Drones to support mobile communications www3.nhk.or.jp

Invest Mongolia 2017 conference kicks off www.mongolia.gogo.mn

ULAANBAATAR (GoGo Mongolia) - "Invest Mongolia 2017" Frontier`s 11th annual conference is taking place in Shangri-La hotel Ulaanbaatar during Sep 4-5. 

Invest Mongolia is one the of the largest events in Mongolia, which serves as a platform of bringing in delegates from the Government of Mongolia, key industries' players, financial institutions, global investors and medias attracting close to 1000 delegates where they get a chance to talk about several socio-political and economic development throughout the year.
What`s new this year?
The impact of the IMF program and whether the Government will take investor friendly measures to increase FDI.
The overview of Mongolian Economy including updates on legal, accounting and other regulatory changes
The progress and its impacts of OT underground and other major projects to the economy
AIIB and its involvements to the infrastructure development in Mongolia
The Mongolian Banking Industry and the Bank Strategies
The development of the non-mining sectors including the Real Estate
The foreign Investment in Mongolia: Concerns & Opportunities
The outlook of the Bond Market and the possible measures to increase the credit rating. 
The key speakers of the conference are:
Armando Torres, Member of the Board of Directors and CEO, Oyu Tolgoi
S.Batbold, Governor of Capital City and Mayor of Ulaanbaatar City
Neil Saker, Resident Representative, IMF 
Prof.Christian Strenger, Member of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Asset Management
Graeme Knowd, Managing Director, Moody's Investors Service
Peter Akerley, President & CEO, Erdene Resource Development
Erdembileg Ochirkhuu, First Deputy Governor, Bank of Mongolia
Nyamaa Buyantogtokh, Secretary of State, Ministry of Finance
Ganbold Gombo, Vice President/CFO, Erdenes Mongol LLCChristopher Melville, Managing Partner, Hogan Lovells.

International business community shows confidence in BRICS cooperation www.xinhuanet.com

XIAMEN, China, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The international business community at the BRICS Business Forum inaugurated here Sunday expressed confidence in cooperation built by the BRICS bloc grouping Brazil, Russia, India, China and Russia, hoping such cooperation can be furthered in future.
About 1,200 business elites from more than 600 enterprises gathered here to attend the two-day forum, an important side event of the BRICS summit in Xiamen City of southeast China's Fujian Province.
"The BRICS is never about short-term fluctuation of economic activity. It's always about complementarity," Jeremy Stevens, an economist with Standard Bank, Africa's largest bank headquartered in South Africa, told Xinhua on the sidelines of the business forum.
In a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged that BRICS countries have encountered headwinds of varying intensity affected by complex internal and external environments, but he is upbeat about the countries' growth outlook.
Together, the five countries now represent 44 percent of the world's population and 23 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP), up from 12 percent a decade ago.
"I'm very positive about BRICS and we'll continue to support China in its endeavors to facilitate trade and investment," Stevens said.
Amid the rise of trade protectionism, Stevens said Xi's speech was "so great" as he mentioned Xiamen, one of China's earliest special economic zones, in his opening remarks to remind the world "how important being open to trade and investment."
Atul Dalakoti, executive director of the Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, also hailed Xi's speech as "comprehensive, strategic and future-looking" and expressed his confidence in BRICS.
"The intent is there. They (BRICS countries) intend to do things, to change things, to look for drivers for growth," Dalakoti told Xinhua, adding that such determination should be followed by concrete policy decisions and "that will make a real difference."
Looking to the future, Dalakoti said he hoped that starting from the Xiamen summit, there will be a new consensus among the BRICS countries that they need develop their economies "with a much closer relationship."
Li Yong, director general of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, told Xinhua that he believed the BRICS countries will enjoy great potential for cooperation in the future.
"As long as the five countries explore their advantages, their cooperation will go smoothly which will be like 'adding wings to a tiger'," Li said.

Bitcoin price surpasses $5,000 for first time www.rt.com

The price of Bitcoin surpassed $5,000 for the first time, reaching a historic new high for the cryptocurrency, before quickly dipping back below the record-breaking mark.

Bitcoin hit a high of $5,013.91, according to the CoinDesk index, on Friday and stayed above the mark for 10 minutes of trading, before falling back to a low of $4,867.19.

