Mongolia Brief August 8, 2014 Part I



Exequatur of Honorary Consul Handed Over

August 5 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia D.Gankhuyag handed over exequatur to Honorary Consul of the Netherlands to Mongolia G.Amartuvshin on August 4.

Deputy Minister Gankhuyag wished best of luck in strengthening bilateral relations in the fields of politics, economy, culture and humanities. Present at the meeting was Director of the Consular Department of Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia Sh.Sukhbaatar.

Some Directions Given to Construction NGOs

By B. Khuder
Ulaanbaatar, August 8 (MONTSAME) At its meeting on Thursday, the cabinet backed an issue of imposing some directions to NGO of the construction sector by establishing contracts.
The directions include drawing up documents of urban planning, designs of constructions and buildings, performing the construction works and granting licenses to legal subjects for productions of constructions, lifting constructions, their spare parts and tools, assembling and repairing works.
The Minister of Construction and Urban Development Ts.Bayarsaikhan was ordered to reflect responsibilities and duties of the sides in contracts and to monitor the contracts’ implementation.

Nat’l Programme on Creative Works Approved

By B. Khuder
Ulaanbaatar, August 8 (MONTSAME) The cabinet meeting held Thursday approved the “Mongolian creative works” national programme, and then ordered Ts.Oyungerel, the Minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism, to annually work out and approve a plan for realizing the programme, and to put control over it.
Main objectives of the programme are to produce films, novels and music arts, to transfer them into electronic forms, to deliver them to the public, to enrich the media organizations with national contents, to propagandize them across the world and to strengthen the immunity of national arts and culture.
In frames of the programme, Mongolian national creative works which are conserved in archives and collectors will be renovated, therefore the national creative works funds are expected to be enriched.

President’s Visit to Japan Summarized

By B. Khuder
Ulaanbaatar, August 8 (MONTSAME) The cabinet meeting Thursday discussed a results of the working visit of the Mongolian President paid to Japan on July 21-24, and then obliged L.Bold, the Minister of Foreign Affairs to submit the matter to the National Security Council (NSC).
During the visit, the President Ts.Elbegdorj and the Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held official talks, concurring with a necessity to focus the bilateral economic cooperation on not only the markets of the two countries, but also the markets of the neighbour countries and regional nations in conjunction with reaching a principal agreement to establish the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

Cabinet Meeting of Government of Mongolia, August 7,

2014

August 8 (infomongolia.com) The regular Cabinet meeting of the Government of Mongolia was held on August 7th through which the following issues were resolved accordingly.
- The resultative conclusion were issued regarding the recent official visit of the President of Mongolia to Japan between July 21 and July 24 and the Minister of Foreign Affairs L.Bold has been obliged to take this issue into consideration during the upcoming regular meeting of the National Security Council of Mongolia.
- Since July 1, 2014, the ongoing customs procedure for 24/7 active operation in Altanbulag Free Trade Zone enables to increase the trade, investment, products and goods inflow across the border. Therefore, the short-term procedural order shall be extended until December 31, 2014 based upon the majority of Government members suggestions and the Deputy Prime Minister D.Terbishdagva, the Minister of the Cabinet Office of the Government of Mongolia Ch.Saikhanbileg, Minister of Economic Development N.Batbayar, Minister of Finance Ch.Ulaan and the Minister of Justice Kh.Temuujin had been obliged to take further measures accordingly.
- The Government members had agreed upon that the related Government resolution must be issued to approve the Intergovernmental Agreement on enhancing the national security level between Government of Mongolia and the Government of Republic of Turkey which signed off on April 11, 2013 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
- During the Cabinet meeting, the Minister of Finance Ch.Ulaan had an approval to finance the required sum of 36.8 million MNT (Tugrug) from the Government Reserve Fund to ensure reliability of the power source supply of the Government Palace of Mongolia.
Related:
Cabinet Meeting in BriefMontsame, August 8

Vice Speaker Meets S.Korean NA Delegation

By B. Khuder
Ulaanbaatar, August 8 (MONTSAME) A Vice Speaker of the State Great Khural R.Gonchigdorj Friday received a visiting delegation headed by Mr Yoo Ki June, chairman of the Standing committee of the South Korean National Assembly on foreign policy and unification.
Wishing the delegation an enjoyable visit to Mongolia, the Vice Speaker Mr Gonchigdorj noted about the 25th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic relations to be marked next year.
In turn, Mr Yoo thanked the Vice Speaker for an audience, and expressed a willingness to enhance the Mongolia-S.Korea relations and cooperation in the socio-economic and political spheres. The dignitaries also exchanged views on other matters for the bilateral ties.
Present at the meeting were G.Batkhuu MP; B.Ganbold, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the Republic of Korea; B.Boldbaatar, the secretary-general of the Parliamentary Office; and other officials.

