In the framework of the Financing Agreement signed by The Government of Mongolia with the European Union on the 'Budget Support Employment reform in Mongolia,' the first Coordination Committee meeting has been organized by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Labour and Social Protection for an online meeting.

The meeting was chaired by A.Ariunzaya, Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, and co-chaired by Traian Hristea, Ambassador of the European Union to Mongolia.

In her opening remarks, Minister of Labor and Social Welfare A.Ariunzaya thanked the European Union team for implementing the Budget Support with a grant agreement.

It was noted that the objectives of this project are closely related to the strategic goals of the Government of Mongolia to support the employment of the population, including youth, women and people with disabilities. Minister Ariunzaya also mentioned that reforms are planned in the field of vocational education and employment sectors. She expressed the readiness to support and cooperate in the implementation of the objectives of the European Union Budget Support programme.

His Excellency, Mr Traian Hristea, the European Union Ambassador to Mongolia said: “All around the world the pandemic has impacted negatively on human and economic development. The consequences of the crisis have been severe to people, business owners and Governments, to all of us. During this time, the European Union made a significant effort to support our partner Mongolia with additional funds through our Budget Support. The Government of Mongolia received EUR 16M (MNT 53 billion) in October 2020 as the first disbursement of the Budget Support in Mongolia. The European Union will continue to support the Government of Mongolia to effectively mitigate the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

During the meeting of the Coordination Committee, B.Battsetseg, Head of the Employment Policy Implementation Coordination Department of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, and relevant officials of the Ministry of Finance provided status updates on the progress of the reforms as well as progress on the performance indicators of the Budget Support programme.

The meeting was attended by officials from the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Finance and the European Union Delegation to Mongolia.

EU Delegation to Mongolia

New York (CNN)A consensus appears to be taking root in Corporate America: What's good for the environment can also be good for business.

As President Joe Biden prepares to bring 40 world leaders together for a two-day climate summit this week, big businesses have been amplifying their sustainability initiatives and making trillion-dollar pledges to fight climate change. Meanwhile, consumers are increasingly concerned about business' carbon footprints, and companies are feeling the pressure and urgency to act.

Ahead of Earth Day and Biden's climate summit, CNN Business rounded up the latest news from Corporate America's environmental enlightenment.

JPMorgan's $2.5 trillion commitment

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is putting serious firepower behind the fight against climage change. The bank on Thursday said it would finance or facilitate investments of $2.5 trillion over 10 years to support initiatives that focus on combating climate change and enhancing sustainable development. Some of the efforts will center around renewable energy, new clean technology, waste management and conservation. The announcement is the latest addition to a long list of environment-focused pledges from financial institutions, but it's believed to be the largest of its kind by a major bank.

Google Earth shows the effect of climate change

A new Google Earth feature gives viewers a sobering look at how much climate change and human behavior have damaged the planet during the past four decades. The feature, called Timelapse, turns the platform's still images into a 4D experience. Clicking through reveals moving pictures of melting ice caps, receding glaciers, massive urban growth and devastation from wildfires from 1984 to today.

Mastercard's carbon calculator

Mastercard (MA) created a calculator that measures consumers' carbon footprints based on what they purchase. The tool focuses on specific spending categories but doesn't track individual transactions. It also shares information about the number of trees that are required to absorb the same amount of carbon dioxide that is released from the consumer's purchases in specific categories.

Nike wants to resell your shoes

In an effort to reduce waste, Nike (NKE) is asking customers to bring in sneakers that are gently worn or have manufacturing flaws. After cleaning and sanitizing the shoes, the company plans to resell them at select stores at a reduced price. Nike said it's currently selling the returned shoes in eight Nike stores in the United States, and it plans to expand to 15 locations by the end of April and several more by the end of the year.

Wells Fargo aims for net-zero emissions

Wells Fargo announced its goal of hitting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions — including from the companies and projects it finances — by 2050. And while 2050 is far away, the announcement is a big step for Wells Fargo (CBEAX), which has long been a major backer of oil, natural gas and coal projects that climate activists warn threaten the planet.

Volvo goes fully electric

Volvo announced that by 2030, it will sell only electric cars, and only online. The company hopes to have electric cars make up half of its sales in 2025, and hybrid cars will make up the other half of sales.

