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President Ts.Elbegdorj Takes Baikal Dive

Written by Ch.Sumiyabazar

Tuesday, July 20, 2010.

President of Mongolia Ts.Elbegdorj on July 16 became the first head of state to dive to the bottom of Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest freshwater lake, in a Russian submersible.
In the Mir-1 submersible, were Buryatian and Mongolian scientists. The submersions were conducted during the fourth general session of the World Mongols’ Convention held in Buryatia last week, in which President Elbegdorj also attended.

Elbegdorj spent two hours underwater examining the unique flora and fauna of the lake and spoke to his wife and son via radio link-up during the dive, said Russia’s Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal.

“I feel huge joy and acute unity with nature,” Elbegdorj said from the bottom of the Siberian Lake. “I feel part of Baikal [means nature in Mongolian language],” he was quoted. He told at a press conference afterwards that Mongolia’s Selenge River, a main tributary to the Lake Baikal, is sourced from country’s mountain ranges. “We [Mongolia] will protect this source,” told Elbegdorj.

Lake Baikal, around 1,600 meters, contains a total of roughly 20 percent of the world’s surface fresh water, and is located in Russia’s Buryatia republic that shares border with Mongolia. Mongolia’s Lake Khovsgol, the second largest freshwater lake in the world after Lake Baikal, is also believed to be sharing many similarities.

The Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal is a group created in 2008 on the initiative of Russian investment bank Metropol to promote conservation of the lake. The fund spokesman said that in mid-August James Cameron, the director of the two highest-grossing films of all time, Avatar and Titanic, as well as an American oceanographer, explorer and marine policy specialist, Don Walsh, might join the exploration of Lake Baikal in Siberia.