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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

[FDI falls 64%, GoM ignores Elbegdorj on minister nominee, Mongolia to accept MIGA 2010, and ₮0.5T budgeted for road works]

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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

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Headlines in Italic are ones modified by Cover Mongolia from original

 

Local Market

MSE News for June 9: Top 20 -0.05% to 15,566.97, Turnover ₮9.4 Million

Ulaanbaatar, June 9 (MONTSAME) At the Stock Exchange trades held Monday, a total of 6,423 shares of 25 JSCs were traded costing MNT nine million 409 thousand and 458.60.

"Hermes center" /3,600 units/, "Nako tulsh" /2,000 units/, "Gobi" /452 units/, "Material impex" /180 units/ and "Talkh chikher" /70 units/ were the most actively traded in terms of trading volume, in terms of trading value--"Gobi" (MNT three million 416 thousand and 890), "Material impex" (MNT two million and 806 thousand), "Talkh chikher" (MNT one million and 260 thousand), "Atar-Orgoo" (MNT 610 thousand) and "Hermes center" (MNT 540 thousand).

The total market capitalization was set at MNT one trillion 575 billion 007 million 936 thousand and 121. The Index of Top-20 JSCs was 15,566.97, decreasing by MNT 7.92 or 0.05% against the previous day.

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Economy

BoM MNT Rates: Monday, June 9 Close

 

6/9

6/6

6/5

6/4

6/3

USD

1,823.34

1,825.21

1,826.30

1,823.62

1,823.82

EUR

2,488.68

2,491.05

2,485.59

2,482.22

2,481.40

CNY

292.22

291.93

292.16

291.74

291.64

GBP

3,066.31

3,068.91

3,060.79

3,047.00

3,057.73

RUB

53.11

52.74

52.35

51.86

52.11

June MNT Chart:

 

Link to rates

 

Mongolia Jan.-April FDI Drops 64% to $350m From Last Year

By Michael Kohn

June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Mongolia's FDI over the first 4 months of the year declined to $350m from $954.6m a yr earlier, nation's central bank says in statement, citing preliminary data

* April FDI was $56m, compared with $108.8m yr earlier: central bank

* 2014 current account deficit at the end of April $434.3m vs $977.6m yr ago, a decrease of 56%

* Capital, finl accounts surplus $121.4m, decrease of 84% y/y

* Portfolio investment surplus increased by $342m following issuance of Samurai bond by the Development Bank of Mongolia: central bank

(Bloomberg First Word)

Related:

BoM Preliminary Balance of Payment Report for First 4 Months of 2014

 

BoM issues 259.1 billion 1-week bills, total outstanding +0.02% to 659.3 billion

June 9 (Bank of Mongolia) BoM issues 1 week bills worth MNT 259.1 billion at a weighted interest rate of 10.5 percent per annum /For previous auctions click here/

Link to release

 

100 Day Stimulus Plan: 4th week

June 9 (Mongolian Economy) Until the end of December last year, there was a government resolution that freed small- and medium-sized businesses from value-added taxes and custom taxes under the condition that they imported industrial technologies and equipment. Starting this year, this resolution didn't exist.

As a part of the 100 Day Stimulus Plan, the government decided to bring this legislation back into action. It was passed June 6th of this year by amending the custom tariff and tax law with certain changes. Small- and medium-sized businesses were still freed from these taxes. 

However, not only small- and medium-sized companies will benefit. For events and projects hosted by large businesses, they have the option to partially pay taxes or fully pay taxes after a time allotment of two years. This provides big companies flexible timing, as long as their projects incorporate everyone's interests, in other terms, reaches a national level. 

In Mongolia, there are currently 66,500 companies and businesses. Of these 66,500, 92% have less than 20 employees, placing them in the range of small and medium-sized companies. Of these smaller businesses, 80% require a replacement of old equipment. These companies can use this tax-free option for the next two and half years.

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The two engine economy of mining & diversification – a good model

By B. ENKHTSETSEG, June 9 (Mongolian Economy) Mongolian Economy caught up with Kristel Van der Elst Senior Director, head of Strategic Foresight for the World Economic Forum, to get a better understanding of the scenarios and her impression of Mongolia's economic future. Kristel has an MBA from Yale School of Management, is a Fulbright Scholar and has worked on other World Economic Forum scenarios including Mining and Metals: Scenarios to 2025; Euro, Dollar, Yuan Uncertainties – Scenarios on the Future of the International Monetary System; the Future Role of Civil Society; and Scenarios for the Russian Federation.