Hyundai seeks to draw young professionals away from Mercedes and BMW www.asia.nikkei.com

SEOUL -- Hyundai Motor unveiled its mid-size luxury sedan under premium brand Genesis on Friday, targeting young professionals in their 30s and 40s who have thus far preferred the German brands of Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Macquarie says iron ore, coal prices to remain strong into 2018 www.mining.com

Prices for iron ore and coking coal, the two key ingredients for steelmaking, are set to remain buoyant for the remainder of the year, Macquarie Bank predicted in a recent report.

The influential Australian bank revised its earlier price estimates for iron ore and coking coal by a wide margin, citing an overall improvement in the Chinese economy, which consumes the vast majority of the world's steelmaking inputs.

"The biggest discernible change in fortunes for commodities has been a lifting in investor sentiment towards Chinese demand, with the strong June macroeconomic prints — including the third-highest ever loans data — having presented a more robust picture of activity for the second half of 2017," Macquarie says in the report quoted by Business Insider. "After resurgent strength in commodities prices, particularly amongst the bulks, we upgrade our forecasts."

Macquarie previously saw the benchmark spot price for 62% fines averaging $50 a tonne in the first quarter of 2018, but now estimates it will settle around $73/tonne – an increase of 46%.

"Our prior forecasts assumed a more rapid closing of the discount for low grade iron-ore as the fall in benchmark prices was expected to be driven by both increased high grade supply and declining steel demand," the bank explained. "However, with the outlook for steel bullish for at least the next six to nine months, we have assumed the discounts for lower grade ore close more slowly than previously anticipated."

Benchmark iron ore last traded at $76.08 a tonne, a slight dip from its Aug. 22 close of $79.65 a tonne, according to Metal Bulletin.

The bulk-shipped material has been on a tear since June when it was trading in the mid-$50s, largely due to increased Chinese steel production. China's steel production in July rose more than 10% compared to last year to a record 74m tonnes as traders worry about a steel supply crunch going into the new year. Beijing wants to cut output by as much as 50% during winter months to fight smog, particularly in its capital city and surrounding areas.

In Hebei province, China's key producing region, steelmakers said they will comply with stringent new emissions regulations starting September 1. Some 120 million tonnes of low-quality steel capacity were shuttered during the first six month of the year.

Meanwhile BHP (NYSE:BHP), one of the largest exporters of iron ore and coking coal from Australia, said it is optimistic going into 2018.

“Based on our view that the steel market in China will remain tight, thus supporting mill margins, we expect (iron) ores at the higher end of the grade spectrum to perform well for at least the remainder of the calendar year,” chief commercial officer Arnoud Balhuizen said on BHP's website.

Turning to coal, Macquarie said coking coal prices will also remain elevated for longer than it previously anticipated.

The bank revised its near-term coking coal price forecasts by 32% and 40% in the first and second quarters of next year, respectively, to $185 and $175 a tonne. It said the upgrades were based on Chinese restocking demand and tight coking coal supply.

“With the potential for voluntary supply restraint by major Chinese metallurgical coal producers, ongoing supply issues, Chinese port inventories remaining low, high land-borne logistics costs in China, and the potential for an accelerated rate of capacity closures in calendar year 2018, it is possible that metallurgical coal prices can sustain above long-run marginal costs for some time,” BHP's Balhuizen was quoted in The Australian.

"APU" JSC presents its 2017 semi-annual report to public at MSE www.mse.mn

"APU" JSC, a Tier 1 listed company, presented its semi-annual financial and operational report to the public on August 30th, 2017 at MSE. 

Mongolia comes to West Virginia: Judges come to learn about American judicial process www.wvrecord.com

CHARLESTON – West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals representatives recently met with a group of Mongolian judges to discuss the role of the Supreme Court and the appeal process, court administration, electronic filing and other judicial matters.

Preliminary Balance of Payments for July, 2017 www.mongolbank.mn

Main indicators  

Current and capital account balance totaled to USD 358.9 million deficit, which is 37% or USD 212.7 million decrease compared to the same period last year. The change was mainly driven by USD 470.2 million decrease in deficit of goods and services account, resulting a surplus of USD 248.1 million.

Russia & China plan joint production of at least 200 heavy lift helicopters www.rt.com