The scandal took a toll on Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry (MFALI), which was responsible for monitoring the fund, and resulted in dismissal of its minister Batzorig Batjargal. Thus, the Independent Authority Against Corruption (IAAC) has begun an investigation on six Parliament members. Although the IAAC refused to disclose the names of those MPs, local media outlets suspect Batzorig Batjargal, Sodbaatar Yangug Bolorchuluun Khayngaa, Enkhbayar Jadamba, Uchral Nyam-Osor and Soltan Gombojav to have been involved in the case. Moreover, the recently appointed Minister of Road and Transport Development Sodbaatar Yangug held a press conference yesterday and disclosed his involvement with the fund scandal and submitted his resignation letter to the Prime Minister.

• SMEs have lost access to financing as the fund currently has no officials that can authorize loans.

• MNT 72.4 billion was allocated to SME Development Fund to finance 132 projects this year

• The situation will only be settled if the Parliament appoints the next Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry.

However, in the middle of commotion in politics, SMEs are waiting for financing from the fund. This year, MNT 72.4 billion was allocated to the fund to finance 132 projects, out of which 80 percent were in local provinces. The average repayment rate of the fund stood positive at 93.5 percent according to Enkh-Amar Mijidsuren, Head of Policy and Planning Department of MFALI. He informed that an acting Chairman of the fund was appointed; however, the incoming minister needs to enforce his authority before any fund can be released. The situation will only be settled if the Parliament appoints the next Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry.

Ya.Sodbaatar, the Minister of Road and Transportation Development presented his resignation letter to the PM over the ongoing scandal of Small and Medium Enterprises Fund. The letter was accepted and now will be presented to the President Battulga.

Separate from this, the Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh decided to sack Ts.Tsogzolmaa, Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Sports from her job over irresponsible behaviour including direct criticism of her boss.

Previously, Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industries, who was responsible for spending SME funding, was removed from his job.

The sides discussed about establishing U.S. Cultural Center in Darkhan-Uul aimag and making contributions to youth education, teaching English and outspreading the country's culture. They agreed to convey the issue to Ambassador of the United States and cooperate in involving youths in Darkhan in scholarship programs announced by the U.S. Government.

Following the meeting, Mr. Robert Tate gave a lecture under subject ‘Right Career Choice-Bright Future’ to the students and youths in the aimag. The students said that the lecture gave impetus to opening up opportunities to them to study at colleges and universities in the United States with scholarships, choosing their career right and resolving issues related to tuition fee.

A total of 267 people have been diagnosed with HIV in Mongolia; 42 of whom have died. The Central Asian country registered its first case of HIV/AIDS in 1992.

The Mongolian government pays great attention in fighting HIV/AIDS. For example, it established the National Committee on AIDS in 2017 and has increased its funding steady. As a result, there have not been any cases registered of HIV/AIDS being contracted via blood or medical equipment or from mother to child. A total of 24 healthy children have been born from 16 mothers with HIV.

In Mongolia, the HIV/AIDS test is free.

Mongolian imports from Taiwan are mostly electronics, medical equipment, medicine and health products. These products account for 87 percent of total Taiwanese imports.

As the only Northeast Asian nation not involved in the nuclear talks with North Korea, Mongolia is often left out of discussions about resolving the region’s most intractable security issue – the North Korean nuclear crisis. Mongolia has offered this as one path for North Korea to develop its economy while retaining its sovereignty.

The organizers said that the meeting in Mongolia, which maintains good relations with both Koreas, intends to highlight Mongolia’s role in promoting inter-Korean relations and contribution to regional peace and stability. A Mongolian delegate expressed that the country has been striving to be an active intermediary in the Northeast Asian issue.

At the G20 summit, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to halt new trade tariffs for 90 days to allow for talks.

An escalating trade war between the world's two largest economies has weighed on markets generally.

The US and China have imposed billions of dollars of tariffs on one another's goods, posing risks to global trade and the world economy.

In China, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index and Shanghai Composite were up more than 2% in early trading, while Japan's Nikkei 225 rose more than 1%.

"I do not think market consensus is looking for very significant progress, this is a temporary truce," Masamichi Adachi senior economist at JP Morgan in Japan said.

"Many people suspected that there may be a more disastrous outcome, this is definitely a relief."

The US and China have been embroiled in a trade war this year which has seen the US hit China with tariffs on $250bn (£195.9bn) worth of goods since July, and China retaliate with duties on some $110bn of US goods over the same period.

Stakes were high at a meeting between President Trump and President Xi at last week's G20 meeting in Argentina.

Failure to achieve a ceasefire would have seen tariffs on $200bn worth of Chinese goods rise from 10% to 25% at the start of next year, and would have opened the way for tariffs on additional Chinese goods.

Hopes of a breakthrough at the G20 had been undermined right before the meeting by comments from the US president.

President Trump said last week he was likely to go ahead with a planned tariff hike and reiterated his threats that the US could impose tariffs on the remaining $267bn of Chinese imports into the country.

The MPP board convened last month and decided to oust Mayor Batbold Sundui and Speaker Enkhbold Miyegombo. The board went into a heated discussion over Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Development (SME) Fund sandal, which later ended in the dismissal of MPP caucus Chairman Khayankhyarvaa Damdin. Later on, 27 MPs, including Mr. Khayankhyarvaa, submitted a petition to dissolve the Cabinet over SME Development Fund scandal and the inability of PM to deal with Cabinet members involved in the case.

At the Parliament session, PM Khurelsukh addressed, “I am focusing on two focal areas, first to establish justice in the society and improve accountability. We have successfully tackled a downturn and will focus on restoring the economy now. Secondly, I will do anything to break down the pyramid of injustice. As the Chairman of MPP, I ask Enkhbold Miyegombo to submit his resignation letter. You are unqualified to serve as the Parliament Speaker. It seems that law enforcers need to focus on being independent as they face lots of demand and pressure from politicians, becoming a political instrument. Law enforcers need to serve the public and I will look into it.”

After hours of heated dispute, the poll was ended in favor of PM Khurelsukh. Among the 40 MPs who rejected the bill, DP members Bold Luvsanvandan, Batzandan Jalbasuren, Murat Dakei and independent member Javkhlan Samand were included and only four votes could have swayed the fate of Khurelsukh and his Cabinet. As for the dispute between Speaker and Premier, it is up to the Constitutional Court to make the final decision because the Prime Minister has submitted a request to the court over MNT 60 billion sell-off of public sector positions, which will be reviewed within 14 days.

“I am not a dictator,” said Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, the PM, during a heated session that lasted more than four hours.

“Some of you are thinking and are afraid that I might turn into a dictator – I assure you I won’t.”

In a council meeting earlier this month, Khurelsukh demanded that several high-ranking officials step down for various reasons, including incompetence, resulting in the vote to oust him from office.

One member of the prime minister’s cabinet resigned over corruption allegations.

The move to boot Khurelsukh comes just over a year after the prime minister was named to replace his predecessor, Jargaltulgiin Erdenebat.

In September 2017, Erdenebat too faced parliament over allegations of corruption, such as providing illegal cash allowances to voters, and was sacked along with his cabinet.

Political instability has been a constant problem for the young central Asian democracy, which passed its first constitution in 1992 after decades of communist rule.

The country has been through 15 different cabinets in the years since, each lasting an average of 1.5 years.