You have been to Mongolia four times – what is your impression? What is changing and what is not? What is the difference between other emerging economies?

Mongolia is a country with economically great potential because of the mineral wealth obviously and how you can diversify that into different products like agriculture etcetera. There is great potential in this country. There is still a lot of work to be done, obviously, to realise that potential, but clearly there is good thinking about how to move this forward. 

One very important point in Mongolia that we find very interesting is your strong commitment to democratic values; to being a democracy and having debate around issues, and that is really important, we think. It's a bit different from certain other emerging economies. It's a really great country.

What countries is Mongolia most comparable to?

Already you have great mineral resources like some other countries, of course like Indonesia etcetera, but you have this very strong basis to build off, which is quite great. You have a very strong democracy. You have a relatively small population, compared to some other countries if you look at the population density also, you are slightly less than three million – that's not that many people actually. So you don't need to grow that much to provide everyone with more wealth.

You are very dependent on, as you said, two big neighbours, both Russia and China. So you have to take that into account. The physical location: you're landlocked. You [Mongolia] are completely landlocked and if you have to go to a port you have to go through Russia or China, you have to take that into account. 

But you could easily leverage that. It's a question of perspective. Do you see yourself as landlocked or do you see yourself at the centre of major growth? You have this very particular situation. 
As you say it is perspective and how you look at things. I have been through the scenarios and have realised we're now at the cross road of development.

So how should Mongolia move forward?

So there are three key decisions Mongolia really needs to respond to now. As it is really at a crucial moment. How do we manage the mining and potential revenues? How do we diversify and into what? And which trade and investment relations do we want to have in the future?

So I won't go through the scenarios in detail because you can read them. Why we use scenarios is because we think the answers to these questions need to be seen in the future context and not only in today's context. All of these decisions have very long implementation times, very long consequences – you really need to think about the future. 

For the minerals development, it's really important that Mongolia has a very stable economic environment. We've seen over the last years that the boom in commodity prices are becoming volatile and macroeconomic conditions have been changing slightly over the last six months, it might become more difficult for Mongolia to actually sell its minerals out of the ground and into the bank, so it's really important.

How possible it is for the 'China Greening' scenario to eventuate?

It's not a given that we can predict but it's possible. 

Which models do you think Mongolia is closer to if you look at the perspectives of Mongolia currently.

Well obviously it's building on the mineral wealth that you have. That is the cornerstone of your economy. But it's important to diversify. You have great potential for agriculture, you have more potential to look into some innovative areas like biotech, and the banking sector areas need to be looked at. It's important that you have a diversified economy not only built on the mineral wealth but this is certainly your cornerstone. So this would be a good model – a two engine economy both from mineral wealth and diversification.

Year by year it seems that Mongolia's participation in the World Economic Forum is increasing. How do you see Mongolia's participation in the future?

I think it's really a good thing that WEF [World Economic Forum] and Mongolia are collaborating more. It shows also that Mongolia is very interested in the forum. And that is what the WEF is about – to commonly find solutions to problems. So we know that Mongolia is very proactive to work in the international community to finding some solutions to issues. There's been high involvement in the water resource work streams, the anti-corruption work streams, now in this economic development models.

It shows that you might be quite remote but it's all a question of perspective. You're very connected to the world. And we're honoured that we can bring that to Mongolia.

What trends are being discussed at the world economic forum? What would be the topics for next year?

There are a lot of issues that are being discussed because it's such a broad portfolio. But some of the issues being discussed are the global trade regimes and systems. We look a lot to science and technology and we believe science will transform our society in the coming ten years; the new innovations and where the economy is going; obviously it's a world economic forum. There is quite some uncertainty the economy is likely recovering but it's still very fragile. So we're looking at these types of topics and of course the whole issues around geo politics is becoming more and more on the agenda. 

It also came up a lot more in the global risk report that there is more risk for geo political tensions in the world. So we're looking more and more into these areas.

We are talking a lot about sustainable development and a green economy  –  is this a common theme being discussed as well?

