Mongolia Brief April 18, 2014 Part II

Cabinet meeting in brief

Ulaanbaatar, April 20 (MONTSAME) The cabinet held Saturday discussed a draft new wording of the law on family, and then decided to submit it to parliament, with some proposals from cabinet members.

- Head of the Cabinet Secretariat for Government Ch.Saikhanbileg gave to the cabinet a brief report on activities done by the cabinet in first three months of this year. According to him, the cabinet met four times, discussing 71 issues and getting familiarized with 21 matters. It also issued 33 governmental resolutions and 58 notes.

- The cabinet decided to submit to parliament a draft law on conflicts and other related bills, reflecting proposals of cabinet members.

Link to article

FM meets Ambassador of France

Ulaanbaatar, April 20 (MONTSAME) The Minister of Foreign Affairs L.Bold Friday received Mr Yves Delaunay, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Mongolia.

At the meeting, the Ambassador handed to Mr Bold an original copy of a letter from the France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius in conjunction with expansion of the duties for Mr Fabius because of changing of the French cabinet.

In turn, the Minister expressed his satisfaction with opening of a new direct flight from Ulaanbaatar to Paris to start in June of this year thanks to an intensive development of the bilateral political and economic development.

The parties exchanged views on boosting of the Mongolia-France cooperation in tourism and educational sectors as well as increasing the student exchange.     

Link to article

Stock exchange news for April 18

Ulaanbaatar, April 18 (MONTSAME) At the Stock Exchange trades held Friday, a total of 14 thousand and 860 shares of 19 JSCs were traded costing MNT 26 million 443 thousand and 855.00.

"Makh impex" /3,792 units/, "Nako tulsh” /2,600 units/, "Ulaansan” /2,100 units/, "Moninjbar” /1,200 units/ and "Remikon” /1,050 units/ were the most actively traded in terms of trading volume, in terms of trading value--"Makh impex" (MNT 12 million 131 thousand and 390), "Tavantolgoi" (MNT three million 872 thousand and 790), "Ulaansan" (MNT two million and 220 thousand), "Gobi” (MNT one million 927 thousand and 500) and "Baganuur" (MNT one million 456 thousand and 690).

The total market capitalization was set at MNT one trillion 586 billion 645 million 005 thousand and 526. The Index of Top-20 JSCs was 15,747.46, decreasing by MNT 13.58 or 0.09% against the previous day.

Link to article

Stock exchange weekly review

Ulaanbaatar, April 20 (MONTSAME) Five stock trades were held at Mongolia's Stock Exchange on April 14-18, 2014.

In overall, 198 thousand and 462 shares were sold of 48 joint-stock companies totaling MNT 186 million 856 thousand and 845.60.

"Hermes center” /80 thousand units/, "Remikon” /37 thousand and 776 units/, "Genco tour bureau" /29 thousand and 616 units/, "Ulaansan” /7,700 units/ and "Makh impex" /7,487 units/ were the most actively traded in terms of trading volume, in terms of trading value--"Tavantolgoi” (MNT 34 million 907 thousand and 485), "Sharyn gol" (MNT 26 million 440 thousand and 230), "Makh impex" /MNT 23 million 440 thousand and 580/, "APU" /MNT 19 million 987 thousand and 650.00/ and "Hermes center" (MNT 12 million).

Link to article

Int’l conference on Mongol studies to be held

Ulaanbaatar, April 18 (MONTSAME) The 8th international conference on Mongol studies will run May 2-4 in Washington DC, USA.

Organized by the Mongolian Cultural Center at the Mongolia’s Embassy in the USA, the forthcoming event is expected to attract 18 scholars and scientists of Mongolia, Great Britain, South Korea, Russia and USA to deliver relevant reports.

In accordance with a programme  of the conference, the participants will visit the Library of Congress in Washington DC to see rare books on Mongolia, and will attend a reception to be hosted by Mr B.Altangerel, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the USA.

Opening remarks will be made by the Ambassador Mr Altangerel; and M.Saruul-Erdene, director of the Mongolian Cultural Center.

In addition to this, an exhibition of original copies of Mongolian laws of 1920s will be mounted.

Link to article

Anti-corruption action plan to be implemented

Ulaanbaatar, April 18 (MONTSAME) The Asia Foundation’s (AF) website Wednesday reported that it is partnering with the General Department of Taxation (GDT) in support of select activities from the Department's Anti-Corruption Action Plan.

The AF through the USAID-funded Strengthening Transparency and Governance in Mongolia (STAGE) project is collaborating with various governmental agencies in their bid to reduce corruption and promote transparency.

The partnership will advance the capacity within the taxation authority to provide more efficient and timely tax services and reduce bureaucracy.

The GDT introduced the e-tax filing system in early 2014 and, as a result, all Mongolian tax payers are now able to submit tax reports, access tax history, and pay taxes online. This new e-tax system has the potential to increase efficiency and transparency within the taxation department, by reducing face-to-face interactions and bureaucratic red tape. Capacity-building is central to the success of this new system and focusing on the tax department staff will enhance effectiveness and increase the user base of this new system.

The GDT and the AF will train 700 tax officials across the country to familiarize them with the new system and enable them to encourage citizens to start using the system. The partnership will also include organizing interaction sessions with the public to demonstrate and explain the new e-tax system to taxpayers.

Link to article

“Earth Week 2014” film festival to run

Ulaanbaatar, April 18 (MONTSAME) In celebration of the Earth Week 2014, the U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar will host two panel discussions followed by films related to environmental themes.

The events will be held on April 22 and April 24 at the American Cultural and Information Center in the Ulaanbaatar City Library.

On April 22nd, it will show the movie “Erin Brokovich”, an award-winning film that explores how a lack of corporate governance caused serious water pollution resulted in major health problems for a small community in the United States.

To introduce the movie, experts from the World Bank’s Mining, Infrastructure, and Investment Support project, the Mongolian Health Sciences University, and the U.S. Embassy will hold a panel discussion exploring how the themes of the film relate to Mongolia’s own issues with water and pollution.

Link to article