The Mongolian Expeditionary Task Force Seven has arrived at the New Kabul Compound and relieved Mongolian Expeditionary Task Force Six, following the latter's successful six-month deployment. During the hand-over ceremony, U.K. Army Brigadier Simon Humphrey, who is the Kabul Security Force commander highlighted the crucial importance of Mongolia’s participation.

Although the Kabul Security Force is officially comprised of six nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Finland and New Zealand, Mongolia is a key contributor.

Mongolia began to contribute troops in 2010 when it deployed an infantry platoon to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Regional Command-North. In addition to the Mongolian Expeditionary Task Force, its current contributions to the Resolute Support mission include infantry, artillery and air mentors, and trainers to the Afghan security forces.

“Drawing further attention to the group was the fact that more than 60 million shares were traded compared with average daily trading volumes of 2.5 million shares in March,” reported Proactive-Investors.

David Paull, CEO of Aspire Mining, previously informed that the management expects to have a feasibility study of Nuurstei project completed by the end of the second quarter of 2018, which will provide a significant insight into the project’s economic viability. “The market for coking coal remains robust with historically healthy pricing of hard coking coal of the quality that we expect Nuurstei can produce,” remarked Mr. David Paull.

The company will soon be transporting minerals directly onto rail for delivery to markets including People’s Republic of China (PRC), Russian Federation, Eastern Europe and North Asian countries. For instance, the company signed several documents and MoU with PRC during Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa’s visit to PRC. This includes an MoU with China Gezhouba Group on investment and cooperation, which includes to complete the feasibility of Erdenet- Ovoot railway within May.

Tugsbilig.B

The Treasury said on Monday that “RUSAL has felt the impact of US sanctions because of its entanglement with Oleg Deripaska,” adding that the “US government is not targeting the hardworking people who depend on RUSAL and its subsidiaries.”

“It will really result in huge damage to Europe if this is not resolved,” said Rob van Gils, chief executive officer of Hammerer Aluminum Industries GmbH, as quoted by Bloomberg.

"It will probably result in more damage to Europe than it will to Mr Putin," he said this week at an aluminum conference in London.

The US actions this week have strengthened Deripaska's confidence that he can retain control over the company, Bloomberg writes, noting that RUSAL has been trying to bypass the sanctions and find new ways for delivery and alternative customers.

The MISI survey in China is based on the responses of 1,000 online interviews conducted from Jan 8 to Feb 20. Respondents are middle class to affluent investors, 25 years or older who are the primary decision makers for financial matters in the household and have investment products.

Chinese investors' overall positive sentiment increased to 40 points this year, compared to 33 points in 2017, according to the survey. The reasons behind the investors' sunny outlook include their belief in new opportunities brought out by China's economic reform, on top of a positive forecast for the global economy.

The 2018 MISI data also showed Chinese investors' positive opinion of property went up 15 points to 32, while that for cash jumped 10 points to 38, and fixed income rose 6 points to 54. Bullishness for equity increased marginally, due to a volatile stock market earlier this year.

In general, Chinese investors expecting a total investment return climbed to 8.8 percent in 2018, up 1 percentage point from the previous year, according to the survey.

Andrew Wang, chief investment officer of Manulife TEDA Fund Management Co Ltd, said the company is cautiously optimistic toward the Chinese equity market, underpinned by China's resilient economy, solid growth and moderate inflation.

"We are also seeing positive reforms in the financial industry to achieve deleveraging as well as increase financial transparency, which will be beneficial for the banking sector," he said.

The index also showed insurance products make up 11 percent of the Chinese people's investment portfolio on average this year, slightly up from 2017 — a 1 percent increase. In addition, the number of investors with insurance saving plans rose 5 percent, reaching 50 percent. The number of interviewees who have bought personal health or medical insurance policies went up 8 percent, hitting 46 percent.

Zhang Kai, chief executive officer of Manulife-Sinochem, said Chinese investors are putting more emphasis on insurance products, given their protective value in one's overall financial plan.

The agreements were signed by Batkhuu Idesh, Director General of the Development Financing Department of the Ministry of Finance, and Yolanda Fernandez Lommen, ADB Country Director for Mongolia, at a ceremony in Ulaanbaatar. First Secretary Hiroshi Fukasawa from the Embassy of Japan in Mongolia witnessed the event. Representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Ministry of Construction and Urban Development also participated.