Yes because the way I talk about it here now – we call it green development, you can also call it resource management – you have the opportunity given that you still have to implement all of the infrastructure, to actually implement from the beginning the good systems that save energy, use water efficiently, and this type of green development.

In the long run, at the life cycle costs, this is a good idea to start doing now. In a lot of countries where we come from, for example, you have to kind of retrofit and this is very expensive so really working on the green development is a good idea for the future.

We even saw that in our scenarios, even if the world doesn't go green, even if the world stays kind of brown, then it's still a good idea for Mongolia because it makes you less reliable on your imports for energy. You can have more energy security within the country because you can create wind and solar resources here so why import oil. So you might become energetically more independent and as a country more independent and we know the value to Mongolians about being dependent. It would actually help to develop more green technologies within your infrastructure and in your industries. So any scenario that comes out, even if the world doesn't go green, it's a really good idea to have good resource management.

What do you think the biggest concern is for Mongolia's future growth?

The biggest challenge I think you have is to be able to extract the wealth – its' the cornerstone of your economy. But for that you need a very stable economic environment, for investment to come and for selling off of these minerals.

The first thing to do is to really stabilise the economy. To be able to extract the wealth, to be able to provide confidence to the international community, to provide you the funds and FDI [foreign direct investment] that you need for the country to prosper. And to think about what to do with those incomes to make sure that we have income equality so that everyone is benefiting from that. These are the major two issues I think, in the very short term. 

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Politics

Mogi: a nominee for minister must only be "consulted" with the President not consented. In the case of nominating a PM, the President must sign off.

Cabinet Submits MP Sh.Tuvdendorj as Nominee for Minister for Industry & Agriculture Despite President's Disapproval

Ulaanbaatar, June 9 (MONTSAME) The head of the Cabinet Secretariat for Government Ch.Saikhanbileg last Friday submitted to the Speaker Z.Enkhbold a proposal on appointing Sh.Tuvdendorj MP as the Minister of Industry and Agriculture.

Earlier, this proposal has been consulted with the President in accordance with the Constitution of Mongolia and the law on government.

Sh.Tuvdendorj was elected MP in 2012 parliamentary election from the Democratic Party (DP), he has been working as head of the Standing committee on justice.

Link to article

 

Chairman of Justice Standing Committee Thanks Hanns Seidel Foundation for Contribution to Legal Formation

Ulaanbaatar, June 8 (MONTSAME) Head of the parliamentary Standing committee on justice Sh.Tuvdendorj Friday received Ms Susanne Luther, a director of the International Cooperation Institute at the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF), and Mr Gerhard Tiedemann, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) to Mongolia.

Tuvdendorj thanked Ms Luther for visiting Mongolia and underlined that the HSF significantly contributed to forming a legal state of Mongolia since the democratic revolution.

The legal reforms have been running here from 2009, and Mongolia intends to introduce the German experiences in laws on crime, on conflicts and on monitoring, "all these are being discussed at parliament".

In response, Ms Luther thanked the Standing committee head for the audience and said she is here to participate in a theory-practice conference titled "Decade of administrative case court". She also wants to get au fait with implementation of the HSF's projects and proammes, she added spoke about the foundation. Until today, it realized some 90 projects in 60 countries focusing on developmental cooperation field under a motto "For democracy and peace", and is paying an attention to helping Mongolia develop its legal state and modern democracy.

Mr Tuvdendorj noted that the visit of Ms Luther is coincided with 10th anniversary of foundation of Mongolia's administrative court and with 40th anniversary of the Mongolia-Germany diplomatic relations. He hoped that the bilateral collaboration will expand.

Link to article

 

PM Outlines How He Spent His Discretionary 50 Billion Budget

Ulaanbaatar, June 8 (MONTSAME) About it the PM spoke Friday at plenary meeting of the parliamentary session. 

Seven kinds of work have been done under 47.9 billion out of 50 billion togrogs, which had been placed from the state budget in the PM's package, he said. Some 1.7 billion went for introducing a system thanks to which drivers are fined without cash now. "350 'hand' computers and printers have been purchased, and appropriate software has been installed".

Almost two billion went to the postal services to make it more adequate and quicker, to introduce GPS-based monitoring system for the post delivery, to install smart post boxes. In addition, 9.7 billion has been spent for building indoor-markets in Khovd, Uvs and Bayan-Olgii aimags, moreover, 5.3 billion has been used for erecting a sports complex and bicycle roads in the national garden park, the Premier said.

