Spotlight: China-Mongolia ties poised for bright future www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- When leaders gathered at the Russian port city of Vladivostok for the annual Eastern Economic Forum this week, it provided a platform for regional countries, including China and Mongolia, to map out their future cooperation.

As close neighbors, China and Mongolia have long respected each other and endeavored to deepen cooperation across the board.

In a historic visit to Mongolia by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, the two Asian countries upgraded their ties to a "comprehensive strategic partnership." Since then, bilateral cooperation has embarked on a faster track.

As Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during his trip to Mongolia in August, China and Mongolia are friendly neighbors connected by mountains and rivers, and that strengthening the all-round cooperation and deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership are the right choices for the two.

The Chinese side reaffirmed its respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Mongolia, and expressed the readiness to help Mongolia translate its resources into development advantages, improve its self-development capabilities, achieve economic diversification and improve the Mongolian people's livelihoods in jointly building the Belt and Road.

Wang said that China-Mongolia political mutual trust has grown stronger, expressing the hope that the relationship between the two countries will develop in a rapid and healthy way.

Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh also spoke highly of Mongolia-China relations.

He said that the current smooth development of bilateral relations has become a role model for friendly neighbors, and the cooperation between the two countries has great potential and broad prospects.

TRADE TARGET

In recent years, China and Mongolia have witnessed remarkable achievements in economic and trade cooperation thanks to their joint efforts.

China has for years been Mongolia's largest trading partner and largest export destination. Their trade stood at 324 million dollars in 2002 and rose to 6.7 billion dollars in 2017, accounting for 63 percent of Mongolia's total trade.

According to statistics released by the Mongolian Customs General Administration in August, among the 60 countries to which Mongolia exported its goods and services in the first seven months of 2018, China was the recipient of over 86 percent of the total.

During Xi's visit to Mongolia in 2014, the two countries proposed to elevate bilateral trade volume to 10 billion U.S. dollars by 2020.

As the global economy is facing headwinds of rising protectionism and unilateralism, China and Mongolia announced in August that they are launching a joint feasibility study on a free trade agreement in order to achieve the 10-billion-dollar trade target as early as possible.

In this regard, Mongolia called for more export of animal husbandry products and mineral products to China. Wang said the Chinese side will consider the request and will continue to provide support to Mongolia in cross-border transportation and access to the sea.

REDUCING POLLUTION

China has made great contributions to the development of infrastructure in Mongolia by supporting the construction of important projects, such as a waste water processing plant in Ulan Bator, which improved the capital city's environment.

Also, a China-funded project to renovate the Mongolian capital's shantytowns has entered the initiation phase, and is expected to start construction next year.

More than 800,000 residents, over half of Ulan Bator's population, live in the shantytowns, relying on burning raw coal and other flammable materials such as plastics and old tires to stay warm and cook meals during the six-month-long winter season.

It is estimated that 80 percent of air pollution in Ulan Bator is caused by stoves in the shantytowns. So the renovation project is significant for reducing air pollution in Ulan Bator and improving the quality of life for all residents.

Moreover, bilateral cooperation in the education sector has increased in recent years. A total of 21 schools and kindergartens will be built in Mongolia with aid from China by 2020, Mongolia's Education Minister Tsedenbal Tsogzolmaa said.

TRILATERAL COOPERATION

China and Mongolia are also partnering with Russia to push forward trilateral cooperation.

Based on a proposal made by Xi in 2014, the three neighboring countries signed a development plan in June 2016 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to build an economic corridor that will boost transport links and economic cooperation among them.

At a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in June in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao, the presidents of China, Mongolia and Russia agreed to accelerate the construction of the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor and strengthen trilateral cooperation.

The corridor, an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is in line with the economic interests of the three countries. It will generate new opportunities for China-Mongolia cooperation, Wang Yi said.

According to China's National Development and Reform Commission, the three countries will cooperate in seven areas in order to build the trilateral economic corridor. Under the plan, the three neighbors aim to improve transport facilities by expanding land, air and sea connections.

