At the meeting co-chaired by D.Davaasuren, State Secretary of the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and I.V.Morgulov, Vice FM of Russia, the parties shared specific views on the bilateral political and economic relations and cooperation. They considered preparation works for the President’s participation in the Eastern Economic Forum scheduled on September 4-8 in Vladivostok, a realization of a middle-term program on the Mongolia-Russia strategic partnership ties and outcomes of the 20th meeting of the intergovernmental commission.

The sides expressed the satisfaction with an increase of the bilateral trade turnover which saw a decline in last two years, and then emphasized the countries are able to widen the commercial and economic ties.

Regional cooperation plays a vital role in the Mongolia-Russia relations, the countries noted, and considered as necessity to facilitating a border accessing process and broadening the inter-boundary and economic collaboration. The parties also said the countries have to renovate the Ulaanbaatar Railway Joint Venture, to upgrade its operation and to maximize the transit transport.

While many picture Mongolia as a remote and rural country, most Mongolians actually live in urban areas, and its capital, Ulaanbaatar, abounds with coworking spaces, hackathons, and startup accelerators. However, beyond the cities, modern-day nomads still raise goats, sheep, cattle yaks and horses the same way that their ancestors did.

Horse racing is one of the most popular pastimes for both groups, however when it comes to breeding and selling race horses, a lack of proper records often becomes problematic during sales transactions.

That’s where Уяач comes in. The app helps horse owners document their animals by allowing them to upload photos of each horse, as well as data on their lineage, racing history, age, sex, and health conditions. Best of all, it can be used even when there’s no cell service, which is a common issue for herders working in remote areas.

It also provides an online community for Mongolia’s estimated 50,000 die-hard horse racing fans, allowing them to follow their favorite horses.

In an interview with Motherboard, Artur Byambadorj, one of the app’s creators, said:

“We see the app as an important tool for herders, and also a news source for racing fans … We want it to become the Facebook for herders that they will use daily.”

During its regular meeting on August 23, Wednesday, the Cabinet issued five-year permissions to ‘Darkhan Industrial and Technology Park’ LLC to build an industrial & technology park in Darkhan-Uul aimag, and to ‘Erdenet Technopark’ LLC in Orkhon aimag.

The projects will help develop competitive and innovative technology-based industry, create jobs for the unemployed, supply eco-friendly final products to domestic and foreign markets, develop export-oriented production, and support local development, the Cabinet sees.

Located 460 km south-east of Ulaanbaatar in the Gobi Desert, Sainshand Salkhin Park LLC is sponsored by French energy leader ENGIE, German project developer Ferrostaal, Danish Climate Investment Fund (DCIF) and Mongolian entrepreneur, Radnaabazar Davaanyam, with long-term financing provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The lenders have agreed to provide a total project financing of US$ 78.5 million, which comprises EIB funding of US$ 47 million, of which the first tranche will be guaranteed by EKF, Denmark’s Export Credit Agency, with NORD/LB acting as agent; and EBRD funding of US$ 31.5 million.

Once operational, the new Sainshand wind farm will make a significant contribution to reducing Mongolia’s carbon emissions and cater for an expected increase in power demand in the country. The scheme will significantly enlarge Mongolia’s renewable energy capacity and help the government to achieve the goal of renewable energy accounting for 20 per cent of all power by 2020, and 30 per cent by 2030.

The Sainshand wind farm will be built by China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, and will use 25 Vestas V110 2.2 MW turbines to deliver up to 55 MW of clean energy that will save an estimated 200,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. Construction at the site is expected to start later this summer and be completed before the end of 2018. It follows three years of wind surveys to measure the high-yield winds in the area. The average wind speeds per second at the site are ideal for onshore wind energy.

The project has been developed in consultation with the local communities and a detailed environmental impact assessment has been approved by the relevant national authority. Financing has been agreed following preparation of a comprehensive environmental and social management system compliant with international standards such as those of the EBRD, EIB, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Equator Principles.

The Sainshand wind farm will have a total installed capacity of 55 MW and will provide the equivalent of the electricity consumption of 130,000 people in Mongolia. Construction – which will be overseen by Tractebel, ENGIE’s engineering arm – will start this summer, with commissioning of the plant in the second half of 2018.

Once operational, the farm will make a significant contribution to reducing Mongolia’s carbon emissions and cater for expected increased power demand in the country. The scheme will enlarge Mongolia’s renewable energy capacity and help the government to achieve its goal of renewable energy representing 20% by 2020 and 30% of all power by 2030.