Some 5.3 billion has been spent for purchasing equipment and facilities for renewing the Center for Children and Youths and for medical tools and apparatus for the National Center for Mother and Infant. Some 23.6 billion has been exploited for establishing diagnostic centers in 11 aimags, he said.

A providing of the city and all provinces with 120 automatic machines of information and inquiries has not been completed yet due to tender matters, the Premier added.  

Link to article

 

Cabinet Approves List of State-Owned Properties to Auction   

Ulaanbaatar, June 9 (MONTSAME) The cabinet meeting on Saturday approved a list of state-owned real estates to be auctioned.

The decision was made in accordance with the parliamentary resolution on some measures for activating the economy and governmental resolution on measures for transferring into a budgetary-saving regime.

Following the decision, obligations were given to Ch.Ulaan, the Minister of Finance, and to A.Tsogtbaatar, a head of the State Property Committee (SPC), to organize the auction in accordance with related laws and resolutions.

Link to article

 

Cabinet Meeting Resolutions in Brief: June 07, 2014

June 9 (infomongolia.com) The regular Cabinet meeting of the Government was held on June 07, 2014, where over 30 issues were revised and some were approved as the following:

- Under the General Port Administration, "Port Development Center" state-owned enterprise is established and relevant rules were approved. The newly formed Port Development Center will be authorized under Border Port Law and relevant regulations and will be administered by Minister of the Cabinet Office of the Government of Mongolia and Chairman of National Ports Council, Ch.Saikhanbileg and Chairman of the General Port Administration L.Gundalai.

- It was resolved to allocate necessary fund of 17.6 billion MNT from Development Bank for road periodic maintenance and repair work that in urgent need of repair in 2014. These roads are between Ulaanbaatar and Darkhan (Darkhan-Uul), Erdenesant Sum Of Tuv Aimag - Arvaikheer (Uvurkhangai) and Ulaanbaatar - Zuunmod (Tuv Aimag) where Minister of Economic Development N.Batbayar and Minister of Roads and Transportation A.Gansukh are entrusted to finance.

- Minister of Foreign Affairs L.Bold is agreed to sign an intergovernmental agreement between Mongolia and the Republic of Latvia on reciprocal visa free travel for nationals holding Diplomatic and Official passports.

- A draft bill on horse race betting, concepts and its relevant regulations were discussed and agreed to submit for ratification by Minister of Justice Kh.Temuujin and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ts.Oyungerel.

- Some amendments and settlements made to Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency Convention dated from November 14, 2010 were agreed to submit to the State Great Khural (Parliament) for approval.

- Some amendments to the Law on Amnesty were included and agreed to submit to the Parliament.

The draft bill cites,

- If a person committed a crime and sentenced to prison for the first time;

- A pregnant woman or a woman having a child under 18 years of age, a man, whose child(s) under direct dependent(s);

- A person, who lost work ability up to 70% or more during the sentenced period and become disabled;

- A man over 60 years of age;

- A woman over 55 years of age;

- A person, who committed a crime before 18 years old and being sentenced;

Will be pardoned from the remaining period of imprisonment and additional conviction(s).

In addition, an imprisoned person, who committed a serious crime will be forgiven by two to three years of imprisonment.

Link to article

 

Law on Amnesty to be submitted to parliament

Ulaanbaatar, June 9 (MONTSAME) The Cabinet meeting last Saturday agreed to submit the draft law on Amnesty to parliament.

This bill foresees pardoning of first time offender (Mogi: this one will free a looooot of people I'm sure, like many jailed for economic, financial crimes), pregnant women, women with children under 18, men with children under 18 who are under his direct custody, the disabled who has lost more than 70% of his/her capacity, men over 60, women over 55, and persons who committed a crime when is under 18 years.

The law also allows reducing of 2-3 years from sentence for serious and aggravated crimes.

Link to article

 

465.2 billion to be spent this year on 1,886km road, 2km bridge construction

Ulaanbaatar, June 9 (MONTSAME) At the 'Hours of Reconstruction' meeting, the Road and Transport Deputy Minister Kh.Erjan informed the gathered on ongoing road projects of the Government.

