Parliamentarians are working in their respective constituencies to present the draft amendment to the Constitution and receive the citizens’ suggestions and opinions in accordance with the Order No. 85 of the speaker of Parliament.

In particular, legislators B.Battumur, G.Damdinnyam and B.Javkhlan are working in Darkhan-Uul Province, and held a meeting and discussion to get citizens’ opinions. Residents expressed their support for a mixed electoral system, while making suggestions related to manual counting of ballots and fair elections. In addition, in order to strengthen the representative capacity, the citizens supported to expand Parliament to include representatives of social groups and sectors and increase the number of members.

Members of Parliament Ts.Munkhtsetseg and D.Tsogtbaatar are meeting the Sukhbaatar District residents. They informed that in order to improve the Parliament’s ability to represent the people, the number of lawmakers will be increased to 152 in accordance with the population, and fifty percent of the total members will be elected by majority and fifty percent by proportional method in accordance with the draft amendment.

Lawmaker B.Purevdorj met the citizens of Uyench, Bulgan, Erdeneburen, Must and Altai soums of Khovd Province, and presented detailed information about the draft amendment to the Constitution to increase the number of parliamentary members to 152 and conduct the parliamentary elections in a mixed system.

Member T.Dorjkhand is currently working in the Khan-Uul District. The residents who participated in the meeting expressed their opinions regarding the holding of the parliamentary elections in a mixed electoral system and increasing the number of members.

During his working visit in Uvs Province, lawmaker Ch.Khurelbaatar gave an information about the current social and economic conditions of the country, presented the draft amendment to the Constitution and listened to the citizens’ opinions. Some of the participants believed that it is unnecessary to increase the number of members, while the others said that the number of members can be increased to keep pace with the times, but it is better to be less than 152. On the contrary, there were citizens who supported the regulation of 152 members in the draft amendment submitted by the government. However, they agreed that it is very important for Mongolia to secure its independence and ensure its classical parliamentary government, which fully expresses the wishes of its people, at a time when the situation in the outside world is not peaceful.

Citizens are expressing various views on the draft amendment to the Constitution. On the issue of increasing the number of members, most of them stated that it is better to have about 100 or 108 members in Parliament.

The lawmakers were assigned to work in their constituencies for seven days, inform the citizens and voters about the proposed amendments to the Constitution submitted by the government, discuss and decide whether to consider them, listen to the views of the citizens, collect and consolidate the relevant opinions. The consolidated report will be submitted to the Standing Committee on State Structure by May 17, and the standing committee will submit it to the working group responsible for preparing the draft amendments to the Constitution for the second and third discussions by May 18.

Mongolia has exported more than 19 million tons of coal since the beginning of this year, according to the Ministry of Mining.

4,286 vehicles and 1,045 containers exported a total of 590,900 tons of coal from April 28 to May 4, which is 60% more than in the same period last year. Mongolia has produced 19,774,700 tons of coal, which increased coal exports by 15,742,000 tons or four times compared to last year.

Mongolia plans to sell 50-60% of its coal through the stock exchange, Mining and Heavy Industry Minister Ganbaatar Zhambal said in April.

Mongolia plans to sell 12 million tons of coal by July 1 through the stock exchange. Annual coal sales are planned to increase from 50% to 60% by 2024. All coal will be sold through the stock exchange as early as 2025.

A ceremony was held in the Parliament of Canada on May 10 in connection with the re-establishment of the Canada-Mongolia Parliamentary group in the Parliament of Canada.

The Canada-Mongolia Parliamentary Caucus in the Canadian Parliament has 18 members of the Senate and the House of Commons, and is chaired by Senator Michèle Audette. The Canada-Mongolia Parliamentary Group was first established in the Canadian Parliament in 2003. Cooperation between the supreme legislative bodies is an important component of the relationship between Mongolia and Canada, and it has made a valuable contribution to strengthening the common democratic values of the two countries.

Speaker of the Senate of the Canadian Parliament George J. Furey, who was an official visit to Mongolia in 2022, representatives of the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other honored guests attended the event.

