The citizens of Ulan Bator will be able to privatize up to 5,000-square meter land in rural areas free of charge.

Since 2013, a total of 191,276 residents of the Mongolian capital privatized 100.872 square km of land for family needs. Therefore, it is now impossible to privatize land in Ulan Bator.

The total land area of Mongolia is 1,564,116 square km. But more than half of its three million population live in the capital.

According to law on land allocation, the size of land parcels allocated for ownership for family needs vary depending on location.

In Ulan Bator and along the national level main roads connecting provinces with Ulan Bator, individuals are entitled to up to 0.07 hectares or 700 square meters, while in the province centers up to 0.35 hectares or 3500 square meters, and in administrative subdivisions centers and villages up to 0.5 hectares or 5,000 square meters, respectively.

Foreign citizens and companies can only use land under definite conditions and terms. They are not permitted to own land.

“Mongolia appreciates the agreement to hold a high-level meeting between the ROK and the DPRK, reached during a meeting between Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and members of the ROK delegation including a special envoy of President Moon Jae-in on March 5. Mongolia is confident that the high-level meeting will give stimulus to the strengthening of trust in the Korean Peninsula, and furthermore ensuring peace and security in the Northeast Asian region,” the statement says.
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The company announced that it finished the first stage exploration and discovered four new gold occurrences in Bayankhongor. Simultaneously with these projects, the company attracted CAD 45 million (USD 35 million) and commenced the IPO issuance at TSX.

As for Mongolian Metals Corporation, the company purchased a total of 13 exploration licenses in the last 12 years, of which two licenses remaining in effect. It has been actively exploring a 75 thousand hectare in Bayankhongor aimag for the last 8-9 years. Last year, the company announced that it discovered large gold, copper and silver deposit. Presently, the company is raising USD 1 million for its preparation works and exploration projects, and expects to raise USD 3-5 million from the IPO at TSX.

In addition, Xanadu Mines is seeking a dual-listing at TSX. The main deposit of Xanadu is the Kharmagtai project in Umnugobi aimag, which was launched in 2015. Xanadu have cash reserves of AUD 9.1 million (USD 7 million) necessary for the continuation of this project, of which AUD 3.4 million (USD 2.6 million) is allocated for the first quarter of this year.

Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE) has recently finalized the regulation for dual-listing. In relations to the decision, some sources reported that TSX-listed Erdene Resource Development (ERD) may be seeking an IPO at MSE; however, no official announcement has been made yet.

ERD is actively conducting exploration in Bayan Khunduu, Altan Arrow and Altan Nar deposits and announced that the exploration had high results.

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In October 2017, Prime Minister Khurelsukh has received Ambassador of PRC to Mongolia Xing Haiming and requested to focus on settling the implicit economic sanction. Thus, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia Tsogtbaatar Damdin paid a visit to PRC in early-December, which helped reduce inspection to coal and increase exports amount. As a result, the coal export has reached 3.2 million tons in November and December respectively. During the visit, the Foreign Minister signified the importance of frequent high-level visits and agreed on organizing the PM’s visit to PRC.

Mongolia-China business forum on trade and economic cooperation to take place

Whether to reconcile the unsettling relations between the two countries and expand comprehensive strategic partnership will be decided during this visit. In addition, President of PRC Xi Jinping has agreed to provide USD 1 billion soft loan during his visit to Mongolia in 2014. If Mongolia finalizes the investment plans, USD 1 billion worth investment will be released. Furthermore, within the frame of PM’s visit, Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) will co-organize Mongolia- PRC business forum on trade and economic cooperation with China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission. Representatives of private entities willing to participate in the forum can register at MNCCI until March 10.

On the side note, Minister of Road and Transport Development Bat-Erdene Jadamba paid a visit to PRC in February, and negotiated on settling the finances of Tavan tolgoi-Gashuunsukhait railroad development within the frames of increasing mining exports and supporting economic development of Mongolia. Sides also agreed on establishing new airway in the second half of 2018. As for actions on reducing loads at Zamiin-Uud- Erlian border crossing, sides touched upon the issues of implementing Zuunbayan-Khangi route railroad project and establishing Khangi-Mandal border crossing.