This year, a total of 27 road projects for 1,886-km roads and 2,040-m bridges are running under the overall cost of 465.2 billion togrog, he said at the beginning of his briefing.

For the road projects, the funding comes from various sources including the Government budget (76.8 billion togrog) Chinggis Bonds (219.8 billion), and foreign aid and loans (168.6 billion), he added.

This year, the Government is planning to link six provincial centers to Ulaanbaatar by paved roads, the Deputy Minister said, further detailing that more than half of the Ulaanbaatar--Omnogovi road paving and a two third of the Ulaanbaatar--Govi-Altai road paving have been completed thus far. The other three provinces expected to get connected to the capital city within this year are Khovsgol, Dornod and Sukhbaatar.

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Business

Erenhot one of key new border opening-up areas approved by China

HOHHOT, June 9 (Xinhua) -- A new experimental area for development and opening up at the border of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has been approved, said a local official on Monday.

After two years of preparations, approval is a breakthrough for Erenhot, an inland port city which borders Mongolia, said Wu Tielin, an official with the Inner Mongolia Reform and Development Commission.

Erenhot was approved as one of China's 13 border cities for opening up in 1992 and is now among the few inland ports with a cargo throughput of more than 10 million tonnes per year.

In 2013, the cargo throughput via the railway and highway ports of Erenhot reached 13 million tonnes with a trade volume of 3.65 billion U.S. dollars.

The experimental area will enjoy preferential policies in financing, land, investment and industry, to attract capital, talent and technology, said Yu Guangjun of the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences.

It will contribute to regional economic, social and cultural cooperation and exchange, he added.

Erenhot has been a bridgehead for China's economic and trade ties with Mongolia. In 2012, the State Council, China's Cabinet, approved plans to build up Manzhouli, in the north of Inner Mongolia, Dongxing in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Ruili in the southwestern Yunnan Province into key experimental areas for development and opening up.

Manzhouli, China's largest land port, borders Russia to the north and sits close to Mongolia to the west. More than 60 percent of trade between China and Russia passes through Manzhouli.

Link to article

 

UNDP: National Forum and Development Dialogue 8: Sustainable Urban Development in Mongolia

·         Date: 16 June 2014, UN House, Ulaanbaatar

·         Organizers: UNDP, Ministry of Construction and Urban Development of Mongolia

Context

Mongolia has experienced rapid urbanisation since the 1950s when only about 20 percent of people resided in urban areas. From a historical pre-dominance of nomadic and rural habitats, Mongolia is now overwhelmingly urban with 68 percent of the total population living in cities and towns, much higher than the Asian regional average.

The capital, Ulaanbaatar (UB), has been the engine of Mongolia's urbanisation. Economic growth is increasingly concentrated in the capital which with about 40 percent of the total population, generates more than 60 percent of the country's GDP and 50 percent of its total investment. Occupying only 0.3 percent of its land area, and with population increasing at an annual rate of more than 4 percent since 2000, UB dominates the urban landscape of Mongolia.

Urbanisation in Mongolia has two interlinking features. One, the unplanned growth of the capital city and rapid migration have brought many challenges, including unemployment, traffic congestion, air pollution, negative environmental impacts, and the expansion of the gerareas. More than 60 percent of UB's population live in ger areas that are often built on or along sites prone to natural disasters, lacking access to modern infrastructure such as piped-in water, sanitation, electricity, paved roads, public transportation, health clinics, schools, housing and recreation facilities.

Two, the predominance of UB dwarfs the problems of other urban centres in the country. It also highlights the need for a more balanced approach that spreads out urbanization by creating additional growth poles, thereby reducing the intense pressure on the capital city.

Urbanization, if done well, can benefit the entire country. Urban areas are centres of education, innovations, political power, technological advancement, social services and finance, all which have the potential to play a positive role in enhancing people's human development. Indeed, few countries have reached high levels of human development without high levels of urbanization.

Sustainable urban development needs attention and sound policies to ensure that the benefits of development and growth reach all citizens – whether they move to the cities, smaller towns, or live in a rural setting. There is a growing demand for public policies to effectively manage the complex urban reality in Mongolia and respond to the needs of all urban residents, both current and future generations.

How should Mongolia plan for urban development so that the cities are livable, healthy, prosperous, sustainable, and promote human development for all citizens? This question is motivating the Dialogue.