GM aims to sell emission-free cars

General Motors, the largest automaker in the United States by sales, plans to be completely carbon neutral by 2040, and it hopes to offer only zero-emission cars by 2035. The company plans to reach the goal by transitioning to battery-powered electric vehicles or other zero-emission technologies. The move will require a $27 billion investment

Two men were killed after a Tesla car crashed into a tree and caught fire in Texas, and police believe there was nobody present in the driver's seat at the time of the accident.

The 2019 Tesla Model S was travelling at a high speed when it failed to negotiate a curve on a winding road.

The victims, both in their 50s, were found in the front passenger seat and in the back of the vehicle.

Tesla did not respond immediately to the BBC's request for comment.

Evidence suggests that “no-one was driving the vehicle at the time of impact,” said Mark Herman, Harris County Precinct 4 constable, adding the case was still under investigation.

It is unclear whether Tesla's Autopilot feature was in use.

What Tesla calls Autopilot is in fact a semi-autonomous driving system that can guide a car under limited circumstances. A more sophisticated version, called "full self-driving" is due to be released later this year.

But in fact, neither of these systems offers full self-driving as you or I might understand it.

Tesla itself states that the human driver is meant to be fully alert and in control at all times - and has included systems in its cars which are supposed to ensure they keep their hands on the wheel.

Yet look on social media, and it isn't hard to find videos of Tesla drivers asleep at the wheel, or even climbing into the back seat. Abuse of the system has been linked with a handful of fatalities.

Critics - including the UK car safety research group Thatcham - say the terms Tesla uses to describe what remains a driving assistance system are misleading and encourage this sort of dangerous behaviour.

In Germany, the company has already been banned from using the terms "autopilot inclusive" and "full potential for autonomous driving" in its advertising materials.

But last month, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened investigations into 27 crashes involving Tesla vehicles.

In 2018, a Tesla car driven by British TV director Michael Morris burst into flames, following another such incident involving a Model S model in France in 2016.

Several fires related to Tesla Model S cars took place in 2013.

The State Emergency Commission of Mongolia launched the ‘COVID-19 Ersdel’ systemon April 19, Monday.

Under the ‘COVID-19 Ersdel’ system, the Exposure Notification system introduced by Apple and Google, the world’s largest providers of mobile operating systems, to contribute to the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, has become available in Mongolia for mobile phone users.

The Exposure Notification system has a technological solution that does not collect, store or transmit any personal information such as name, number, location, and other personal information. Currently, the system is used by more than 130 million people in more than 60 countries to fight coronavirus infection.

The State Emergency Commission of Mongolia has made it possible for the Mongolian citizens to use the COVID-19 Ersdel in Mongolian and English with the support of E-Mongolia, online government service application, and the Communications and Information Technology Authority, the regulatory agency of the Government of Mongolia, Apple and Google companies.

The COVID-19 Ersdel system, used by citizens voluntarily, will allow people to be notified in a timely manner of possible coronavirus infection or that if they have been near another user who tests positive within 14 days. It is deemed to play a key role in facilitating the detection and surveillance of patients and contacts with coronavirus infection.

International use of the digital yuan will not replace the US dollar as the world’s main reserve currency, according to People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor, Li Bo.

“For the internationalization of the renminbi, we have said many times that it’s a natural process, and our goal is not to replace the US dollar or other international currencies. I think our goal is to allow the market to choose, to facilitate international trade and investment,” the head of the central bank said on a panel at the Boao forum on Sunday.

He added that the latest efforts to create a blockchain-enabled, digital version of China’s national currency were aimed at domestic use.

“The motivation for the e-yuan, for now at least, is focusing primarily on domestic use,” Li said, adding that global “interoperability is a very complex issue, and we are not in a hurry to reach any particular solution yet.”

The e-yuan is currently in a limited test phase in various pilot programs across the country, and the authorities hope to have a sovereign digital currency ready in time for the 2022 Winter Olympics. China is the first nation in the world to test digital currency on a national level.

Last week, US government officials reportedly raised concerns about China’s progress toward the virtual yuan, due to its potential to challenge the dominance of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. The White House is also worried that the new currency might be used to dodge US sanctions.

Former People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan confirmed that initial plans for a digital currency weren’t motivated by the idea of cross-border use, as it could affect monetary policy independence.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section

The head of Rio Tinto’s copper business faced tough questions from politicians in Mongolia after he arrived in the country for discussions over the future of the miner’s most important project.

