Mongolian president to stay with family at Baikal.

17/7 Tass 46


ULAN-UDE, July 17 (Itar-Tass) -- Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin
Elbegdorj has concluded his participation in the work of the forth General
Session of the World Convention of Mongols in Buryatia and begun the
unofficial part of the trip to Russia. The Mongolian leader will stay with
his family at Lake Baikal, a Buryatian government source told Itar-Tass on
Saturday.
Elbegdorj arrived at the Baikal on July 16. He participated in a
two-hour dive aboard the Mir-1 submersible to a depth of 437 metres in the
lake. An identity card of a hydronaut and a Baikal submersion certificate
were presented to him after the operation. He is the first foreign leader
who reached the depths of the lake.
"I felt as a cosmonaut in the deep Baikal water and admired the
successes of my Russian friends," Elbegdorj told reporters. One of the
meanings of the word "Baikal" in the Mongolian language is "nature", he
noted. "We are glad that the main Baikal tributary -- the Selenga River -
flows from Mongolia's mountains, and we are ready to protect the river as
nomads who are closely connected with nature," he noted.
"We realize our responsibility to save the 20 percent of the world's
fresh water reserves kept in the Baikal," he added.
-0-pan/kud


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