Mongolian officials from Erdenet spent this past weekend visiting their sister city, Fairbanks, Alaska in the USA.

The visit follows the signing of sister city pacts last October when Mongolian President N. Enkhbayar visited Alaska.

Erdenet mayor, Gaadan Sharkhuu, along with other Mongolian dignitaries including an army colonel and a college professor, spent the weekend visiting universities, hospitals and other institutions that could provide the basis for future exchanges.

Like Erdenet, Fairbanks is located in the middle of a landlocked area with an economy largely based upon mining. It also contends with the same long winters noted for their ferocity.

Asked what Erdenet and Fairbanks have in common, Sharkhuu told the Fairbanks News Miner, “I am looking more at the similarities than differences.” 

Similarities between cities included, said Sharkhuu, “…for example, there is very big land, population and very nice people. The differences are the environment. Here, there is still a lot of snow.”

Fairbanks business official, Michelle Roberts, said of the group, “They are an emerging Third World country with a lot of resources but not necessarily the technology to get to those resources without a lot of effort…..You can already see the wheels turning on how this can help them and advance what they’re doing.”

mongolia-web.com

---