Tsogtbaatar Damdin
Mr. Tsogtbaatar Damdin is an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and currently a member of the Mongolian State Great Khural (Parliament). He earned Master’s degree in Political Science (with. Hon) from the Moscow State University of International Relations (MGIMO) and Master’s degree in International Law (with Dist.) from the School of Law, Australian National University.
Mr. Tsogtbaatar Damdin is a diplomat and a politician. Furthermore, he has served as Mongolia’s Minister for the Nature, Environment and Tourism (2012), Minister for Construction and Urban Development (2014-2015) and Minister for Foreign Affairs (2017-2020). He also served as a foreign policy advisor to two Presidents of Mongolia. He was the Chairman of the Parliamentary Subcommittee on Human Rights between 2016-2017, and was elected twice to the National Parliament (2016 and 2020).
During his tenure as the Minister for the Nature, Environment and Tourism, he was instrumental in passing the new package of laws by the Parliament, which brought drastic changes to the legal framework on the environment. Also, during his tenure, the Ministry of the Nature, Environment and Tourism’s status moved up from a line ministry to a main stream policy ministry. As the Minister of Construction and Urban Development, he focused on making the philosophy of the sector “human centric” and successfully implemented initiatives, such as “Rental Housing Program” for the first time in Mongolia and decreasing the down payment on mortgages to 10 percent and extending the term to 30 years.
Mr. Tsogtbaatar Damdin started his diplomatic career as an attaché in the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994, served as State Secretary of the Ministry (2008-2011) and later on as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia (2017-2020). During his time at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he initiated a number of sweeping reforms both in the mindset and practice of the Mongolian diplomacy. His initiative to establish an International Think Tank for Land Locked Developing Countries, to be the first-ever international inter-governmental organization based in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He also initiated “Peacebook Forum” in collaboration with the Facebook Inc,. to strengthen peace and mutual understanding among the youth around the world using social media. Also, his policy on introducing number-crunching culture into the foreign policy development practice, making it economic-growth oriented added pragmatism into the diplomacy of Mongolia.
As a Member of Parliament, he drafted the Law on Legal Status of Human Rights Defenders (passed on April 1, 2021), which made Mongolia the first country in Asia to legislate such a law and also, was a big step forward in the Mongolian legislative system, especially in the area of human rights promotion. In addition, he co-drafted bills and amendments to the laws such as, the Public and Civil Service Law, the Law on Sports, the Law on Establishing Millennium Challenge Corporation in Mongolia and the Law on Ratification of Amendments to the Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
He was a part-time lecturer of International Trade Law at the National University of Mongolia. His research papers and articles have been printed in London, Boston and Cambridge. He is a member of the International Council and a member of the Advisory Board of the Asia 21 (Young Leaders Program) of the Asia Society headquartered in New York, USA.