DIALOGUE STRUCTURE

The Dialogue will be organized as a Panel Discussion. Prior to the start of the panel discussion there will be a brief presentation of the issues to structure the discussion. The panel discussion will be followed by an open exchange of views among participants.

ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION

The Dialogue is expected to raise a number of questions relevant for identifying suitable approaches for sustainable urban development in Mongolia:

·         What are the key challenges of urban governance?

·         To what extent are urban concerns factored into national/sectoral/regional planning?

·         What can be done to spread out urbanisation to other cities and reduce pressure on UB?

·         How can Mongolian cities become sustainable and smart – i.e. healthy, resilient, and livable?

·         How can urban growth in Mongolia be more inclusive enhancing human development of all citizens?

Link to release

 

Mongolians Spent 24.7 Billion in 2012 on Medical Treatment Abroad – Health Sector Investment Forum

Ulaanbaatar, June 8 (MONTSAME) The Prime Minister N.Altankhuyag addressed a national forum on economic and investment matters for health sector, which kicked off Saturday in the State House.

Co-organized by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Economic Development and Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI), the action gathered policy-makers, international partner organizations, domestic and foreign investors. They have discussed the health sphere's economic and investment situation, legal environment, tendencies, investment needs and opportunities.

A main factor of successfully running the great construction and increasing a productivity is the healthy Mongolian people, the Premier highlighted, "the cabinet intends to renovate technologies for the health sphere and to rule it in harmony of nowadays market relations". According to the latest statistics, the migration from countryside to the UB city declined 60% thanks to recently opened diagnostic centers in 11 provinces, he said.

Mongolians spent 24.7 billion togrog in 2012 for having abroad all medical treatment and diagnosis, "we must keep such big money here by supporting the health sphere's private sector and backing foreign investments," Mr Altankhuyag said.

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Ulaanbaatar

B.Ser-Od Wins 2014 International Ulaanbaatar Marathon

June 9 (infomongolia.com) The Fifth International Ulaanbaatar Marathon was successfully organized by the Department of Physical Culture and Sports, the implementing agency of Ulaanbaatar Administration, and other organizations last Saturday on June 07, 2014.

The 2014 Marathon was held in two categories as for professional and amateur runners in 6 distances including 42 km and 21 km for professionals, and nonprofessionals for 8 km, 5 km, 4 m and 1.5 km, where in the latter distance, family and runners with disabilities have challenged.

The competition brought a total of 16,839 participants including foreign 40 runners such as winner of the marathon race at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Hwang Young-cho and Silver medalist of 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, Yamamoto Yoshihiro.

The most competitive race was held in the full marathon of 42 km, where Merit Athlete of Mongolia Bat-Ochir SER-OD came in the first in the men's category with a record time of 2:18.31 and in the women's category IMS Luvsanlundeg OTGONBAYAR finished first with 2:52.46 respectively.

The Fifth International Ulaanbaatar Marathon results

Men's category for 42 km distance

1. B.Ser-Od (Mongolia) - 2:18.31,56

2. Kochi Oka (Japan) - 2:27.39,40

3. B.Dorjpalam (Mongolia) - 2:29.01,37

Women's 42 km

1. L.Otgonbayar (Mongolia) - 2:52.46,86

2. B.Munkhzaya (Mongolia) - 2:55.59,99

3. B.Dolgormaa (Mongolia) - 3:18.17,07

Link to article

 

Railbus Service Launches Between East, West Ends of Ulaanbaatar

June 9 (infomongolia.com) Upon the initiation of the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar E.Bat-Uul, the Capital City Administration and "Ulaanbaatar Railway" joint venture have been introducing a "Railbus" public transportation between Tolgoit (western side of UB) and Amgalan (eastern) stations from June 06, 2014.

According to timetable, the train serves 3 times before noon and 3 times afternoon with stopovers at Tolgoit, Tavan Shar, Bars-2 or Kharkhorin market, Ulaanbaatar Railway Station (Vokzal), Dund Gol, Narantuul market and Janjin Klub stations.

The morning trip from Tolgoit is scheduled to depart at 07:12 am and to reach the last destination of Amgalan at 07:44 am. Also, evening timetable from Amgalan is to start at 06:20 pm with approximate travel of 30 minutes to Tolgoit.

