During the meeting, the parties discussed about implementation of the activities agreed during the 16th meeting of Intergovernmental Commission between Mongolia and Vietnam, held in Ulaanbaatar last year.

They also exchanged views on the opportunities to increase the number of accredited plants of heat-treated meat and meat products and export deep frozen meat. In the framework of exporting deep frozen meat from Mongolia to Vietnam, risk assessment team from Vietnam is to work in Mongolia in August.

At the end of the meeting, the two sides agreed that they should focus on the development of cooperation between the private-sectors in food, agriculture and light industry sector.

M.Anudari

The committee has demanded that the Mongolian People’s Party fulfills its election promises to reduce prices and rationalise them nationwide. Furthermore, the committee also called drivers to hold a car horn protest on 9 July at 12.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. in front of Sukhbaatar Square.

Over 200 representatives from China's Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang autonomous regions and Qinghai Province, and Russia's Buryatia, Tuva, Kalmykia, Altai and Saha are expected to participate in the festival, which is aimed at preserving, inheriting and promoting the cultural heritage and traditions of Mongolia, Kh. Mandakhtsetseg said at a news briefing.

The event, "Eternal Sky," is co-organized by the Mongolian Foreign Ministry, the Mongolian Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports, and Ulan Bator's Culture and Arts Department.

Naadam, the Mongolian national sports festival, is a traditional display of strength, horsemanship and marksmanship. The festival was inscribed in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2010.

"On July 6, the US began to impose 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports. The US has breached WTO trade rules and launched the largest trade war in economic history to date," the ministry's statement read​​​.

The Trump administration's new 25 percent duties apply to 818 Chinese imports worth $34 billion. They are the first stage in levies threatened by the US on a total of $450 billion worth of Chinese goods.

China warned that while it promised not to "fire the first shot," it will now be forced to "counterattack" in order to defend its core interests. Beijing has vowed to inform the World Trade Organization and work with other countries to "jointly safeguard free trade and the multilateral system."

As Beijing geared up to respond to the new tariffs, it warned that the US would be “shooting itself in the foot and hurting the world” if it were to go through with the measure. Reciprocal levies had reportedly been prepared, which were set to take effect on the same day.

Beijing has been actively seeking an EU ally in the mounting trade war, with senior Chinese officials offering European states access to its market if they take Beijing's side in the row. However, Europe has rejected China’s proposal to team up against the US.

As of the first quarter of 2018, consumer loan growth reached 47.3 percent in conjunction with the total household debt increase of 18.2 percent. Consumer households contribute to 57.6 percent of total banking sector loans.

Corporate loans show an average growth of 1.5 percent for the last nine quarters, representing low business and investment growth and even lower creation of new jobs. In June, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Mongolia issued a decision to set the consumer loan debt/income ratio at 70 percent.

According to officials, the decision will help to maintain balance between the public’s current and future consumption levels, to diminish the debt burden of households and to avoid potential financial risks. In addition, it is expected that financial resources will be effectively allocated for businesses.​

"We are working to tackle environmental issues caused by a build-up of garbage. We have to improve waste management and recycling systems," Tserenbat said at an event on environmental problems.

"We are considering reducing tax on waste recycling plants by 50 percent," he said.

Statistics show that over 76 percent of Mongolia's land area suffer from soil degradation.

Recently, the government decided to ban single-use plastic bags from March 1, 2019. Enditem

Young Buddhist monks are increasingly being given control of Mongolia's monasteries as the religion struggles to find new blood.

The millennial generation of monks is the first to come of age since democracy was introduced to Mongolia in 1990. Prior to that, Buddhists in this sparsely-populated country faced deadly persecution — an estimated 17,000 monks were killed in Stalinist purges in the late 1930s.

Now, monks in their 20s and 30s are tasked with leading the next generation of Buddhist religious leaders. At one monastery in northern Mongolia, the monks alternate hours of religious study with games of basketball and the occasional phone call, a privilege reserved for people older than 25.

Here's what life is like for Mongolia's generation of millennial monks.

Under the “Development Road” programme, Mongolia aims to increase the volume of foreign trade to USD 200 billion by 2020. It was USD 84 billion last year. Furthermore, Mongolia is pursuing a policy to develop transit transportation for connecting an economic corridor between Mongolia-Russia-China to European Union as well as the economic and trade transportation corridors of the SCO.

Under the SCO corridors, six countries such as Russia, China, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan have united for conducting transit transportation along six key routes. Mongolia has the right to join an agreement of a member states of the SCO for composing good environment for international transportation. It does not need to be member of the SCO for joining the agreement.

Strong consumption in China, despite ongoing efforts by Beijing to reduce reliance on coal for electricity generation, and restocking from the spot market by Japanese utilities have buoyed prices.

Import demand from China has been supported by hotter than average temperatures, weak hydro power output, and limited growth in domestic supply, the Australian dept of resources said in its quarterly report released this week.

Supply in South Africa has been diverted to domestic power-generating facilities, impacting exports. In May this year prices at the African nation's Richards Bay terminal topped $100 for the first time since April 2012 and was trending higher again this week at $106.25.

Coal at the Rotterdam port in the Netherlands is set to enter triple digits for the first time since January 2012 exchanging hands for $98.95 this week.

The Australian government forecaster said spot prices are forecast to remain well supported over the next few months, as a result of a relatively tight market, but sounded a note of caution on the longer term outlook:

However, with most of the contributing factors expected to be temporary, the price is forecast to decline from late 2018, to average US$74 a tonne in 2020 as import demand growth slows relative to supply.

Both China and India are expected to increase domestic thermal coal output.