They agreed to expand trade along the border and widen the services trade, and eye more cooperation in education, science and technology, culture, tourism, medical care and intellectual property.

Moreover, Mongolian leaders have long expressed their wish to align Mongolia's development plans with China's development policies.

One way to align the development policies between the two countries is to dock Mongolia's Prairie Road development plan, a trans-border transportation project, with the BRI, Khurelsukh told Xinhua in an interview in April.

China and Mongolia are friendly neighbors sharing a long border, Dashdorj Bayarkhuu, a professor at the Mongolian Diplomatic Academy, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"Landlocked Mongolia can gain a lot from the Belt and Road Initiative and the trilateral economic corridor, which will bring benefits to the Mongolian economy and all Mongolian citizens," Bayarkhuu said.

400kW renewable energy plant to open in Nalaikh www.news.mn

The opening ceremony of an ‘Eco-friendly renewable energy park’ project was held in the Nalaikh District of Ulaanbaatar on 12 September. The project is valued at USD 4.6 million and is financed 100 percent by South Korean nonrefundable aid. The 400kW renewable energy plant is expected to open in first quarter of 2019.

Number of South Korean visa applications increase by 130 percent www.news.mn

South Korea has eased multiple-entry visa rules for Mongolia. Mr. Gil Kang Moug, Consul General of South Korea held a press conference on Tuesday regarding the new visa rules for Mongolians. Nearly 1000 South Korean citizens have received multiple-entry visas to Mongolia whilst 37,000 Mongolians obtained South Korean multiple-entry visas.

US coal exports sure victims of Hurricane Florence — WoodMac www.mining.com

As Hurricane Florence — a monster Category 2 storm — takes aim at southeastern United States, one of the country’s most important coal export hubs has halted operations due to looming damage to ships and infrastructure, analysts at Wood Mackenzie said Thursday.

The National Hurricane Centre said in an advisory note there was a danger of “life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline”, particularly in North and South Carolina – south of Virginia’s three main coal export terminals at Hampton Roads.

While Hampton Roads may avoid a direct hit, there has already been an impact at the coal ports, the Scottish research and consultancy group said in a note.

While the actual impact and damage of Florence have yet to be felt, any significant delay to metallurgical coal exports will put upward pressure on prices.
Most ships in port or queued awaiting loading have moved to deeper water. Loadings have stopped and may not resume for several days. The already high current vessel line-up, which is in the mid-teens, will likely increase by the time shipping resumes, the analysts expect.

The Hampton Roads region has a total capacity to ship 82 Mtpa via three major ports: Lamberts Point (40 Mtpa), Pier IX (22 Mtpa) and Dominion Terminal Associates (20 Mtpa). Lamberts Point is owned by the NS railway and has no ground storage area. Dominion Terminal Associates is owned jointly by Contura Energy (65%) and Arch Coal (35%). Pier IX is owned by Kinder Morgan.

According to WoodMac, any impact to Atlantic supply would be more significant for metallurgical coal than for thermal coal.

Metallurgical coal exports from April to June period from Hampton Roads averaged 2.9 Mt a month, so a week delay would mean 0.74 Mt of coal shipments stuck at port.

Thermal coal exports averaged 0.6 Mt per month for the same period, or 0.15 Mt per week. “With vessel queues averaging in the mid-teens recently and rail service struggling to keep up with deliveries, it is questionable that the ports would be able to quickly make up any loss,” the analysts said.

The projected inland track into the Southern Appalachians may also hit metallurgical coal production in Alabama.
They noted that the projected inland track into the Southern Appalachians could also interfere with metallurgical coal production in Alabama.

“Should the storm make landfall closer to the main ports, major delays in coal loadings would be expected due to power outages and regional flooding,” they warned.

While the actual impact and damage of Florence have yet to be felt, any significant delay to metallurgical coal exports will put upward pressure on price in a market that is already supported with very high prices, the experts said.

Flooding could also affect regional power plants, as it happened in 2016, when Hurricane Matthew flooded cooling ponds at Duke Energy's Lee coal plant.

