Mr John Macken chairman of SouthGobi Energy Resources announced the appointment of the Mr Jean Chretien, the 20th prime minister of Canada as senior international adviser to the company.

Mr Chretien has been active in Canadian and global development circles as a lawyer with the Canada based international law firm Heenan Blaikie since retiring as prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in 2003. He entered national politics in 1963 and served three terms as Prime Minister of Canada between 1993 and 2003.

During his long parliamentary career, Mr. Chretien held a succession of senior cabinet posts in the Canadian Government, including Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources and Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce.

Mr Macken said that "Mr Jean Chretien was instrumental in advancing relationships between many Canadian businesses and rapidly industrializing China and its neighbor nations through his hands-on, prime ministerial leadership of a series of successful Team Canada trade development missions.”

He added that "He helped Canadians realize the promise of their destiny as a Pacific Rim nation founded in part on Canada's history as a central link in the maritime Silk Road that connected Asia with the Americas and Europe. SouthGobi Energy has built and is operating a coal mine in Mongolia and is developing another coal mine in Indonesia. We believe that Mr Chretien's experience and knowledge will be a prime asset in assisting the Ivanhoe companies to continue to build their businesses through opportunities that will be encountered in the energy and mineral resource sectors around the world during what is becoming the Asian Century."