Boosting Mongolia’s smallest firms with US$ 40 million loan www.ebrd.com

The EBRD is providing a US$ 40 million syndicated loan to Mongolia’s XacBank for financing private micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) around the country. The operation will enable XacBank to continue to provide much-needed funding to MSMEs.

Bitcoin crashes 15% as cryptocurrency investors pour money into bitcoin cash www.rt.com

The bitcoin sell-off continued on Wednesday after the leading platform for buying and selling the cryptocurrency, Coinbase, announced it was rolling out support for rival bitcoin cash.

“Sends and receives are available immediately. Buys and sells will be available to all customers once there is sufficient liquidity on GDAX. We anticipate that this will take a few hours,” the exchange announced in a blog post on Tuesday.

Agriculture exports reach 1.1 billion USD in 2017 www.mongolia.gogo.mn

Agriculture exports have so far totaled 1.1 billion USD in 2017. Meat exports make up the majority of export products with 24,000 tons of meat exported in 2017, valued at 108 billion MNT.

Specialists note that increasing meat exports are linked to the number of new meat processing factories that opened in 2017. Ninety percent of the exported meat was horse meat. Due to the spread of infectious livestock diseases, exports of mutton and beef were lower than expected in 2017.
The Mongolian Wool and Cashmere Association reports that wool and cashmere companies saw revenue surpluses in 2017. Cashmere companies produced 800 billion MNT in brushed cashmere and exported 70 percent of their products.
Within the past year, 20 new wool and cashmere factories have opened and Gobi Cashmere opened six new branches overseas.
In 2017, the nation's wheat harvest was 50 percent less than it was in 2016, and 225,000 tons of Russian wheat is being imported.

December 20, 2017 trading report www.mse.mn

On December 20, 2017, 367,586 shares of 28 firms listed as Tier I, II, and III were traded. 14 firms’ shares increased in price, 12 decreased and 2 firms' share unchanged. Jinst Uvs /JIV/ were the top performers, increasing 15.00 percent each, whereas Merex JSC /MRX/ was the worst performer, decreasing 13.43 percent.

YouTube signs Universal Music deal amid subscription plans www.bbc.com

YouTube has signed a second global, multi-year agreement with a major music label, amid plans to expand its subscription businesses.

Universal Music Group said the deal would provide its artists more flexibility and pay, and strengthen YouTube's commitment to managing music rights.
The firm represents artists including Taylor Swift and Jay-Z.
YouTube also reached a deal with Warner Music Group in May.
Bloomberg has reported that the negotiations come in advance of YouTube's launch of a new paid music service that is expected to go live in March 2018.
A spokeswoman for YouTube declined to comment on those plans. The investment would add competition to the music streaming business, where firms such as Spotify, Apple and Amazon are already active.
Alphabet, which owns Google and YouTube, has previously said it is investing in the site, paying more to acquire content, and making the expansion of YouTube's subscription business a priority.
It already offers paid YouTube television subscriptions and has experimented earlier with music plans.
YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki said: "We're thrilled to strengthen our partnership with Universal Music Group. This agreement means we can drive more value to the industry, break and support more artists and deliver an incredible music experience to fans around the world."
Sony Entertainment Group, which Bloomberg reported had also struck a deal with YouTube, declined to comment.

MCC board reselects Mongolia to continue developing a compact www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ At its quarterly meeting on December 19, the U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Board of Directors reselected Mongolia, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia, enabling the development of compacts in those countries to continue.

Southern Mongolia: SMHRIC Announces Release of Book Commemorating Genocide Against Mongolian People www.unpo.org

Commemorating the Human Rights Day on December 10, 2017, the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) announced the release of the Genocide on the Mongolian Steppe: First-hand Accounts of Genocide in Southern Mongolia during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (Volume I) (published by Xlibris), a book translated by SMHRIC Director Enghebatu Togochog from Japanese to English.

Both Enghebatu Togochog and Professor Yang Haiying, author of the original book entitled BOHYO NAKI SOGEN in Japanese, believe that the genocide of the Mongolian people during China’s Cultural Revolution was a crime against humanity that has remained largely hidden from the view of history.

“This book is dedicated to the memory of tens of thousands of innocent Mongolians who lost their lives in a massive genocide carried out in the Chinese-occupied Southern Mongolia 50 years ago,” Togochog noted in the “Translator’s Acknowledgment” of the book.

In 1967, two decades after its successful annexation of Southern Mongolia, the Chinese Communist regime launched a carefully-planned campaign of genocide against the entire Mongolian population in Southern Mongolia. It was known as the “Purge of Members of the National Separatist Organization Southern Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party”. According to Chinese official statistics, 346,000 Mongolians were persecuted as national separatists and anti-revolutionaries, and 27,900 were killed. The Mongolians widely believe the actual numbers of the victims are much higher than the Chinese official figures. 

“In an extravagant display of power, wealth and military resolve, the Chinese regime celebrated 70 years of colonial occupation of Southern Mongolia this year,” Togochog states in the acknowledgement, “the exuberance is starkly juxtaposed with the reality of Southern Mongolia, that an independent nation can be reduced to an ‘ethnic group’, a vast and beautiful territory can be turned into a mining pit, and a vibrant culture can be trivialized to a window display within a matter of a few decades.”

