networking with parliaments around the world. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The final session held on June 30 was substantive training 
for the full staff of the CPA and library by CRS and HDAC staffers. 
CRS staffers focused on (1) the importance of clearly identifying 
the needs of the audience through frequent discussion with the 
target audience (staffers and Members of Parliament) both before and 
after the research product is produced; (2) developing products that 
are easy to use and yet substantive; (3) the need for research to be 
free of personal bias and to present the key arguments from all 
sides; and 4) the need for the CPA to cultivate a reputation for 
being responsive to the needs of all parties and for being strictly 
professional and non-partisan.  Finally, CRS staff discussed the 
possibility of sharing access to CRS research materials with the 
parliament and the CPA.  The CPA expressed great interest in 
exploring this option and for further trainings. 
 
---------------------- 
CONCLUSION AND COMMENT 
---------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) The Mongolian Parliamentary Secretariat is anxious to 
continue cooperation with the HDAC and faces the challenge of 
becoming a professional, non-partisan support service to the 
parliament.  Key elements of this challenge are the lack of 
effective analysis, inadequate packaging of research materials, and 
limited language abilities and other specialized skills whose 
absence hampers the staffers' ability to provide essential 
comparative research and analysis.  However, the current budget 
constraints and bureaucratic uncertainty are distractions to the 
CPA, as is the center's expectation of foreign assistance.  The CPA 
could more effectively address these challenges through additional 
efforts within Mongolia or through visits to other parliamentary 
research services with structure and context more similar to those 
of Mongolia.  However, there is much room for targeted assistance 
from CRS and HDAC, which could be regularized through a Memorandum 
of Understanding to provide access to CRS materials and foster 
training opportunities for key managers.  Post is eager to support 
these efforts and welcomes additional such visits that promote 
Mongolia's democratic development. 
 
ULAANBAATA 00000232  003 OF 003 
 
 
MINTON