Another concern is the fate of unlined coal ash pits in the Carolinas and Virginia. Duke and Dominion Energy still have several unlined coal ash facilities along the coast and inland that leave communities vulnerable to potential flooding or leaks from the sites.

Amazon chief Jeff Bezos gives $2bn to help the homeless www.bbc.com

Amazon chief Jeff Bezos is putting $2bn (£1.5bn) into a charitable fund he has established to help the homeless and set up a new network of schools.

Eastern Economic Forum brings $42 billion in deals to Russia www.rt.com

A total of 175 deals worth 2.9 trillion rubles (US$42.07 billion) were inked during the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev.
“These are not the final figures,” he said when announcing the results of the fourth annual EEF, which took place from September 11 to 13.

Mongolia relationship valued, president says www.chinadaily.com.cn

China and Mongolia should develop bilateral ties in the right direction from a strategic and long-term perspective, understand and respect each other's core interests and deepen mutual trust, President Xi Jinping said when meeting with Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga in Vladivostok, Russia, on Wednesday.

Corruption in Mongolia: A Problem for Youth www.asiafoundation.org

The year 2007, according to traditional astrology, was the Year of the Golden Pig. It was believed that good fortune would come to families who gave birth during this auspicious time. Regardless of the role that astrology may have played, Mongolia’s annual birth rate grew from 50,000 in 2007 to nearly 90,000 in 2014, and Mongolia today is one of the youngest nations in the world, with young people age 14–34 comprising 35 percent of the population.

So, what does this mean? First, it means there is a pressing need for more kindergartens, more schools, and more jobs, demands that the country is striving to meet. But more importantly, this cohort of young people will have a dominant role in charting Mongolia’s course through the perilous social and economic challenges it faces today, including the nation’s high levels of corruption.

The Asia Foundation’s annual Survey on Perceptions and Knowledge of Corruption (SPEAK) shows clear cause for concern about the experiences shaping the outlook of this critical youth demographic. The research shows that most of Mongolia’s petty bribery takes place in public services such as health and education. In a multiyear average, at least a quarter of those who said they had paid a bribe reported that it was to teachers.

The hard fact is that many young people in Mongolia are growing up and being educated in an environment of corrupt and unethical behavior. The Foundation’s 2016 survey Transparency, Ethics, and Corruption in the Education Sector found that nearly 40 percent of parents had given small bribes to teachers in return for favors such as better treatment, preferred admission to better schools or classes, and higher grades. Alarmingly, when parents were asked about the results of these payments, 78 percent of those who wanted higher grades for their children said the payment or gift had achieved the desired result

When asked if this culture of bribery should be tolerated in the future, 92 percent of parents said no. But when asked if the situation was likely to change, they were pessimistic: 40 percent predicted it would worsen, and 30 percent said it would remain the same.

Low teacher salaries and limited funding for public schools are often cited as the cause of or excuse for this corruption and for not aggressively tackling the problem. But the cost of corruption is more than just the money paid by parents: it’s exposing young people to these practices, which affects their ethical worldview. It is the students who often handle the money in these transactions—they know the purpose of these payments and that they are benefiting from them.

It is not difficult to imagine how young people raised in such an environment might act when they make decisions relating to corruption in the future. According to last year’s SPEAK survey, zero tolerance of corruption is considerably less common among youth than among older age groups. For example, only 28 percent of those age 25–29 say they would not pay a bribe, compared to 51 percent of those 50–59 and 53 percent of those over 60 (figure 2).

So, how can we prevent our children and young adults from succumbing to this culture of corruption? What strategy or methodology should we follow to educate youth? Can we, and they, change the course of development towards a fair and just society in 10 or 20 years? These are the critical questions that Mongolian educational institutions, civil society organizations, and government agencies are trying to answer. The Asia Foundation’s Mongolia office has been engaged in anticorruption activities in the education sector since 2010, and with generous support from the Canadian government we launched a wider intervention campaign for secondary schools and colleges in 2016 as part of our 10-year-old governance and anticorruption program.

