Mongolia Brief May 16, 2013 Part II
President to participate in CICA Summit
Ulaanbaatar,
May 16 (MONTSAME) The President of Mongolia Ts.Elbegdorj will take part in the
4th Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA)
Summit to be held on May 20-21 in Shanghai, China.
During the
upcoming conference, the President will express a position and policy of
Mongolia on the cooperation with the CICA and its member states and involvement
in regional collaboration. Moreover, he plans to hold meetings with Xi Jinping,
the President of the People’s Republic of China, and other State Heads of
countries attending the conference.
The 4th CICA
Conference will run under a theme on increasing dialogue, mutual trust and
collaboration to build a new Asia that is peaceful, stable and cooperative. The
event is expected to release a declaration on position of the CICA over
international urgent problems. This declaration reflects matters on nuclear
weapon-free status of Mongolia, on the International Think Tank for Landlocked
Developing Countries and on the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue initiative regarding the
security in Northeast Asia.
Stock exchange news for May 16
Ulaanbaatar,
May 16 (MONTSAME) At the Stock Exchange trades held Friday, a total of 13
thousand and 282 shares of 17 JSCs were traded costing MNT eight million 324
thousand and 912.32.
"Merex"
/9,449 units/, "Moninjbar" /1,500 units/, "Mongolia
Development" /800 units/, "Khishig uul" /500 units/ and
"Eermel” /413 units/ were the most actively traded in terms of trading
volume, in terms of trading value--"UB-BUK” (MNT three million 056
thousand and 800), "Merex" (MNT one million 058 thousand and 640),
"Eermel" (MNT 881 thousand and 460), "APU" (MNT 840
thousand and 800) and "Khishig uul” (MNT 600 thousand and 4500).
The total
market capitalization was set at MNT one trillion 591 billion 452 million 508
thousand and 043. The Index of Top-20 JSCs was 15,498.41, decreasing by MNT
73.47 or 0.47% against the previous day.
Yao Ming to visit us
Ulaanbaatar,
May 16 (MONTSAME) A former professional basketball player of the China's national
team Yao Ming, who played for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball
Association (NBA), will visit Mongolia, the China’s side has officially
reported.
The famous
basketball player has been included in 100 top youths of China to participate in
a meeting to be organized by the Union of Mongolian Youths (UMY) August through
September of this year in Ulaanbaatar.
The UMY has
been implementing the Mongolia-China intergovernmental exchange programme for
youths since 2010 together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In frames of
this programme, Mongolian top youths toured last year Beijing and Shandong
cities. This year, the delegation of China including famous athletes and
artistic workers will visit Mongolia.
Young sumo wrestlers to compete in Japan
Ulaanbaatar,
May 16 (MONTSAME) The “Wanpaku sumo” sumo tournament for young wrestlers will
take place May 23-24 in Ulaanbaatar city.
This tournament
is co-organized by the “JCI Ulaanbaatar central” NGO, the Mongolia’s Sumo
Association and the “Zorig” foundation at an initiative of the JCI Tokyo NGO.
This tournament aims to attract youths to sports, to give to them education on
endurance and politeness, the organizers emphasized.
The tournament
will run in five age divisions, and first three place holders of each division
will be awarded with certificate and cash prizes. They also will be given the
titles of sumo “Yokozuna”, “Ozeki”, Sekiwaki and Komusubi.
Medal winners
of the contests for 9-10, 10-11 and 11-12 age categories will be qualified to
participate in the 30th Wanpaku Sumo tournament to be held in August in Tokyo,
Japan.
Greenfield cement plant opens in Selenge Province
May 17 (UB
Post) The largest cement plant in Mongolia opened its doors in Khutul soum of
Selenge Province on Wednesday, introducing dry-method greenfield processing
which is easier on power consumption and the environment. With the dry-method,
water usage and toxic gas emissions are reduced, and power consumption is 45
percent less than the wet-method of production. It is also said that the
dry-processed cement’s quality is much higher than wet-processed cement.
The plant is
expected to manufacture 3,000 tons of cement per day and one million tons of
cement per year, which makes up 50 percent of the total demand for cement in
the domestic market.
Mongolia is
currently manufacturing only 240,000 tons of cement per year. The increased
supply will help reduce cement prices, which will benefit Mongolia’s economy as
construction projects are on the rise.
Basement LLC,
which won the tender bid for the plant, launched its construction in January
2011, and finished in October 2013. Prefeasibility studies of the plant were
done by experts from the School of Geology and Mining of the University of
Science and Technology.
The plant
operates two limestone mines. Water, heating and engineering pipelines are
fully complete at the plant and it is connected to the central electricity
distribution line.
Khutul is
located 250 kilometers from Ulaanbaatar with paved roads and rails. The plant
is still accepting applications for its vacancies.
Khutul Cement
Lime Plant was a wet-method cement manufacturer built in the Soviet era, but
fell out of service after 26 years of non-stop operation.
Parliamentary
Decree no.11, 2010, and Government Decree no.86, 2010, were released by the
state to attract national and foreign investors on the condition of
transitioning from wet-processing technology to dry-processing and the capacity
for the plant to produce one million tons of cement per year.
Two Mongolian intangible cultural heritages officially inscribed by UNESCO
May 17 (UB
Post) Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Mongolian National
Commission for UNESCO L.Bold handed over the official Conventions for the
Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage to Minister of Culture, Sport
and Tourism Ts.Oyungerel on Wednesday.
