On December 5-16, 2015, a delegation of Mongolian Parliamentarians and officers from the Ministry of Construction and Urban Development, and Ministry of Environment, Green Development, and Tourism, participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) focused on “Green Building Construction and Design”.
Traveling to three states in twelve days, the participants began in Washington DC with a tour at the American National University and Discovery Elementary School to see active Green Building projects on-site, followed by meetings at U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Green Building Council, and Department of Energy to learn about Federal policies on energy and federally-funded energy saving incentive programs.
The delegation stopped in Boston, Massachusetts to participate in meetings about policies, technologies and researches that support green development projects at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Institute for International Urban Development (I2UD).
Lastly, the group travelled to Minneapolis, Minnesota. They were introduced to energy-saving programs at the Department of Commerce and learned about energy-saving solutions to households and businesses at Center for Energy and Environment. The travels concluded with information sessions where the participants gained hands-on experiences through work with the architects and engineers involved with green building at the American Swedish Center.
Program participant Erdenetsetseg stated, “The program was significant to us and to our Ministry and Mongolia. In a sense, it took place at the starting phase of green building and we’ve received much needed information. We believe that it’s enabling us to further the work in this field.” Bilegsaikhan agreed, saying, “[We’ve] learned so much about green building and acquired a lot of new ideas. We plan to integrate and implement these concepts in our work.”
International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) that seeks to build mutual understanding between the U.S. and other nations through carefully designed professional visits to the United States for current and emerging foreign leaders. To learn more about IVLP, visit http://eca.state.gov/ivlp.
