President Kh.Battulga wrapped up his country tour with meetings with residents of Uvurkhangai Province from May 26 to 27. The province has a population of 115,000 people, 24.6 percent of the province’s households are residing in Arvaikheer, the capital of the province, and 44.6 percent are herders. Development projects worth 37.4 billion MNT are being implemented in the province. An Arvaikheer resident told the president that the state is not making progress for improving people’s income, addressing unemployment, and promoting rural development. He asked President Kh.Battulga to focus on improving the province’s tourism and agricultural sectors, which are considered as key pieces of the province’s economic development. A herder said that as lack of rainfall has been a matter of great concern, herders, especially ones living in the western soums of the province, are being forced to move great distances to look for suitable grassland, and prices of commodities have been increasing while prices of meat and products from livestock, excluding cashmere, are not increasing, which results in negative impacts on herders’ lives. The majority of the province’s residents who met with the president asked him to focus on building a thermal power plant as Arvaikheer’s residents face heavy air pollution in the winter because of a thermal power plant with small capacity. He also advised creating a better business environment, developing tourism along the province’s historic sites and beautiful landscapes, reducing interest rates of commercial bank loans, enhancing cooperation between the province’s local government office and the private sector, increasing jobs for unemployed young people, and developing manufacturing of value-added livestock products. The president started his meetings with the nation with Chingeltei District on January 14, and his country tour started from Khentii Province on January 24. Since January 14, he has met with a number of people across the country to listen to their opinions on his ongoing work performance and upcoming work. After the President’s Office consolidates the input gathered from the president’s meetings with residents from 21 provinces and Ulaanbaatar’s nine districts, the president will put forward a consolidated proposal to Cabinet and Parliament.