FM L.Bold Elected as Deputy Chair of ESCAP Session

B. Khuder
Ulaanbaatar, August 8 (MONTSAME) A governmental delegation of Mongolia led by the Foreign Minister Mr L.Bold is taking part in the 70th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) kicked off Thursday in Bangkok, Thailand.
On the first day of the session, the Foreign Minister Mr Bold was elected as the session’s deputy chairman. He addressed the session’s opening to express his country’s position, highlighting that the actively participating in the Asia-Pacific regional integration is one of the prior goals of the Mongolia’s foreign policy.
In addition, Mr Bold gave reports to the gathered on the policy and actions by the Mongolia’s government for intensifying the national economy.
The delegation included S.Oyun, the Minister of Environment and Green Development, and the president of the United Nations Environment Assembly; and Ch.Battomor, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the Kingdom of Thailand.

Foreign Minister Meets with Officials at ESCAP Session

B. Khuder
Ulaanbaatar, August 8 (MONTSAME) Participating on the 70th session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok, Thailand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia Mr L.Bold Thursday met with Mr Tshering Tobgay, the Prime Minister of Bhutan, who has been elected as the session’s chairman.
The dignitaries exchanged views on the bilateral and multilateral cooperation. Moreover, Mr Bold met with Ms Shamshad Akhtar, ESCAP Executive Secretary, sharing views on the collaboration between Mongolia and the ESCAP, its outcomes, further goals and directions.
Within the session, Mr Bold also met with the director of the ESCAP for Northeast Asian Region, the Vice Foreign Ministers of the Republic of Korea and Japan; and delegates of other countries.

80% of Mongolians hold a formal bank account

August 8 (Mongolian Economy) For a small population of 2.9 million, Mongolia scores high on the list of financial inclusion intakes. Its access to financial services is impressive given its largely nomadic lifestyle. Any kind of service provisions is hard to come by given that its infrastructural systems are lacking, especially in terms of transportation. According to the World Bank’s 2012 Global Financial Inclusion Database, 80% of Mongolians hold a formal bank account. This number exceeds those of its neighboring countries such as China, Russia and Kazakhstan. 
In addition, Mongolia also ranks higher than other low-to-middle income countries in almost every financial inclusion variable. The only exception is health insurance. One in four Mongolian citizens has a loan and 10% more women have bank accounts than men. This statistic rivals that of North America and the Euro area.  

Japanese businesspeople came to seek business opportunities

August 8 (Mongolian Economy) Last month, the president paid an official visit to Japan as a continuation of bilateral partnership between both nations. This high level visit and meeting resulted in the signing of a bilateral partnership agreement. Japanese businesspeople from the Shizuoka Prefecture also visited Mongolia to see how the economy and businesses run. 
Japanese businesspeople are interested in what Mongolia has to offer since it is abundant in agricultural and mining reserves. Most of these Japanese businesspeople come from industries relating to real estate, commerce and trade, construction, infrastructure, automobile parts and tea. 
On the Mongolian side, ten companies participated in the meeting including Khuvsgul-Ikh Taiga, TESO, Monland, Metal and Wood, Mongolian Hotels Association and Corporate Hotel. 

Altanbulag Free Trade Zone collected MNT 13.6 Million in Taxes

August 8 (Mongolian Economy) The Altanbulag Free Trade Zone became a reality this past June after ten years of planning. Mongolian and Russian citizens have been able to cross the free trade zone without any problems. The international exhibition and trade event hosted at the end of June attracted investors and improved trade flow, marking the success of this now robust area. 
Since the establishment of the free trade zone, MNT 484.9 million worth of products have entered with the required registration. Tax income from these products amounted to MNT 13.6 million and MNT 62.2 thousand worth of fees were collected for the national budget. The 24-hour operation of the free trade zone has done well to increase trade flow between both Russia and Mongolia. 

Vladimir Putin to Pay High-Level Visit to Mongolia in Coming September

August 8 (infomongolia.com) The Head of Mongolian part of the Mongolia-Russia Intergovernmental Committee, the Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia D.Terbishdagva has received the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, the Head of Russian part of the Russia-Mongolia Intergovernmental Committee Sergey Yefimovich Donskoy on August 8th in the Government Palace of Mongolia.
The Deputy Prime Minister D.Terbishdagva has noted “The forthcoming official visit of the President of Russian Federation to Mongolia is the vital important event for Mongolia; therefore, we’ve been ensuring all preparatory conditions in somewhat higher level for celebrating the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Battles at the Khalkh River between August 22 and September 04, 2014. During the visit of the Russian President, the Government of Mongolia plans to place the medium-term program to develop further strategic collaboration between Mongolia and the Russian Federation”.
In response, the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Russian Federation Sergey Donskoy has said “The 75th anniversary of the victory of the Battles at the Khalkh River is also significant event for Russia; that’s because the President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is going to pay a high-level official visit to Mongolia on coming September 3rd, 2014. As for Russian Federation, we also plan to sign off several important documents to increase our bilateral cooperation further ahead during the upcoming visit of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin respectively.
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