During a five-hour meeting in Ulaanbaatar last week Bold Baatar, a Mongolian national who joined Rio in 2013 and was appointed to the role in December, was asked by members of parliament on a working group to explain payments Rio made to a number citizens over the past decade.

One of the individuals mentioned was Byambasaikhan Bayanjargal, a businessman who, in the capacity of a government official, cosigned the May 2015 financing agreement for the $6.75bn underground expansion of the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in the Gobi Desert — an unpopular deal the government wants to replace.

Byambasaikhan is currently in jail. Along with three other men, he was found guilty last year by a Mongolian district court of abuse of power for signing the agreement without seeking parliamentary ratification. He has always protested his innocence and has appealed against the conviction.

Known as the Underground Mine Development Plan, or UDP, the agreement paved the way for a restart of the Oyu Tolgoi expansion project following a dispute over taxes and construction costs.

The agreement and $4.4bn of project financing were pulled together by Rio’s former chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques and the nation’s then-prime minister Chimediin Saikhanbileg, who also faces abuse of power charges.

However, it was never ratified by Mongolia’s parliament and has become a focal point for critics who say the country should receive a bigger share of the financial benefits from the project. A parliamentary resolution was passed in December 2019 ordering the government to improve the terms of the UDP.

A person familiar with the matter said Byambasaikhan received fees as chair of a country panel Rio set up in 2011 to gather independent expert insights.

The person said Byambasaikhan resigned from the panel in February 2015 when he became the head of Mongolia’s state-owned mining group. He then joined the board of Oyu Tolgoi in August. As a director of Oyu Tolgoi he was directly remunerated by the company.

Rio has explained this to Mongolia’s anti-corruption authority, the person added.

The future of the UDP is one of several issues the Rio negotiating team, which arrived in Mongolia last month, must address before a decision is made on whether to start complex caving operations at the project later this year.

The government of Mongolia has a 34 per cent stake in Oyu Tolgoi and has said it might need to review whether the project should go ahead.

Rio declined to comment on the meeting but said “listening, engaging and resolving the concerns of the government of Mongolia” were critical steps to “maintaining momentum on the timely delivery” of the project. First production is scheduled for October 2022.

The talks between Rio, MPs and government officials are complicated by the fact that they come ahead of presidential elections in June.

At peak production, Oyu Tolgoi would be the fourth-biggest copper mine in the world, producing more than 400,000 tonnes a year from its existing open pit and underground mine.

It accounts for 70 to 80 per cent of Mongolia’s foreign direct investment, and has created thousands of well-paid jobs.

However, the underground expansion has been dogged by problems and is more than $1bn over budget and over a year behind schedule.

Rio has already told the Mongolian government it is prepared to “explore” a reduction of its project management fees and loan interest rates and has acknowledged the government’s wish to improve the terms of the UDP.

April 19 (Xinhua) -- A steppe fire in eastern Mongolian province of Sukhbaatar was completely extinguished early Monday morning, according to the provincial emergency management department.

The fire started in Dariganga soum (administrative subdivision) of the province before noon on Sunday, and spread to the territory of neighboring Erdenetsagaan soum which borders Xilingol League, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Hundreds of people, including firefighters, local residents and soldiers, fought to contain the fire.

Officials are now working to determine the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage, said the department. Enditem

Mongolia confirmed 889 new cases of COVID-19 after 12,384 PCR tests done yesterday, the Ministry of Health said on April 19.

767 of the new cases were registered in Ulaanbaatar, the rest were confirmed in the regions.

The total number of the coronavirus cases has reached 22,884.

A total of 12,401 patients recovered, with 524 in the last 24 hours.

5 new deaths (34, 57, and 61-year-old men and 75, 55-year-old women) occurred during the day.

Hong Kong (CNN Business)China just posted its strongest quarterly growth on record as the world's second largest economy continued its robust recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

GDP growth of 18.3% year-on-year in the first quarter was the strongest since China began keeping records in 1992, and was driven by a surge in retail sales, industrial production and investment in fixed assets.

The big jump reflects the deep slump in activity in early 2020 but it keeps China on track for growth of between 8% and 9% in 2021, economists said, far ahead of the Chinese government's official target of more than 6%.