“Yet, what the Chinese did not count on is that a nation of six million strong with a fresh memory of historical sovereignty and an uncompromising national identity cannot be easily wiped out,” Togochog continues, “this means resilience and resistance are a permanent pair that makes the ‘Chinese dream’ not so pleasant.”

Highlighting the strengthening resistance movements including the rural herders’ uprisings, Mongolian intellectual’s demand for their legal rights, and the tireless struggle of courageous dissidents like Hada, Xinna, Huuchinhuu and others who dedicated their lives to the cause of freedom of Southern Mongolia, Togochog writes in the acknowledgment that “thus, this book honors these brave Mongolian men and women who have willingly sacrificed their life and liberty to keep the spirit of self-determination and the aspiration for freedom alive during these most difficult times.”

IMF says Mongolia economy is recovering, showing 'durable' growth www.reuters.com

ULAANBAATAR, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Mongolia’s economy is outpacing growth expectations this year despite budget cuts as the coal trade has been strong even as exports slowed in the second half, an International Monetary Fund official said.

Mongolia to become leader of global cashmere industry? www.news.mn

Earlier today (19 December), the Mongolian Agricultural Commodity Exchange for the first time, organised forward trading of cashmere. Two companies,Mongolia Cashmere World and Khatant International have signed agreements to purchase a total of 11 tonnes of the luxury fibre.

Growth of Mongolia’s defense cooperation www.theubpost.mn

The Soviet Union military left Mongolia in the early 1990s and after the collapse of Socialism, Mongolia’s military sector experienced its “worst point” as the country cut defense spending during its challenging economic times.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, Mongolia started participating in peacekeeping missions throughout the world — in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and South Sudan – and its defense cooperation and military activities improved. The current active defense cooperation has become a key way for the country to increase foreign investment at home and strengthen relations and cooperation between Mongolia and developed countries.

Today Mongolia has established agreements of defense cooperation with 32 countries, and the country is actively cooperating with 16 countries in defense, and can obtain military techniques and weapons from five countries under defense cooperation agreements. Military attaches from Mongolia are serving in five countries, and military attaches from Russia, China, the USA, South Korea, Turkey and Japan are currently working in Mongolia. Mongolian students and officers are studying in China, Russia, the USA, Germany, Turkey, India and France under scholarships, non-refundable aid and other programs.

Mongolia and Russia have a historic friendly defense relationship, and every year, around 50 students and officers go to Russia to gain defense academic education or attend defense short and med-term training programs. Russia also provides Mongolia with military facilities, assistance and training under its non-refundable aid.The two countries host the annual joint military exercise Selenge to strengthen bilateral military cooperation, and in recent years, Mongolian defense ministers started participating in the annual Moscow conference on international security and hold annual meetings with the Russian Minister of Defense to discuss strengthening defense relations and cooperation between the two countries and broaden mutually beneficial defense cooperation.

During the 1990s, defense cooperation between China and Mongolia started strengthening, and every year, over 100 Mongolians students and officers study through a scholarship of the Chinese Ministry of Defense, and several Chinese students study at the Mongolian Defense University. High-level visits and dialogues between the defense sectors of the two countries have also dramatically increased in recent years.The defense ministries of the two countries host joint exercises on combating terrorism and natural disasters.

In 1991, an English training provided by the USA to Mongolian military officers was the first step in the development of a defense relationship between the two countries, and Mongolia’s active participation in international peacekeeping operations is making this relationship stronger. The USA has made great contributions to building required facilities to annually host the Khaan Quest military exercise in Mongolia.

As the defense ministries of South Korea and Mongolia signed a cooperation agreement in 1999 to take bilateral defense ties to a new level, defense cooperation has been developing steadily. Nearly 10 Mongolian officers go to study in South Korea every year and some experienced military officers from the Mongolian Ministry of Defense have completed two-year academic knowledge in regional and international security in South Korea. The countries have also hosted joint exercises to exchange experiences.

Defense cooperation between Mongolia and Turkey has been moving to a new level in recent years, and Turkey has agreed to upgrade Mongolian military facilities and provide training cources for military and police officers in Turkey to improve their knowledge and skills.

The Mongolian Ministry of Defense is also closely collaborating with the Japanese Defense Ministry to train Mongolian students in defense in Japan and improve the capacity of the Mongolian defense engineering sector. Japan will be implementing a program to improve the capacity of Mongolian military health sector next year and the Japanese side is reviewing a program to increase the capacity of the Mongolian air force. If Japan agrees to implement this program, it will be carried out in the years to come.

As hosting the Khaan Quest military exercise in Tavan Tolgoi military base near Ulaanbaatar every year has been significant for strengthening military cooperation between Mongolia and other countries, especially developed countries with great military capabilities, Mongolia is focusing on expanding this military exercise to include more countries.

Countries across the world, especially those playing significant roles in regional and global security, strive to improve their military capabilities and expand their military cooperation during globally challenging times to address issues such as terrorism and nuclear threats. By taking advantage of this trend, Mongolia has the opportunity to vastly strengthen its independence and security, and increase investment in the defense sector by proactively taking part in international peace keeping missions and hosting joint military exercises with its defense partners.