Mongolia Brief June 17, 2014 Part II



Professor P.K.Mukherjee to Present Lecture and Discussion in Ulaanbaatar on “Law of Sea and Interests of Landlocked Developing Countries”

June 17 (infomongolia.com) The International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries (ITT-LLDCs) in cooperation with the Mongolian Maritime Administration under the Ministry of Roads and Transportation is organizing a lecture on the “Law of the Sea and Interests of Landlocked Developing Countries” to be presented by the distinguished professor Proshanto Kumar Mukherjee on June 18, 2014.

Development of a country depends on the size of its foreign trade. Thus, rapid economic development is witnessed in coastal economies and cities and regions of countries that are located nearby the sea.
However, landlocked countries face numerous challenges in gaining access to foreign trade and to major economic centres of the world. Most of landlocked countries are either developing countries and some of them are categorized as least developed countries.
As for Mongolia, its foreign trade depends on the economic situation of its two neighbouring countries. Thus, it is necessary for Mongolia and other landlocked developing countries to see beyond their neighbouring countries and diversify their import as well as their export destinations.
During the lecture, necessity of LLDCs to maintain maritime transportation, provisions to these countries by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and opportunities to implement them in practice and reflect them on related policies and strategies will be discussed. Furthermore there will be a discussion on best practices of LLDCs that maintain successful foreign trade relations with their transit neighbours such as Russia and China as for Mongolia's two neighbors. The participants will also be provided with opportunities to exchange views, experiences and knowledge within the topic of the lecture.
The following issues will be discussed during the lecture:
- Activities of maritime transportation and its impact on the economy;
- Changing trends of law on maritime transportation;
- UN conventions on “The Law of the Sea” and “Transit Trade of Landlocked Countries” and explanation of general understanding on the rights of LLDCs provided by these conventions;
- Analysis on how to use and improve/develop the rights provided by these legal documents and conclusion;
- Activities of maritime transportation/conditions and opportunities to enter the network of maritime transportations;
- Cost and common issues related to maritime transportation;
- Maritime transportation insurance;
- Port utilisation by landlocked countries.
The opening remarks will be delivered by Interim Director of the ITT-LLDCs, Mr. E.Odbayar, presentation on “Current Situation of Railway Transportation” by Head of the Railway-Maritime Transportation Policy Implementation Coordination Department of the Ministry of Roads and Transportation, Mr. Yo.Manlaibayar, and presentation on “Current Situation of the Maritime Sector of Mongolia” by Head of the Mongolian Maritime Administration under the Ministry of Roads and Transportation, Mr. Kh.Enkhbaatar, where the lecture by Professor P.K.Mukherjee will be organized at the International Think Tank for LLDCs in Ulaanbaatar at UN House, United Nations Street-14, Sukhbaatar District at 02:00 pm on June 18, 2014.

Speaker Meets UN Delegation

Ulaanbaatar, June 17 (MONTSAME) Parliament Speaker Z.Enkhbold met Tuesday with Mr Haoliang Xu, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) regional director for Asia and the Pacific.
The Speaker expressed a satisfaction with the 40-year cooperation of Mongolia with the UNDP which has been developing many successful projects including "Support to Participatory Legislative Process", "Capacity Strengthening of Local Self-Governing Bodies". He expressed a pleasure with a UNDP training that involved staffers of local self-governing bodies here, and noted that the Government of Mongolia donated 540 million togrog to promote the joint project on Operationalization of the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries in Ulaanbaatar.
in response, Mr Haoliang Xu thanked the Speaker for receiving him and expressed a pleasure that the Mongolian side has been using the UN reports in its affairs. He also noted that UNDP is willing to collaborate with Mongolia in determining the post-2015 development goals, and stressed the importance of the promoting of proper perception among the public about the goals of the joint programs and projects.
Mr Enkhbold said Mongolia is still in need of assistance of international development bodies even though it has advanced into the category of middle-income countries.

Dornogovi to Cooperate French Provinces

Ulaanbaatar, June 17 (MONTSAME) Ambassador of France to Mongolia Mr Yves Delaunay met Monday with the Governor of eastern Dornogovi province during his visit there.
The meeting was also attended by project managers who are planning to implement there projects of economic assistance and soft loans of the government of France. The managers were presented project proposals of Dornogovi and Ovorkhangai aimags, from which they will later select feasible ones to conduct detailed studies on.
In previous visit to Dornogovi, the French Ambassador had expressed a willingness to broaden cooperation between provinces of Mongolia and France.