Mongolian calligraphy
was nominated for inscription on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in
Need of Urgent Safeguarding, while traditional craftsmanship of the Mongol ger
and its associated customs were nominated for the Representative List of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on the eighth session of the
Intergovernmental Committee in Baku, Azerbaijan, in December 2013.
The inscription
of Mongol ger and its customs in UNESCO list is of course delightful news for
Mongolians. However, the fact that Mongolian calligraphy was listed as one of
the Cultural Heritages in Need of Urgent Safeguarding is an alarming reminder
prodding immediate actions to prevent its loss.
Minister L.Bold
highlighted the need to pay more attention to Mongolian heritages and said,
“Inscribing and owning cultural heritages is one thing. Protecting,
maintaining, promoting them to the world and continuing the legacy is the most
important and challenging responsibility that Mongolians are entitled to.”
The heritages
for UNESCO lists are approved at sessions through votes of attending nations
which are not located in the same region with the home country of the
heritages.
At the eighth
session, 24 nations unanimously agreed to inscribe Mongolian intangible
heritages to the lists.
Mongolian
calligraphy is the fifth Mongolian cultural heritage to be registered in the
List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
Previously, Mongol tsuur (reed pipe), Mongol epic (tuuli), Mongol biyelgee
(traditional folk dance) and folk long song technique of limbe performances –
circular breathing were inscribed.
As for the
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Mongolia
has inscribed the traditional music of morin khuur (horse-head fiddle),
traditional folk long-song, Naadam Festival, traditional music of khuumii
(Mongol throat-singing) and a culture of hunting with eagle, apart from the
traditional craftsmanship of the Mongol ger and its associated customs.
Kh.Damdin: A movie is not an amusement that kills time
May 17 (UB
Post) The following is an interview with
state honored director Kh.Damdin, who directed “Red Flag”, “Camp’s Friends” and
“Unforgettable Autumn”.
How many years have you been teaching at
the Institute of Radio and Television? Have there been changes among the
graduates?
I have been
teaching since 1994. It has been eight years since I’ve been teaching at the
Institute of Radio and Television at the Mongolian University of Art and
Culture. In the 1990s students weren’t interested in art and culture work, but
my most recent students are really creative and have become very active
readers. Unfortunately, state policy is not so appropriate.
So, in your opinion, what must the state
policy be?
They often
change the textbooks and follow foreign educational systems. They should teach
what the deel is and how to make yogurt beginning in primary school.
Films play an important role in nurturing
children. But why aren’t Mongolian directors directing children’s movies?
The reason is
they can’t make profits from them and there aren’t any sponsors who will invest
their money in unprofitable businesses. Making these kinds of movies is not an
easy job, and to make children’s movie directors must know children’s
psychology.
What kind of lessons do you want to teach
children through your films?
Humanity.
Modern children and youth are really lacking in friendly character and
respecting their elders. I really want children to be loving and know their
great history and culture. Presenting salacious Korean and U.S. blood-and-guts
movies will have a significant negative impact on children’s mindsets.
We have great folktales. Don’t we make
movies from them?
Yes. We have
really nice folktales with good endings, but it is not cost effective to make
fairytale clothes and environments. The Ministry of Culture, Sport, and Tourism
has made very important progress on the development of archeological science. I
wish to pay attention to it.
Are you honest with your students who are
untalented but try very hard?
It is really
hard to say such things in this society. Not everyone has perfect talent. There
are lots of people who have hidden talents. Only being hardworking is really
important to reveal their talents.
Have you ever written reviews?
I used to write
reviews before. When we point out someone’s disadvantages and mistakes, they
consider it slander. Moreover, when publishing reviews in the newspaper, people
consider it a bad movie and their interest in watching a certain movie may
decline. Honestly, they have to read the review and watch the movie too.
Consequently, they should make their own conclusions on whether or not the
review was true or false.
Why don’t we get fed up with watching old
movies again and again?
Because
Mongolian custom and character are still felt from these movies and their main
ideas do not go out of date.
How much difference is there between movies
recorded on film or digital format?
Using modern
technology is the same as little children trying to make a movie. A movie that
is recorded on celluloid is high quality and can be kept for a long time. We
are able to watch the world’s first movie which was made in 1895.
Have you ever worked with the directors
Dorjpalam and Buntar?
I was a
cameraman when I worked with them. I used to just observe what they were doing.
I had not graduated from director’s university yet, and I learned many things
from them.
Did you dream of becoming a movie director?
I never thought
about working in theatre. When I was a little, “Chapayev”, “Roots of
Chinggis” and “Post of the Border” used to be present a lot. My
motivation to become a director started from seeing a man who was directing
people. At that time, cinematic art seemed very interesting and I decided to
become director.
Have you ever made a movie based on an idea
from your life?
Yes. “Camp’s
Friends” is based on my childhood.
Could you share some memories that have not
ever been shared?
A while back,
some talented and intelligent guys started becoming drinkers. When they became
successful, their friends celebrated a lot and made them fond of vodka. I made
my movie “Life’s Bud” from this situation. There is a scene about sawing down a
tree. At that time, in order to saw down the tree, we needed permission. When
we gave our request to the administration of Darkhan, they gave us permission.
But the trees we chose were too big to move with a Zil 130, so we cut two trees
and planted new ones in Erdenet.
Is there anything that you haven’t been
able to achieve?
I have many
things that I want to do. We waste 20 years becoming an adult. After I reached
40 I realized this. I wish to publish what I am thinking about in a newspaper
or journal. At least I would like to train very good artists to work in the
film industry of Mongolia. For this, I am teaching now.
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