The agenda is still being elaborated.

"To us, the primary benefit of this event will be new business contacts. A new government is being formed in Mongolia after the presidential election, which took place in late June," the statement quoted the Irkutsk region economic development minister, Yevgeny Orachevsky, as saying.

The Mongolia-EAEU 2017 business forum was held in Ulaanbaatar on October 4 with the participation of representatives of the Mongolian Business Council, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and the EAEU member countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia), the statement said. The forum highlighted trade liberalization mechanisms.

"The Eurasian Economic Union and Mongolia are eyeing a free trade agreement. The document will reduce duties and implement a uniform international certification system, which will save time and money of businessmen," the statement said.

The Irkutsk region is a major trade partner of Mongolia.

The licence MV-020941 covers 860.91ha and has been granted by the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia.

According to the licence, the company has earned the right to carry out operations over the licensed area for a minimum period of 30 years. Regulatory approval is seen as a significant step in the development of the project.

Aspire Mining managing director David Paull said: “Securing a mining licence is an important milestone and reflects the Mongolian Government’s continued support for the company and the coal industry in general.

"This vindicates our original decision in June 2014 to look to add a new coking coal project, which is not rail dependent and the decision in July 2017 to exercise our option to move to a 90% interest. The company is now working very hard on commercialising this high-quality coking coal project as soon as possible.”

The company will issue ten million shares to Xanadu Mines in order to meet its commitment under the sale and purchase agreement signed in June 2014.

It is currently engaged in preparation for raw bulk coal test at the project in an effort to be able to deliver exports to the Tangshan market in China.

The test is said to be key for completing a feasibility study for the project, in addition to providing commercial scale samples.

EFTA is an intergovernmental organization of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, which was set up to promote free trade and economic cooperation among its members within the world.

Head of the Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation at the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Permanent Representative of the Principality of Liechtenstein to the United Nations Office in Geneva Pascal Schafhauser chaired the meeting, and the sides exchanged views on the current situation and future plan of trade and economic cooperation between EFTA and Mongolia, and possible areas to develop investment, renewable energy, agriculture and light industrial cooperation.

During the meeting, the sides focused on finding a solution to solve the two parties’ trade and economic cooperation issues, and the EFTA delegates agreed to study the possibility to provide Mongolia with technical assistance, training seminars, and workshops.

The EFTA delegates agreed to collaborate with Mongolia to help the country export its products to EFTA’s market under the World Trade Organization’s trade facilitation agreement.

1,900 bonds worth MNT 189,107,000 were traded on the secondary market for government bonds and 862 bonds worth 84,079,480 were traded by the block.

The MSE ALL Index rose 0.11 percent to stand at 1105.57. The MSE market cap stands at MNT 2,173,962,878,363

"The war on coal is over,” Pruitt declared in Hazard, Kentucky, echoing President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to support the American coal industry.

While the coal miners celebrated the news, the administration’s critics blasted the decision.

"By saving an estimated 240 million tons of annual coal production, the administrator’s action helps to safeguard more than 27,000 mining jobs and almost 100,000 additional jobs throughout the supply chain," Hal Quinn, CEO of the National Mining Association, said in a statement.

The move by Trump’s EPA is "a wholesale retreat from EPA's legal, scientific and moral obligation to address the threats of climate change," said Gina McCarthy, Obama’s former EPA administrator.

"They’re adding more pollution into our air and threatening public health at a time when the threats of climate change are growing and the costs are growing immeasurably higher on our children and their future," McCarthy added.

The Clean Power Plan was key to Washington’s implementation of the Paris agreement on climate change, from which Trump withdrew in June. It aimed to reduce US power industry’s carbon dioxide pollution levels 32 percent below the 2005 levels by 2030.

The current EPA chief, who has repeatedly questioned the human role in climate change, sued the environmental agency in 2015 in an effort to block the Clean Power Plan. He argued that EPA overstepped its legal authority by saddling the fossil-fuel industry with unnecessary regulations. Pruitt sued the EPA 13 other times in his capacity as Oklahoma’s attorney general for the agency’s efforts to regulate mercury, smog and other forms of pollution.

Since taking office, Trump has set in motion a number of actions aimed at reversing clean air and water regulations. In February, he nixed a rule that stopped mining companies from dumping waste into streams, and in March, Pruitt said he would stop collecting methane emissions from 15,000 oil and gas operations.

In May, the White House budget proposal cut the EPA’s funding by over 31 percent.

21 representatives out of 41 or 51.2 per cent of them at the meeting voted for S.Amarsaikhan, while 19 representatives or 46.2 per cent voted for D.Bayarsaikhan.

On September 22, the Council dismissed former chairman Ts.Sandui in his request. Ts.Sandui put to MPP Steering committee a resignation letter from the post of the meeting chairman and chairman of MPP committee of the capital on August 31.

The City Council members D.Bayarsaikhan and S.Amarsaikhan were nominated the post, but they both got equal vote and MPP group in the Council took a break, postponing the re-voting.

1 - week CBBs
1-week CBB plays an important role in managing the reserves of banks and is the core monetary policy instrument of the Bank of Mongolia. The interest rate on CBB will be the policy rate of the BOM and will serve as a guide interest rate on the interbank market. It was first introduced in July 2007, with fixed rate and unlimited bidding, and traded on a regular basis every Wednesday at the interbank market. This had attracted the banks’ interests providing the possibility for the banks to place their excess reserve in short term asset. Since the introduction of this instrument, there has been a substantial change in the way banks manage their reserves. For the favorable adjustment of CBB rate and loan principle along with the well balance of togrog and foreign exchange, 1 - week CBB auction has been held in the form of competitive interest rate since May 2010. In doing so, the upper and lower limits of the bank bids are to set +/- 2 per cent of the policy rate.

In his letter, the Russian Prime Minister congratulated U.Khurelsukh and remarked on the friendly partnership between the two countries.

“I am confident that development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation and implementation of mutually beneficial projects in investment, transport, energy, agriculture and other sectors will meet the long-term interests of our two countries,” Prime Minister Medvedev wrote.

The Chinese Premier congratulated Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh on being appointed as the new PM of Mongolia and said, “China and Mongolia are friendly neighbors connected by mountains and rivers,”

“China is ready to prioritize bilateral relationship, put collaborative efforts, increase political trust, intensify bilateral relationship and concrete cooperation in all sectors and upgrade China-Mongolia comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level,” the Premier said in his letter.

The Parliament appointed last Thursday U.Khurelsukh as the 30th Prime Minister of Mongolia, succeeding J.Erdenebat.