“Mongolia’s future development rests heavily on how it manages its resources and achieve sustainable development driven by a multisector economy and ecological balance,” said Ms. Fernandez Lommen. "Both projects are aligned with ADB’s Country Partnership Strategy for Mongolia, which supports the government’s efforts to foster inclusive growth, improve people’s access to services, and strengthen environmental sustainability.”

The USD1 million water governance TA grant aims to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of investments in the water sector and infrastructure in the country to provide socioeconomic benefits. The project will assess the current status of water governance standards, provide policy recommendations for legislative and institutional reforms, and develop and update management plans for river basins. It will strengthen and build capacity among government agencies, and assess the potential scale-up and replication of water security approaches for river basins.

The regional development TA grant for the aimag and soum centers is worth $1.5 million. It will help the government develop an investment program to improve basic urban services and promote the local economy in selected aimag capitals and soum centers. The program will focus on regional urban clusters that have the potential to build a more resilient and diversified economy to deliver inclusive and sustainable growth. The TA will support the preparation of the investment program, such as the formulation of economic and urban development strategies, feasibility studies, and measures that will enhance aid effectiveness and project readiness.

The two projects are funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction. Over the past 19 years, the fund has supported projects in Mongolia in poverty alleviation, community development, improving livelihoods, and safeguarding the environment.
Source:ADB

G.Tuguldur

Heading the 6th Joint Committee for Cooperation, Swaraj said, "Mongolia is well known in India for the valour of her kings and her strong Buddist heritage".

Owing to the common Buddhist heritage shared by the two countries, Swaraj said that the Indian government encourages "students from Mongolia to visit India for further study and research in the field of Buddhist studies."

The minister also shared in her speech that she will attend a birth centenary of a 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche who happened to India's ambassador to Mongolia.

Further, in her speech, she mentioned that both she and Mongolian Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar are committed for capacity building programmes for the people of Mongolia specifically in the areas of English language training and Information Technology.

Thwarting terrorism was also one of the most important highlights of the joint summit.

Both the foreign ministers also held discussions for economic cooperation in areas including infrastructure development, energy, services and Information Technology.

In her speech, she highlighted the collaborative projects including the on-going refinery projects in Mongolia. India had provided one billion dollar Indian Line of Credit for the construction of the oil refinery in the mineral and oil-rich country Mongolia.

The two foreign ministers also inked several bilateral agreements.

The EU delegates arrived in Mongolia to study economic condition of Mongolia and to make analysis on whether it meets criteria of rendering budget support with non-refundable aid. If Mongolia satisfies requirements and gets the right to receive the budget support, non-refundable aid of EUR 50 millioncan be granted to the State Budget of Mongolia, Mr. Marco Ferri informed.

In turn, Head of the Standing Committee B.Choijilsuren expressed gratitude on behalf of the Parliament and the Standing Committee to delegates on visiting to Mongolia to render budget support. “Since the launch of implementation of Extended Fund Facility program of the International Monetary Fund, it brought positive changes in Mongolia’s economy. Stable price of export mining products is influencing favorably as well”, he added and briefed current state of economic condition of Mongolia.

At the meeting, the sides touched issues State Budget spending, transparency and public participation in it.

B.Batchimeg

During Prime Minister U. Khurelsukh’s visit to the PRC, Aspire Mining signed several agreements, one of which is a Memorandum of Understanding with “China Gezhouba Group” for cooperation and investment.

The MoU includes finalizing the feasibility study of a railway route between Erdenet-Ovoot by May.

Construction of this railway infrastructure will open a gateway for Aspire Mining to export coal to the Russian Federation and the PRC.

The Power of Siberia pipeline is one of the biggest projects between Russia and China. Analysts say it could help Russia become one of China's main providers of natural gas as demand in the country increases.

The pipeline’s first section will run some 2,200km from the Chayandinskoye field (Yakutia) to Blagoveshchensk (Chinese border). The second phase of the project will include the construction of a section stretching for about 800km from the Kovyktinskoye field (Irkutsk Region) to the Chayandinskoye field. The third stage provides for expanding gas transmission capacity between the Chayandinskoye field and Blagoveshchensk.

The deal on the eastern route took more than a decade to negotiate. Last July, Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) inked an agreement to start gas deliveries via the route.

In May 2014, the two companies signed a $400-billion 30-year framework to deliver 38 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to China annually.

Moscow and Beijing plan to build another pipeline – Power of Siberia 2 or the western route – that will deliver another 30 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas.

According to the head of Gazprom, Aleksey Miller, China’s growing gas consumption, which was more than 200 billion cubic meters in 2016, is soon expected to reach 300 billion cubic meters.