India's imports of Russian oil rose tenfold last year, according to Indian state-controlled lender Bank of Baroda.

The figures show Asia's third largest economy saved around $5bn (£4bn) as it ramped up crude purchases from Moscow.

It comes as Western countries have been cutting their imports of energy from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has been selling energy at a discount to countries like China and India, which is the world's third largest importer of oil.

In 2021 Russian oil accounted for just 2% of India's annual crude imports. That figure now stands at almost 20%, Bank of Baroda said.

India's purchases of oil from Russia during the last financial year, saved it around $89 per tonne of crude, the figures show.

Despite pressure from the US and Europe, India has refused to adhere to Western sanctions on Russian imports. New Delhi has also not explicitly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

India has defended its oil purchases, saying that as a country reliant on energy imports and with millions living in poverty, it was not in a position to pay higher prices.

Since the Ukraine war began, Europe had imported six times more energy from Russia than India, the country's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said in a TV interview last year.

"Europe has managed to reduce its imports while doing it in a manner that is comfortable," he said.

Mr Jaishankar added: "If it is a matter of principle why did Europe not cut on the first day?"

With no end in sight to the conflict, some analysts expect Russia to continue to offer cheap oil to Asia's biggest energy importers.

"We expect Russian crude intake to remain limited to these two countries [India and China], sustaining the steep discounts," Vandana Hari, from energy analysis firm Vanda Insights told the BBC.

India's oil refiners will continue to maximise their profit margins for as long as they can, but will simply "go back to their usual crude diet" if the sanctions were to be lifted, she added.

Minister of Foreign Affairs B. Battsetseg is on a Visit to the Czech Republic between May 11 and 12.

Within the framework of the Visit, the Minister of Foreign Affairs B. Battsetseg will hold official talks with Jan Lipavský, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic to discuss expanding relations and cooperation in trade, economy, investment, and other sectors between the two countries. Other meetings are planned with the President of the Senate, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic.

Traditionally, Mongolia and Czech maintain active cooperation in the geology and mining sectors. To that extent, during the Visit, a Memorandum of Cooperation will be signed, with a particular emphasis on reviving and further intensifying the relations in these sectors.

As part of the Visit, Minister B. Battsetseg will meet Mongolian citizens residing in the Czech Republic and exchange views on their social welfare, pension, and implementation of the Agreement on Social Security, which was signed by the governments of Mongolia and the Czech Republic.

Currently, 12 thousand Mongolians are residing in the Czech Republic, making it the largest community in Europe.

On the 10th of May, 2023, the Chairman of the State Great Khural, G. Zandanshatar, addressed a gathering of employees from the local administration organizations of the capital city. The primary focus of his presentation was on the reform of civil service, the Law on Ethics of Civil Servants, and legal reforms that are slated to be discussed in the regular spring session of the State Great Khural.

In his address, the Chairman highlighted that the parliament is actively working towards a package of laws that combat corruption and reform the political party system, as well as legal reforms to revive the amendments to the Constitution of Mongolia. Mr. Zandanshatar stated that discussions are currently ongoing for a set of draft laws related to the legal status of whistleblowers, regulation of public and private interests in public service, and prevention of conflict of interest, along with the National Anti-Corruption Program.

The Chairman also emphasized that the immediate goal of the parliament is to enhance governance and implement economic and human development reforms and that three packages of laws composed of ten laws are included in this framework.

During his address, G. Zandanshatar, the Chairman of the State Great Khural, remarked that the Law on Ethics of Civil servants would be the cornerstone of the efforts to combat corruption. This law would be applicable to the 234,251 civil servants working in 4337 public and state-participation organizations.

The Chairman emphasized the importance of ethics in law and cited an ancient proverb that states that "if a thousand laws are made, they would not be obeyed without ethics". He stressed the need for following ethical norms at all levels to establish social justice. The Chairman further highlighted the crucial roles of an Ethics Council to be established under each government organization and the Ethics Committee to be operated under the Civil Service Council to play in implementing the law.