PM’s first visit to the PRC may settle the above-mentioned issues and the PM will sign the Agreement on Transport of Freight to Pacific Ports in the PRC through the Zamiin-Uud-Erlian port.

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Last decade, a couple of surveys on ambient and household air pollution and its impact were locally conducted and findings of these surveys have been used for evidence-informed decision making. A joint research team of Mongolia and Canada estimated in 2011 that 29 percent of cardiopulmonary deaths and 40 percent of lung cancer deaths in Ulaanbaatar city are attributable to ambient air pollution.

The 2017 National Program on Reduction of Air and Environmental Pollution provides a roadmap to decrease air pollutants by 80 percent, prohibit the use of unprocessed coal anywhere except for thermal power plants in Ulaanbaatar, and reduce air and environmental pollution by at least 50 percent by 2025. WHO reviewed that it is crucial to conduct systematic assessment of the sources of air pollution, and identify the most effective interventions to eliminate or control them.

According to general financing agreement between Government of Mongolia and Asian Development Bank, renovation works of 204 km road in route Ulaanbaatar and Darkhan and 113 km road in route Darkhan-Altanbulag will be made within the framework of projects and programs to be implemented with allocated loan capital in 2017-2018. Therefore the concession selection has been overruled. Ulaanbaatar-Darkhan road will be first class road with cement concrete paving and having 4 lanes.

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It is decided that the projects will be financed from local and state budget, foreign soft loans and aids.

The goal of the program is to develop sustainable and competitive industrialization involving value added production, meeting international quality and standardization requirements and market economy demands by introducing advanced technology, based on the local community features and resources. In addition, it is believed that it will increase number of workplaces, circulation of domestic and foreign trade and economic growth.

As of the end of 2016, total sales of the industrial sector resulted MNT 11.06 billion and out of this, 20.3 percent or MNT 2.3 billion was accumulated from the processing sector. This is 8.1 percent of the country’s GDP or 3 fold lower compared to middleincome countries.

In accordance with the results of a study conducted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the country’s structure of industrial sector is highly dependent on raw materials of mining and agricultural sectors based on simple technology, and about 95 percent of export products are subject to only the first stage processing. This shows that the real value added production, which is the base of sustainable development of any country, is very poor in Mongolia.

Over 1,300 permanent and temporary Russian residents can vote at the polling stations from 8 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) to 8 p.m.(1200 GMT), the diplomat said.

The Russian presidential election will be held on March 18. There are eight candidates running for president this year, including incumbent President Vladimir Putin, who is running as an independent candidate.

At an irregular meeting of the cabinet held on February 23, Sumiyabazar Dolgorsuren, Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry briefed the cabinet on the issues of establishing a sovereign wealth fund and listing of ETT on two stock exchanges. Currently, the ETT shareholding structure is composed of the Government of Mongolia and Mongolian public who own 85 percent and 15 percent of the total outstanding shares of ETT, respectively.

According to the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority of Mongolia, there are 9 companies operating in the deposits of strategic importance as set by the Parliament. Tavan Tolgoi, one of the world’s largest high-quality coal deposit sites, is expected to yield over six billion tonnes of resources, of which, a quarter is estimated to be coking coal.

The government intended to sell shares of ETT on the stock exchange both locally and internationally; however, the long-awaited IPO was postponed several times in past years due to weaker coal prices, poor market conditions, and uncertainty over the legal environment in Mongolia.

According to MarketIntel, 80 percent of the total outstanding shares of ETT are already owned by the government of Mongolia and Mongolian citizens. Of those 80 percent of shares, 0.05 percent shares are owned by Mongolian business entities, 14.75 percent and 65.2 percent shares are owned by Mongolian citizens and the government of Mongolia. Whereas, 20 percent of the total outstanding shares of ETT are available to be listed on local and international stock exchanges. Whether ETT is successfully listed on stock exchanges locally and internationally within 2018, the attempt itself will have a significant positive impact on local capital markets and on the coal industry. If the matter is pushed to the following year, it will come too close to the next parliamentary election and may become a highly politicized subject.

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