The Mongolian government and the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) organized activities to celebrate the upcoming International Day for Preservation of the Ozone Layer on Friday.

S. Oyun, Minister of Environment and Green Development, told a public event to mark the 25th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol that it was one of the most successful multilateral cooperation agreements on environmental issues.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer came into effect with the support of 24 countries but 198 had now ratified it, Oyon said.

She said the Mongolian government had taken an active position in implementing the international conventions and agreements on protection of the ozone layer and mitigation of climate change and the government would continue to intensify its efforts in this field.

Megumi Nakamura, from UNEP's Ozone Secretariat, told a press conference on the celebrations the successful implementation of the Montreal Protocol had led to significant progress in phasing out ozone depleting substances in refrigerators, fire extinguishers and elsewhere and the ozone layer was slowly recovering.

She also recognized Mongolia's important role in implementing the protocol. Mongolia had done its homework properly and worked diligently to take action nationally to meet its obligations, she said.

The Montreal Protocol was ratified by Mongolia in March 1996. The country has committed to phase out HCFCs progressively. For the first stage of compliance, Mongolia has to freeze its baseline consumption by Jan. 1 2013 and reduce HCFC consumption by 10 percent by Jan. 1 2015.

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