WORLD : Mongol President Vows Reforms

Punsalmaagiyn Ochirbat, dressed as an ancient Mongol warrior, drank a ceremonial bowl of fermented mare’s milk and pledged swift free-market reforms during his inauguration as Mongolia’s president today.

Ochirbat, a Communist Party member who was reelected as president Monday, knelt before Parliament and kissed a national flag held by four soldiers with drawn swords before swearing himself in to Mongolia’s most powerful post.

Then he downed the bowl of mare’s milk, a traditional drink in a nation where horses are revered as part of the legend of 13th-Century conqueror Genghis Khan.

“We must swiftly start a transition period to a market economy,” Ochirbat told delegates to the upper house of Parliament in an inaugural speech broadcast on television throughout the vast country.

Ochirbat also stressed the importance of building economic ties with the Soviet Union, China and other nations.