Mongolia Brief February 3, 2015 Part II



River-Ice thickness decreased by 10-40 cm
By D. Tuguldur
February 3 (gogo.mn) Lake and river ice thickness is decreased by 10-40cm comparing to the same period of last year due to warming in air temperature in Dec, 2014 and Jan, 2015.

In view of upcoming Tsagaan Sar celebrations, movement to city and countryside is growing. Thus, professional organizations warn public to transport by safe roads and bridges and not to pass on rivers and lakes. No road and mountain pass is closed. 

Government Resolves to Submit Law on Casino to Parliament of Mongolia
February 3 (infomongolia.com) The regular Cabinet meeting of the Coalition Government was held on Monday, February 02 and one of the issues resolved was to submit a bill on "Law on Casino" to the State Great Khural (Parliament).
Mongolia’s competitiveness rank in tourism industry stands at the 99th place out of surveyed 140 economies, nevertheless, at the 19th place out of 25 countries in Asia and Oceania. In 2013, over 417 thousand tourists visited Mongolia and revenue from this sector reached 263 million USD that comprised 5.29 percent of GDP.
The bill initiators deem, it is necessary to resolve one of the reasons to slow down the tourism flow into Mongolia and in the scope of increasing the international competitiveness, the country's 2020 goal is to create about 14 percent of gross domestic product and therefore by launching casino activity in Mongolia it would stimulate the tourism development and increase the flow of foreign currencies.
The draft Law on Casino was initiated and developed based on international standards and practices relied on the needs of casino gaming activities adhered to regulate relations regarding issuing limited casino license, registering and revoking the license as well as clarify the state control system and mechanisms for casino activities in the territory of Mongolia.
Back in 1997, Mongolia enacted the “Law on Casino”, but it ended up with imprisonment of high profile politicians due to corruption charges and unconditional enactment of Law on prohibiting Casino activities within Mongolian territory as a result of social, economic and political situation of that time.
In 2006, Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs initiated drafting of Law on Gaming, in order to regulate the casino and gaming activity, but the draft did not get support from the Cabinet and was rejected. Following failure of this draft, several more attempts were made with initiative from MP’s, including “Law on Limited Casino” in 2007 and 2010, but were not supported to date.
In recent mass media, it was boomed that two Mongolian artists won a jackpot of $355,870 in the “Wheel of Fortune” during their visit to Hong Kong in January 2015.
Related:

“Inspired by Zaya” – Music Producer B.Naranzun
February 3 (gogo.mn) “INSPIRED BY ZAYA” TALK SHOW
“Future of Mongolia is not just mining. Instead I believe our future is dependent on educated, intelligent and multifaceted youth”. I want to proudly introduce those talented and educated young professionals to others.
Editor E.Ariunzaya
We are delivering the next episode of the Inspired by Zaya talk show hosted entirely in English language, encouraging and inspiring the future of Mongolia to commit to learning English language and enhance possibilities in life. This episode features B.Naranzun, whom can be identified as one of the vivid young representatives. There are many who would recognize him and many would determine him as loyal and workaholic. He has good sense of humor and he will tell how he overcomes the hardships of the illness with his traits and how he started to value the life. For the full episode please click here.

Mongolia and Russia Seek Ways to Ease Cross Border Flow at Altanbulag-Kyakhta Border Ports
February 3 (infomongolia.com) On January 31, 2015, a delegation headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs L.Purevsuren worked at the Altanbulag - Kyakhta border ports to acquaint with current activities since Mongolia and the Russian Federation had agreed to lift a reciprocal visa regime.
The delegation was comprised of representatives from Authorities of Border Protection, General Customs, Specialized Inspection, Immigration Office, General Consuls in Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk cities as well as other officials from Foreign Ministry of Mongolia.
The border ports have been operating under 24/7 since July 01, 2014 and compare to previous working hours, the number of travelers increased by 3.6% and number of vehicles crossing the borders by 5.9% respectively, say officials.
During the working visit, delegates have familiarized and met with both authorities of Altanbulag and Kyakhta (Khiagt) ports and the visit’s purpose was aimed to resolve and decrease facing problems occurring on cross border procedures by exchanging views and familiarizing on the site. For instance, since the abolishing visa requirements, the number of reciprocal visits have been increased dramatically that cause long lines at the check points and thus, officials from both sides request to add the number of employees.
Moreover, Altanbulag border port staff asked to increase its number of control organs from current four to five by adding the Special Inspection like at the check points being operated at the Chinggis Khaan International Airport and Zamyn-Uud Port that monitor on 5 specifics such as phytosanitary, food, animal health, transportation and hygiene.
Afterwards, parties agreed to organize a joint workshop in order to realize the discussed issues in the near future.

Ulaanbaatar to Implement Project of Applying All Addresses and Advertisements Written in Traditional Mongolian Script
February 3 (infomongolia.com) Under the Government Resolution No.37 that states “Measures to Improve Mongolian Language and Education” issued on February 02, 2013 and Mayor’s Decree No. A/428 to implement the “Smart Ulaanbaatar” Program from May 28, 2014, the General Planning Division of the Capital City has been initiating and starting to implement a project that aims to apply all addresses and advertisements of any entities and organizations in Ulaanbaatar to be written in traditional Mongolian script.
Moreover, all-level Governors of the Capital City, Aimags and Cities are obliged to order local public and private organizations to write their addresses in both Cyrillic and Traditional Mongolian Scripts.
In the scope of the project, the initiators’ effort is to create an Ulaanbaatar brand or ‘Brand Book’ that would build a general theme for the capital city featuring its street signs, building names, state services, designs and logos written in traditional or Uyghur Mongolian script.
Related:

Concept for the Law to support Industrialization approved
By B. Erdenechimeg
February 3 (gogo.mn) Cabinet session has approved the concept for the law to support industrialization. Further drafting of the law and discussions are to be done under Minister of Industry D.Erdenebat.
97 percent of the domestic products have only initial processing with less technological content. This is the clear indicator that industrial sector needs technological advancement and improve the processing capacity. For instance, agricultural processing of raw materials is only at 10-30 percent and is exported with minimal value adding.
This implies the need for support to develop industrialization to add value and increase the investment benefits. State support for the industrilzation is provisioned in the law as following:
-ONE TIME of zero interest rate loan of amount equal to 50 percent of the total investments for technological advancement of the manufactures that export over 60 percent of its products.
-One subsidy of the amount up to 75 percent of the total Research and Development costs for the manufactures that introduce advanced technology with high economic benefits and produce substitute products for imports.
Related:
Cabinet approves discussing draft law on Promoting industrializationMontsame, February 3

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