After its remarkable success last year, the Future Mongolia trade fair will once again be held in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator from June 19-22. The organizer expects approximately 120 exhibitors from various nations.
Posting double-digit annual growth rates for its gross national product, Mongolia is one of the fastest developing economies in the world. For 2013 alone, leading economic research institutes forecast another increase of between 15% and 18%. Finance experts are speaking of the future “Dubai of the East.” What they mean here is the state capital Ulan Bator with its roughly 1.2 million inhabitants—the center of the economic and cultural life of the country with a total population of 2.8 million inhabitants.
The reason for this immense growth is the country’s so far scarcely assessable wealth in natural resources—especially coal, copper, gold and rare earths. Mongolia is one of the world’s richest countries in natural resources. South of the Gobi Desert coal and copper deposits have just recently been verified among the biggest on earth. Even today mining is the by far most important source of revenue for the country. Many large and international mining operators have become engaged in this country. Correspondingly high is the demand for mining machinery especially for surface mining where currently still most natural resources are produced. But underground mining is also on the advance.
With “Future Mongolia” a trade fair has been created, said Stephan A. Fischer, which enables capital goods manufacturers of all sectors of industry to introduce for the first time their products and services to a wide trade audience from Mongolia and the surrounding countries. Fischer is the CEO of VF Messen GmbH, the organizing company from Germany. He and his team are supported by VDMA, the German Machinery and Plant Manufacturers’ Association, that acts as a conceptual sponsor for Future Mongolia. Boasting more than 3,000 member companies with more than 900,000 employees in total, VDMA is among Europe’s biggest and most influential industrial associations.
The first “Future Mongolia” held in May of last year was attended by some 100 exhibitors from 14 nations. Fischer expects this figure to be exceeded at the forthcoming event. Exhibitors were, according to the results of a survey, satisfied almost completely across the board. Contacts with new customers were made and in part business deals were also concluded on site. The trade fair is accompanied by an extensive conference program that is to involve representatives from state and private organizations, institutions and businesses from Mongolia. http://www.future-mongolia.com/