GEC Head Meets Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan

Ulaanbaatar, June 17 (MONTSAME) Chairman of the General Election Commission (GEC) Ch.Sodnomtseren Tuesday received Ms K.Baktigulova, the Concurrent Non-Resident Ambassador of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan to Mongolia.
The GEC head congratulated Ms Baktigulova on being appointed the Ambassador to Mongolia and spoke about his organization. He said the ties and collaboration between the election bodies of the two countries have been boosting, and mutual visits within them have been regularizing.
He said the GEC wants to share information and experiences with Kyrgyzstan on organizing elections, adding that the two countries' election bodies agreed to establish a memorandum of mutual understanding.
In turn, Ms Baktigulova said Mongolia's experience in running elections is attracting her country because foreign observers and experts highly spoke he latest elections held in Mongolia. Kyrgyzstan wants to learn methods and experiences in refining the election system and in introducing the newest technology, she added. The Mongolian experience will contribute to making elections in Kyrgyzstan fair, open and transparent, she hoped.  

Our "Polar Star" Order Goes to Dankook University President

Ulaanbaatar, June 17 (MONTSAME) On occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Department of Mongolian Language at the Dankook University of South Korea, the university’s president Dr Chang Ho-sung has been awarded the "Polar Star" Order by a decree of the Mongolian President.
The Order was granted on Monday by R.Gonchigdorj, a Vice Speaker of parliament, in the Embassy of Mongolia in the Republic of Korea. This is recognition of Mr Ho-sung's contribution to a development of the Mongol studies and to preparing the S.Korean Mongolists.
Thanking Mongolia for this high state prize, Dr Chang said his university will expand lessons and activities related to the Mongol studies, augment studies and programmes and collaborate with Mongolian educational organizations.
Present at the ceremony were diplomats of South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, teachers of the Dankook University, and also Kim Hong-jin, a leader of the Society of Mongol Studies.
The same day, the Vice Speaker met Kim Joon Kyung, a president of the Korea Development Institute (KDI) to share views on developing collaboration in developmental policy and experiences.

D.Battsogt MP Receives UNFPA Consultant

Ulaanbaatar, June 17 (MONTSAME) Head of the parliamentary Standing committee on social policy, education, culture and science D.Battsogt Tuesday met Ms Katrin Schneider, a consultant to the UNFPA, and delegates of the National Committee of Gender (NCG).
Ms Schneider noted that the UNFPA and the NCG have been cooperating since 2007 and that she is happy with this long-year cooperation. She said the UNFPA intends to run training this June 21 for members of the Standing committees on social policy, education, culture and science and on budget, in frames of the "Gender-sensitive budget" project.
In response, Mr Battsogt said he will encourage the Standing committees’ members to actively participate in the training that is expected to give information about international experiences and methods on managing budgets.

“MON ROBOT-2014” camp

June 17 (news.mn) The Mongolia-Korea joint “MON ROBOT-2014” will take place at Nairamdal (or Friendship) International Children's Camp between June 24thand 26th. “MON ROBOT-2014” aims to encourage children`s creativity and thinking for mechanics and familiarize them with technological skills. The camp will be held under the subject of “Nature’s fury”. The Minister of Education and Science is supporting the competition.
“MON ROBOT-2014” will be held among pupils from grades 6 to 10 grades in secondary schools in Mongolia and as well as high school pupils of South Korea.
Winners of the first, second, third and special places will be named and prized.
Registration of participants for “MON ROBOT-2014” will run at Shine Ekhlel laboratory school affiliated with the Ministry of Education and Science until July 20th.

50 MW Expansion Works for Third Thermal Power Plant in Ulaanbaatar Accomplished

June 17 (infomongolia.com) The opening ceremony of expansion works completed at the Thermal Power Plant III was held on June 16, 2014, where Prime Minister N.Altankhuyag, Energy Minister M.Sonompil, Economic Development Minister N.Batbayar, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the PR of China to Mongolia Wang Xiaolong and project executor “Hunan Industrial Equipment Installation” company representatives have attended.
In his opening remarks Premier N.Altankhuyag noted, “Today we are accepting the Third Thermal Power Plant with its additional 50 MW of expansion. This is a huge work that has not been done in the energy sector of our country in last 25 years. This great construction was financed with 35 million USD sourced from Chinggis bond that enables to provide 20 thousand households with heat and energy".
The Government of Mongolia issued a Resolution No.142 on April 13, 2013 to expand the capacity of the Thermal Power Plant III with 50 MW and in the frameworks, China’s “Hunan Industrial Equipment Installation” company won the tender and by signing the “Turnkey” Contract on June 15, 2013, started the project a month later.
Minister of Energy, MP M.Sonompil added, “We will accept the Fourth Thermal Power Plant with 123 MW of expansion in October 2014. Moreover, “Amgalan” Thermal Power Plant project with capacity of 300 MW will be accomplished by November 2014. In addition, agreement for the Thermal Power Plant No.5 will be established within this month and soon to start the project. Meanwhile, other big projects such as Umnugovi and Egiin Gol power plants are being implemented, as 2014 is announced as the year of development in the energy sector”.
In the scope of expanding the Thermal Power Plant III by 50 MW, it enables to increase the central region energy network capacity by 50 MW, to increase Ulaanbaatar energy and heat system by 100 Gcal/hour, besides production volume would rise up to 250-300 million kW/hours and sales revenue to increase by over 30 billion MNT per year. The “Thermal Power Plant III” project to cover its cost within 6 years and then to start operating beneficial.