Paul Maguire, CEO of ENGIE Asia-Pacific, said: “ENGIE’s ambition is to provide energy access-for-all through clean and renewable energy sources, especially to developing communities. Mongolia is facing an energy challenge due to increasing demand from industrialization and urbanization. As our first renewable energy project in Mongolia, ENGIE’s investment in the Sainshand wind farm is consistent with our vision of leading the global energy transition, and the drive for decarbonisation will significantly contribute to powering the country’s energy needs in a sustainable way.”

The Sainshand wind farm, located 450 km south-east of Ulaanbaatar nearby the Sainshand City, capital of Dornogobi Province, will boost the local and national economy through job creation, fiscal contributions and the supply of clean energy.

The project has been developed in consultation with local communities and a detailed environmental impact assessment has been approved by the relevant national authorities. Financing has been agreed following preparation of a comprehensive environmental and social management system compliant with international standards such those of the EBRD, EIB, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Equator Principles.

The ENGIE Group is the largest independent electricity producer in the world with 112.7 GW of installed capacities, of which 20% from renewables. It aims to reach a 25% contribution from renewables to its global energy generation portfolio in 2020.

The landlocked northeast Asian country has become one of China's biggest coal suppliers this year following a ban on imports from North Korea and restrictions on deliveries to some smaller Chinese ports.

But a backlog led to the queue of trucks on the main road to China, with customs clearance at the Gants Mod border crossing said to be taking as long as a month, up from the normal period of two weeks, according to Mongolia's official Montsame news agency.

"There was a problem at the border, so at the end of July and beginning in August, there were 400 to 500 trucks passing through the border gate," said D. Davaasuren, state secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the briefing, without giving more detail.

Davaasuren said Mongolia had discussed the matter with Chinese officials and around 990 trucks entered China from Mongolia on Tuesday, closer to normal levels.

Last week, the country mobilized to improve carrying capacity at border checkpoints and also promised to negotiate with Chinese officials to ease the bottleneck, Montsame reported.

Coal trucks were forced to wait two or three days before they were even permitted to unload for inspections at the border, according to the website of Chinese industry consultants sxcoal.

Though Mongolia is currently upgrading its detection equipment at border crossings, an official familiar with the situation rejected claims that the delays were caused by technical problems. The official said operations at the border might have been disrupted as a result of lower staffing levels during Mongolia's traditional summer Naadam festival.

China's General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday that 2.26 million tonnes of non-lignite Mongolian coal were imported in July, up 32.4 percent from a year ago.

Mongolia has been China's third-biggest source of coal imports over the first seven months of this year, with total shipments reaching 20.85 million tonnes, up 73 percent compared to last year.

With a long-awaited railway connection still unfinished after investment dried up, all coal from mines in Mongolia's Umnugovi province abutting China are delivered to the border via one single highway, making it vulnerable to disruptions.

Exporters of other commodities have not reported any issues at the border. Copper shipments from the Oyu Tolgoi mine run by Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto, which uses the same road and border crossings for exports, have not experienced any new delays, an official at the mine told Reuters.

Cargoes from key supplier Australia rose 4.4 percent to 7.47 million tonnes, according to the data from the General Administration of Customs.

Meanwhile, shipments from Indonesia dropped by nearly 9 percent to 3.03 million tonnes. Imports from Russia fell 1.7 percent to 1.64 million tonnes, the data showed.

(Reporting by Meng Meng and Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Joseph Radford)

The Minister thanked the Saudi Arabia Prince for visiting Mongolia, and then briefed about the present situation of the agricultural sector in Mongolia and further development.

Mr Sergelen said the government of Mongolia is implementing some programs in the fields of food, agriculture and light industry such as the First Campaign for Meat and Milk, “Industrialization 21:100” and the Third Campaign for Reclaiming Virgin Lands under a slogan “Healthy foods-Healthy Mongolian”. Maximizing the meat export is one of the goals within the First Campaign for Meat and Milk.

The Minister pointed out that Mongolia and Saudi Arabia are possible to cooperate in the agricultural sphere.
“Mongolia has vast reserve of meat and is capable to export meat and livestock. It has been estimated that the country is able to 150.4 thousand tons of meat a year. As of the previous year, the number of livestock reached 61.5 million heads,” Mr Sergelen said. He then put forward a proposal to the Saudi Arabia side to build a joint meat processing factory.

Emphasizing that Saudi Arabia has big consumption of meat, His Highness proposed to set up a working group on establishing the joint factory.

At the end of the meeting, His Highness invited the Minister to pay an official visit to Saudi Arabia. 
B.Khuder