Moreover, the tariff of total ride costs 3,500 MNT (Tugrug), the travel between each stations costs 500 MNT, in other words, if you travel two stations, it will cost 1,000 MNT and an additional 500 MNT per stations.

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Diplomacy

President of Latvia to visit Mongolia on June 11-13

June 9 (news.mn) Latvian President Andris Berzins is to make an official visit to Mongolia upon the invitation of the President of Mongolia, Ts.Elbegdorj, between June 11th and 13th.

During the visit to Mongolia, President Berzins will have official talks with President Ts.Elbegdorj.

President Berzins will also meet the Prime Minister of Mongolia, N.Altankhuyag.

During the meeting, the Mongolian-Latvian business forum and a round table meeting of education ministries will be held in Ulaanbaatar.

Link to article

Related:

Latvian President to Visit MongoliaMontsame, June 9

 

Foreign Ministry talks measures on combating human trafficking with Macau

Ulaanbaatar, June 9 (MONTSAME) The Foreign Ministry's Consular Department Chief Sh.Sukhbaatar met last Friday with Mr Wong Cheong Fat, a director of the Office of the Secretary for Security of Macau, the special administrative region of China.

At the meeting in Macau, the parties discussed measures ahead of reaching successful implementation of a Mongolia-Macau intergovernmental treaty on cooperating in combating human trafficking, agreed to hold a next meeting in Ulaanbaatar in 2016 and to finalize draft action plans that have been offered by the Mongolian part.

Link to article

 

Honorary Consul of Mongolia to Sapporo Tsutomu Takebe 23rd to Be Appointed in Japan

Ulaanbaatar, June 9 (MONTSAME) A ceremony took place last Friday in Japanese Sapporo to grant the patent and seal to Takebe Tsutomu, appointed the Honorary Consul of Mongolia to Sapporo city.

During the ceremony, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to Japan Mr S.Khurelbaatar gave him the patent and a seal and wished him success.

Present at this ceremony were also N.Bayasgalan, the consul at the Embassy of Mongolia in Japan; T.Arata, a deputy governor of Hokkaido Prefecture and member of the House of Representatives of parliament; administrative officials of the Prefecture; business delegates and the local media.

The Honorary Consulate of Mongolia in Sapporo is the 23rd to open in Japan. The latest Consulate provides many opportunities to deliver consular services to Mongolians in Hokkaido, to protect their legal interests, to support collaboration between Mongolia and Hokkaido Prefecture in urban planning, construction technology, agricultural products processing and in land farming. 

Link to article

 

Prime Minister attending ILO's International Labour Conference in Geneva

June 9 (news.mn) Prime Minister N.Altankhuyag and Labor Minister Ya.Sanjmyatav are attending the 103rdInternational Labour Conference (ILC) of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which is being held in Geneva, Switzerland.

The 103rd ILC is attended by numerous heads of state, with an agenda that includes discussions on youth employment, social protection and fundamental principles and rights at work. ILO Director-General Guy Ryder officially invited Prime Minister N.Altankhuyag to have him delivered a speech on Mongolia`s reform government`s achievements and experiences implemented in labor and social welfare.

This year the 103rd International Labour Conference of the ILO is being held under the theme of "Developing with Jobs".

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Parliamentary Office Secretary-General Meets New IRI Country Representative

Ulaanbaatar, June 9 (MONTSAME) The secretary-general of the Parliamentary Office B.Boldbaatar Monday received Ms Gretchen A.Kunze, a country representative of the International Republican Institute (IRI) to Mongolia.

As the IRI country representative for Mongolia she was appointed recently, and arrived here to share views with Mongolia on the cooperation, Me Kunze said.

She also noted that some projects and programmes were implemented in Mongolia in 2004-2008 to increase the women's participation in politics, to intensify the election reforms, and to make parliament more transparent to the public, within a project on forming political parties.

In response, Mr Boldbaatar expressed a satisfaction with the collaboration between Mongolia and the IRI and underlined that the political life in Mongolia got many achievements, for example, the latest parliamentary and local elections utilized automatic ballot-paper counting machines. He expressed a willingness to collaborate in improving skills of his Office's staff and MPs assistants.