Under this initiative, several NGOs and local education authorities are conducting trainings and public-awareness events for hundreds of teachers and thousands of students at 130-plus public secondary schools and 60 colleges and universities in Mongolia’s capital city, Ulaanbaatar. At the same time, local NGOs are helping school administrations improve the transparency and accountability of their finances through active school-reform projects.

Despite years of work, clear signs of improvement in the corrupt culture of the education sector are yet to be seen. But educators and activists say these anticorruption efforts must continue to ensure long-term success.

The Asia Foundation’s Survey on Perception and Knowledge of Corruption (SPEAK) is conducted in partnership with Sant Maral Foundation. The survey, which uses random sampling methodology, has been conducted for the last 10 years. The Foundation’s 2016 survey Transparency, Ethics, and Corruption in the Education Sector was conducted in partnership with a local survey firm Statistical Institute for Consulting and Analysis.

Bayanmunkh Ariunbold is a governance project manager for The Asia Foundation in Mongolia. He can be reached at bayanmunkh.ariunbold@asiafoundation.org. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and not those of The Asia Foundation.

President meets Putin and Xi: Gas pipeline cooperation affirmed www.zgm.mn

President of Mongolia Battulga Khaltmaa, yesterday, met with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum, which will conclude today. One key topic at both meetings was the establishment of natural gas pipes, to which the two leaders agreed. During the meeting with his Russian counterpart, President Battulga mentioned his previous proposal on renewing the 1993 Agreement on Friendly Relations and Cooperation between Mongolia and Russia and establishing it without a defined term, and discussed the spendings of Russian RUB 100 billion soft loan on the reform of the Ulaanbaatar Railway Joint Venture and in energy sector and deepening the cooperation between the National Security Councils of the two countries, as well as adopting a revised cooperation plan. President Battulga also said that Mongolia was studying the possibility of accessing a port in the Far East, while making certain proposals, including establishing a joint working group to intensify the implementation of the Trilateral Economic Corridor program.

Furthermore, he made a proposal to cooperate on the establishment of the Northeast Asian super grid for energy and handed over an economic feasibility study related to the proposal and the projects to the Russian President. Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized his satisfaction with the positive indicators in all areas of bilateral cooperation and economic growth in recent years and expressed interest to further intensify bilateral cooperation in agriculture, railway, and defense sectors. He then reiterated his support for the proposal of President Battulga on building the natural gas pipes between Russia and China via Mongolia. President Vladimir Putin said that the RUB 100 billion soft loan to Mongolia, which is currently under negotiations, can be used on the reform of the Ulaanbaatar Railway Joint Venture and a thermal power plant. The sides agreed to jointly celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Khalkha River Battle next year and organize a joint exhibition, produce a feature film and a documentary, and publish a book in the margins of the anniversary. Moreover, President Battulga invited President Vladimir Putin to pay a visit to Mongolia with the purpose of celebrating the anniversary together.

As for the bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart, President Battulga requested President Xi Jinping to support certain matters, including the establishment of the Northeast Asian Supergrid, construction of gas pipes cooperation on ranking the projects within the Mongolia-Russia-China Economic Corridor program, and value-added export of agricultural products. Also, President Battulga proposed to establish a joint working group to build a highway connecting Zamyn-Uud with Altanbulag. President Xi Jinping expressed his readiness to cooperate on complex reform of the comprehensive strategic partnership relations between the two countries, increasing bilateral trade turnover to USD 10 billion by 2020, railway construction, development of process manufacturing, and regional peace and security. President Xi Jinping supported the joint implementation of President Battulga’s proposals. Moreover, President Xi Jinping reaffirmed the invitation for President Battulga to make a state visit to China and attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in the first quarter of 2019. The Chinese side informed that it had accepted and will support a proposal on export of agricultural products from Mongolia to China, made by President Battulga during their last meeting in Qingdao.

Mongolia issues commemorative coin marking ties with China www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's central bank issued a silver coin on Wednesday commemorating the friendship between Mongolia and China.