"We are fully confident that we can maintain the current recovery momentum throughout the year," said Liu Aihua, a spokeswoman for the National Bureau of Statistics at a press conference in Beijing on Friday.

First quarter retail sales jumped 34% from a year ago, while fixed-asset investment in urban areas gained nearly 26%. Industrial production increased by more than 24%.

"Growth remains pretty strong at this stage as Covid losers such as consumption and [capital expenditures] are catching up," said Larry Hu, chief China economist for Macquarie Group, in a research report on Friday.

Retail sales, which took a big hit last year because of the lockdown, had improved because Beijing eased travel restrictions after the Lunar New Year holidays in February, he added. Investments in manufacturing and infrastructure also picked up pace.

Trade also provided a strong boost. Customs statistics released earlier this week showed imports jumped more than 38% last month in US dollar terms compared to a year earlier, a sign that demand within China is picking up. Exports grew by nearly 31%.

Hu said the strength in imports was broad based, indicating a "consumption recovery." And Beijing should easily hit its target of more than 6% growth for 2021. "Growth could easily go to 8-9% with the low base," Hu added.

Nomura analysts predicted Friday that China's GDP would grow 8.9% in 2021.

Last month, Premier Li Keqiang said the government had set this year's growth target at "above 6%." That's more than enough to accomplish President Xi Jinping's long-term goal for the economy, though still less aggressive than some observers have said they would like to see. Some analysts have said the cautious target indicates that the government is taking account of the risk that Covid-19 makes a comeback.

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund raised its growth estimate for China to 8.4% for this year, saying that "effective containment measures, a forceful public investment response and central bank liquidity support" had facilitated the country's recovery.

Recovery 'leveling off'

But some analysts say the outlook for the rest of this year is less certain.

Chaoping Zhu, global market strategist for JP Morgan Asset Management, said quarter-over-quarter growth is a better indicator of the current strength of the Chinese economy.

GDP grew by just 0.6% compared with the final quarter of 2020. That's the slowest pace since China began its recovery from the pandemic. In the first quarter of last year, the economy shrank a record 9.7% from the previous quarter, before bouncing back as the government eased restrictions. From the second to fourth quarters of 2020, the economy grew by 11.6%, 3%, and 2.6% respectively, quarter on quarter.

"It shows that the Chinese economy has already normalized," Zhu wrote in a note on Friday.

Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist for Capital Economics, also pointed out that the 18.3% surge is largely distorted by low base effects.

"This tells us little about the economy's current momentum, however, since it reflects a much weaker base for comparison from last year's Covid-19 downturn," he said. "With the economy already above its pre-virus trend and policy support being withdrawn, China's post-Covid rebound is leveling off."

Iron ore prices continued to climb on Friday despite concerns over environmental restrictions in China.

Tangshan, China’s top steelmaking city, said last month it will punish firms that either have not taken the steps spelled out under its emergency anti-pollution plan or have illegally discharged pollutants, following weeks of heavy smog in northern China.

SIGN UP FOR THE IRON ORE DIGEST

According to Fastmarkets MB, Benchmark 62% Fe fines imported into Northern China (CFR Qingdao) were changing hands for $178.43 a tonne on Friday – the highest level since 2011.

The high-grade Brazilian index (65% Fe fines) also advanced to a record high of $211.10 a tonne.

“Steel margins in China are very attractive at the moment, so even with the restrictions in Tangshan, other producers have every incentive to try to increase operating rates,” ING head of commodities strategy Warren Patterson told the Financial Review.

“Stronger margins, along with more focus on reducing emissions, has also proved supportive for higher-grade iron ore demand. This is reflected in the quality premium, which has widened recently,” Patterson said.

“Despite talk of nationwide inspections, we believe other regions will ramp up, particularly given the spike in steel margins,” JPMorgan analyst Lyndon Fagan said.

According to IndexBox, global steel consumption is forecast to increase in 2021 by 4.1% year-on-year.

Prices have also been fueled by falling supplies from major miners.

Goldman Sachs expects the market to enter a surplus in the second half of the year on higher Brazilian exports, bank analysts wrote in a note, adding they see prices falling back to $110 a tonne by the fourth quarter and below $100 in 2022.

(With files from Bloomberg and Reuters)