Int’l conference for UB Dialogue launches

Ulaanbaatar, June 17 (MONTSAME) An international conference of the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asian security kicked off Tuesday in Ulaanbaatar.
This is the first international conference held within the Mongolian President’s initiative on Ulaanbaatar Dialogue for Northeast Asian security. It has brought together scholars majoring in Northeast Asian security from nine countries. Four penal meetings have attracted representatives of Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, the USA, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK.
A member of the policy council at the Institute of Strategic Studies M.Batchimeg MP addressed the conference’s opening. The participants shared views on security risks in Northeast Asia, economic and infrastructure cooperation and fortifying the regional trust.
"Mongolia has friendly ties with all countries of Northeast Asia, so it is considered that Mongolia is fully possible to contribute tackling the region's urgent problems in security matters through talks," Batchimeg said, adding that the conference will run regularly.

Khan Bank opens business center in Darkhan city

Ulaanbaatar, June 17 (MONTSAME) The Khan Bank’s website on Monday reported that it opened a new business center in Darkhan city.
The opening ceremony was attended by officials of Khan Bank and Darkhan city, as well as by customers and locals.
The center, designed in the late modern style, has a dedicated E-corner to bring better banking services to its customers, enabling them to receive banking services through Internet bank, make transfers to other banks as well as within Khan Bank, check account balances and change passwords.
The bank continues to invest in new branches and up-scaling to deliver easy and convenient banking services to its customers and, as part of this effort, a total of 21 sub-branches have been relocated to new premises, with the Darkhan Business Centre being just one example.
As E-banking is the primary service that allows customer to manage their financial needs online, the Business Center established the E-corner to allow Darkhan residents to use E-Banking services in their daily life, the website says.

Stock exchange news for June 17

Ulaanbaatar, June 17 (MONTSAME) At the Stock Exchange trades held Tuesday, a total of 6,746 shares of 15 JSCs were traded costing MNT five million 541 thousand and 763.00.
"Khokh gan” /5,000 units/, "APU" /854 units/, "Genco tour bureau” /669 units/, "Baganuur" /105 units/ and "Tavantolgoi” /25 units/ were the most actively traded in terms of trading volume, in terms of trading value--"APU” (MNT three million 098 thousand and 890), "Bayangol hotel" (MNT 624 thousand), "Khokh gan” (MNT 550 thousand), "UB-BUK” (MNT 440 thousand) and "Baganuur” (MNT 366 thousand and 750).
The total market capitalization was set at MNT one trillion 533 billion 999 million 531 thousand and 177. The Index of Top-20 JSCs was 15,165.69, decreasing by MNT 44.69 or 0.29% against the previous day.

American Corner Uses Movies and Music to Celebrate LGBT Pride Month

June 7 (US Embassy) “Rainbow Music Day” was held for LGBT Pride Month on June 7 at the program room of the American Cultural and Information Center.  The event was organized by the American Cultural and Information Center jointly with Mongolian LGBT Human Right Center, and it included 38 people who are activists, promoters, and facilitators to LGBT people rights in Mongolia.
The event started with LGBT Center’s informational video.  Mr. Batzorig, Youth Program Manager of the Center, gave an opening speech and talked about upcoming events for LGBT Pride Month.  The American Corner staff showed American gay rights activist Andrew Solomon’s TED Talk titled “Forge Meaning, Build Identity.”  The event showcased young folk rock acoustic band Socrates, who told their story about how they became LGBT allies.  Guest artist Mr. Clifton Hurt performed John Legend songs.  Batzorig closed the event recognizing the American Corner and the U.S. Embassy, and he encouraged people to talk more about LGBT rights in Mongolia.
The American Corner has also tailored standard events taking place in June to promote LGBT rights and awareness, in honor of LGBT month.  On June 4, the American Corner screened “Philadelphia” for Movie Night, and at the screening distributed information about our special programs taking place for the month of June, including the opening of the Rainbow corner to take place later in the month.

“Internom” bookstore names bestsellers

Ulaanbaatar, June 17 (MONTSAME) One of the biggest bookshops in Mongolia, the “Internom” on Tuesday announced the bestsellers of the last week.
The "Sorghaghtani" historical roman by B.Sarantuya, which tells about a heroic story of Sorghaghtani Beki Queen, topped the list of the bestsellers. It was followed by the "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and the "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by a Swedish Stieg Larsson.
Other bestsellers are "Go for growth" by Sheryl Sandberg, "Green-eyed monk" by Ts.Oyungerel, "The Man Who Laughs" by Victor Hugo, "Japan-Mongolia, Mongolia-Japan concise dictionary" by G.Buaynjargal, "Friendship" series gift book by Helen Exley, a second volume of the "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson, and "Textbook for photographers" by K.Gatkum. 
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