In early 1990, The Asia Foundation was contacted by the Government of Mongolia, the landlocked country between Russia and China, which had been closely aligned with the Soviet Union for 70 years. With the crumbling of the Berlin Wall, young reformers in the country demanded political change, and the country’s ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party agreed to reform. Shel Severinghaus and I, who were running the Northeast Asia desk in San Francisco, welcomed the prominent lawyer B. Chimid on a study tour of California and Washington. After discussions with him, we initiated an intense round of programming to engage the country. Thus began a program of technical advice, study tours, fellowships, and expert visits on a wide range of governance issues.

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