Founded in 1983, the IRI is a UN-partnered organization, partially funded by the U.S. House of Representatives, that conducts international political programs, sometimes called democratization programs with a special emphasis on promoting women's involvement in politics. It opened its permanent representative office in Mongolia in 1997.

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Mongolia and Colombia hold foreign ministries consultative meeting in Bogota

June 9 (news.mn) A consultative meeting between the Foreign Affairs Ministries of Mongolia and Colombia was held in Bogota, Columbia on June 5th and 6th.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister D.Gankhuyag from Mongolia and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Patti Londoсo Jaramillo of Columbia. At the meeting delegates discussed the current plateau of bilateral relations and cooperation and further opportunities.

During the meeting, a representative of the Colombian ministers of mining, agriculture, trade and tourism delivered a presentation and expressed their willingness to cooperate with Mongolia by sharing their experiences in the field.

The Deputy Foreign Ministers of the two countries expressed appreciation that bilateral relations have been intensified and that the mining ministries have had business links since the Colombian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Patti Londoсo Jaramillo`s official visit to Mongolia in 2012.

The counterparts emphasized that there are many opportunities to expand bilateral cooperation in agriculture, environmental protection, culture and education in addition to mining.

Parties expressed reciprocally to support relations between the two countries people and exchanged documents for the approval of travel without visa for travelers with diplomat and official passports. The counterparts also talked about launching business cooperation on free-trade  and investment between ministries and companies and about sharing experiences.

The Colombian Foreign Affairs Ministry suggested to involve tour guides and journalists in Spanish language courses that are conducted by Colombia`s Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation.

Parties also agreed to keep the regularity of political talks and agreement and cooperate and support each other in the arena of international organizations.

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Mongolia-Colombia Consultative Meeting Held in BogotaMontsame, June 9

 

Kyrgyz government examines Mongolia's experience on collection of biometric data

June 9 (24.kg news agency) Kyrgyz government examines Mongolia's experience on collection of biometric data, the Information Support Department of the Kyrgyz Government Office reported.

It is noted that currently the First Vice Prime Minister Taiyrbek Sarpashev is in Ulan Bator. Officials intend to learn from the experience of Mongolia, which in a short time without any difficulty was able to collect biometric data of its citizens.

Recall, Taiyrbek Sarpashev is curator of the project. He promised the president of the country that from September 1 the mandatory collection of biometric data of Kyrgyzstan's citizens over 16 years old will begin. Otherwise, he would resign.

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Social, Environmental and Other

IM4DC project looks into connection between gender based violence and mining in Mongolia

June 9 (The International Mining for Development Centre) An IM4DC-funded research project that looks into the connection between gender based violence (GBV) and mining, has led to the Mongolian Government signing an agreement with a mining company to tackle the problem. 

The purpose of the research was to improve the understanding of GBV experienced in mining communities, by examining whether the proximity of mine camp locations (and other associated infrastructure) to population centres, affects the degree of GBV experienced in the community.

Due to the high population of men, high disposable income and associated alcoholism, GBV in the form of sex-trafficking, prostitution, domestic violence and sexual abuse can result from arrival of mining in developing country communities. This research sought to conduct a comparative analysis of two mine-affected communities in the South Gobi of Mongolia

Isabel Cane, Research Manager at The University of Queensland (UQ) Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM), said extensive social change was occurring in the South Gobi of Mongolia due to mining activities which has seen a rise in GBV affecting women, men and children in surrounding communities

As part of the projects strategy, a roundtable discussion was held to discuss the findings and provide recommendations to policy makers. 

A recently signed $AUD280,000 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Mongolia's National Committee on Gender Equality and the Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi company, was an outcome of the roundtable. The MoU focuses on practical solutions such as installing street lighting to improve visibility and safety for women, building a health centre to support women and girls, establishing alternative activities for young girls by building a green park, and improving the environment from mining impacts to foster a more family friendly community. 

"In an industry where gender issues are marginally engaged with, the MoU between a government body and a mining company demonstrates a very positive step and commitment to gender issues and responsible mining broadly", Ms Cane said. 

She also said that the research undertaken in Mongolia could be applied in other developing countries where mining was having a major impact on gender relations in local communities. 

The research will be released on the IM4DC website after 9 June 2014 in a report Mapping Gender Based Violence and Mining Infrastructure in Mongolian Mining Communities: A Comparative Analysis

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