Japan eyes investment pacts with African nations www3.nhk.or.jp

Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono says Tokyo hopes to proceed with agreements with African nations with the aim of encouraging Japanese firms to invest in the continent.

Kono spoke at the opening ceremony of a ministerial meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD, in Mozambique on Thursday.

He pointed out the need to increase private-sector investments in Africa to help it achieve autonomous growth.

Kono said Japan plans to sign investment agreements with 13 countries, including Ethiopia and Ghana.

Apparently in reference to China's increasing maritime activities, Kono said maintaining a free and open maritime order under international law is the foundation of world peace and stability. He stressed that Japan intends to enhance the connection between Asia and Africa while ensuring free trade.

Kono told reporters that Africa needs quality infrastructure to achieve quality growth, and Tokyo needs to make the type of efforts that no other country can.

He said Japan hopes to help African countries, not only by building physical infrastructure, but by creating system in each country that unify people regardless of religion or tribe. Kono expressed hope that through such efforts, Japan will share a free and open maritime strategy throughout Asia and Africa, the fastest-growing continents in the world.

SUU JSC presents its 2017 semi-annual operational and financial report to public www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ "Suu" JSC, a Tier 1 listed company, presented its semi-annual financial and operational report to the public at MSE on August 24.

SoftBank invests additional $3 billion in shared-office startup WeWork www.reuters.com

(Reuters) - WeWork Cos said on Thursday it received an additional $3 billion investment from Japan’s SoftBank Group (9984.T) and its Vision Fund, helping the shared-office startup ramp up its expansion globally.

OZ Minerals to build $700 mln copper mine in Australia www.mining.com

OZ Minerals Ltd said on Thursday it would begin construction of its Carrapateena copper mine in Australia, the country's largest undeveloped copper project, which it estimated would cost A$916 million ($724 million).

Mongolia sells record amount of coal to China in first half of 2017 www.news.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The export of mineral resources is a significant source of export revenues for Mongolia, with copper concentrate, coal, iron ore, gold and oil having a lion's share.

Since 2017, the demand for Mongolian coal has increased dramatically. China is the largest consumer of coal in the world and Mongolia's close neighbor. In the first six months of 2017, Mongolia managed to sell China a record amount of coal.
According to economists, Mongolia exported approximately 25 million tons of "black gold" to China each month.
According to the authorities of Gants mod border checkpoint, in the first six months of this year, Mongolia exported 10.09 million tons of coal to China through the Gashuunsukhait-Gants mod border checkpoints. This result exceeds the volume of coal exports for the same period of last year by 14 percent.
The transportation of coal through the Gants mod border checkpoint for the first six months of last year was more than 10 million tons, while this level was reached in the first 4 months of this year. "This was facilitated by the increase in supply, related to the increase in demand for coal in China. On the other hand, the technical modernization of the border checkpoint played a role in reducing delays for a technical reason," said the representatives of the Gants mod border checkpoint.
In the future, coal exporters expect that the supply of coal will be stable. As for the main exporter of Mongolia, Tavan Tolgoi plans to increase the volume of its transportation to 11.5 million tons of coal this year.

Germany repatriates $28bn in Cold War gold from France & US www.rt.com

The German central bank (Bundesbank) has brought back 674 tons of gold reserves kept in Paris and New York since the Cold War.

Some 53,780 gold bars, each weighing 12.5kg and worth €440,000, have been shipped to Germany over the last four years, said the bank. The last 100 tons were moved from Paris earlier this year, which means the Bundesbank now holds no reserves in France.

Brazil opens vast Amazon reserve to mining www.bbc.com

Brazil's government has abolished a vast national reserve in the Amazon to open up the area to mining.
The area, covering 46,000 sq km (17,800 sq miles), straddles the northern states of Amapa and Para, and is thought to be rich in gold, and other minerals.
The government said nine conservation and indigenous land areas within it would continue to be legally protected.
But activists have voiced concern that these areas could be badly compromised.
A decree from President Michel Temer abolished a protected area known as the National Reserve of Copper and Associates (Renca).
Its size is larger than Denmark and about 30% of it will be open to mining.
The mining and energy ministry says protected forest areas and indigenous reserves will not be affected.
"The objective of the measure is to attract new investments, generating wealth for the country and employment and income for society, always based on the precepts of sustainability," the ministry said in a statement.

Russian oil sales to China surge dramatically www.rt.com

For the fifth consecutive month, Russia remains China's top crude oil supplier with July shipments up 54 percent year-on-year.

China bought 4.97 million tons, or about 1.17 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) from Russia last month, according to the General Administration of Customs.
For the first seven months of the year, Russian crude sales to China surged nearly 16 percent year-on-year to 34.22 million tons, or 1.18 million bpd.
Beijing’s second largest supplier is Saudi Arabia with 940,000 bpd. Saudi supplies to China are down 0.8 percent compared to the same period last year.
Shipments from Angola, China's third-largest supplier, fell 17.1 percent from a year earlier to 921,520 bpd.
The most significant increase in oil supplies to China was from Malaysia (+ 889 percent), Azerbaijan (+ 193.3 percent) and Mexico (+ 102.7 percent).
However, the import share of these countries remains small, as only Malaysia is in the top 15.
China has also started buying crude from the United States. Imports from the US totaled 174,000 bpd in July.
Global oil prices fell on Wednesday, as investors are worried about increasing supply from Libya. Brent was down 0.4 percent at $51.64 per barrel, while the US WTI slid 0.31 percent to $47.68.
Production from the Sharara oil field, which is crucial for Libyan output, recently reached 280,000 bpd but closed this week due to a pipeline problem. The field restarted production at least once on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Despite the setback, Libya has propped up production to above one million bpd in late June, which is 400 percent up since last summer.

Presidents of Turkmenistan and Mongolia discussed prospects for cooperation in a telephone call www.tdh.gov.tm

A telephone call took place between the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and the President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga.

Mongolia Tops Asia Dollar Bond Returns With 18% Gain www.bloomberg.com

A bailout by the International Monetary Fund can be a winner for bond investors. Dollar notes from Mongolia and Sri Lanka, both in IMF programs, are handing debt investors the highest returns so far this year among developing Asian nations, according to Bloomberg Barclays Indexes. AllianceBernstein LP is holding on to its Mongolian sovereign notes, citing positive fundamentals for the economy with a rebound in coal prices and the importance of IMF support, according to Brad Gibson, a fixed-income portfolio manager in Hong Kong at the global investment firm.