Six meetings will be organized in the course of implementation of the 25-month project, with attendance of counterparts from China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.

These meetings are of great significance in increasing the share of clean energy in the regional power grid, improving efficiency and the understanding between the counterparts. A general image of the regional power grid with enormous contribution by the rich renewable energy sources of Mongolia is expected to become visible with the mobilization of this project.

In a hearing at the Senate finance committee, Lighthizer referred to Japan as an important target for bilateral trade talks. Japan's trade surplus with the US stood at $68.9 billion dollars last year.

At a Senate confirmation hearing in March, he said Japan would be a "primary target" for more open access for US farm products.

The Trump administration is applying pressure on trade partners for greater market access, while at the same time making noise about protectionist policies.

The US says cheap imports of steel and other products are posing a threat to US security, including the defense industry.

The state-run company, responsible for about 82% of India's total coal output, said the closures would save around 8 billion rupees ($124 million), The Telegraph India reported.

The country has also announced it will not build any more coal plants after 2022 and predicts renewables to account for more than half its power by 2027.

Only last month, New Delhi cancelled plans to build nearly 14 gigawatts of coal-fired power stations, which according to Tim Buckley, analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, will have “profound” ramifications for global energy markets.

“India’s solar tariffs have literally been free falling in recent months,” he wrote.

At the same time that solar becomes cheaper, the cost of coal power is rising in India as local mines face mounting costs and tougher environmental regulations, a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance said earlier this month. Falling demand is also an issue.

India’s solar-generation capacity is expected to touch 8.8 gigawatts (GW) this year to become the third-largest solar market in the world, according to renewable energy consultancy Bridge To India (BTI). At the end of 2016 India had just 7.5 gigawatts.

The nation has set itself some of the world’s most ambitious targets for installing new solar power capacity, with prime minister Narendra Modi aiming for 100 gigawatts of solar power by 2022.

The pace of new solar installations has picked up in recent months as equipment prices have plummeted.

As a result, consulting firm Ernst & Young recently said India has become the world’s second best market for investing in renewable energy, after China.

The sides agreed to adhere to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Charter of the UN and international legal principles and norms under a mutual aspiration to develop and strengthen friendly relations and cooperation. They also expressed their concurrence with Mongolia and Belize will enjoy more opportunities to mutually support and cooperate with each other in the scope of the bilateral ties and international organizations after establishing diplomatic relations.

Freight up to 30 million tons per year will be transported through the railroad which lays the foundation for Asia-Europe economic corridor. The railroad is considered to be of critical importance in the revival of Mongolian economy.

Minister of Road and Transport Development D.Ganbat, Members of Parliament D.Damba-Ochir and O.Sodbileg, Trade Representative of the Russian Federation to Mongolia M.L.Vasiliev attended the ground-breaking ceremony held on June 20.

Russian Trade Representative Mr. Vasiliev said, “The trilateral economic corridor agreement between Russia, Mongolia and China is being realized”. He remarked on the railroad’s economic and political importance to the three countries and potential to solve international issues.

Northern Railways LLC is executing the construction work worth USD 1.3 billion.

“This is a mutually beneficial project. It is profitable to establish connection between power systems of the East and Siberia. The Transit-500 project has an estimated cost of about 55 billion rubles. But it is only about our profit, the project will need further development to provide Mongolia with reliable power exports,” he said.

The power bridge may ensure supplies to five isolated power systems of Mongolia, and a distribution grid should be constructed in the country.

“It needs financing. My colleagues and I are preparing a plan for development of the power industry with Mongolian power experts, the French are also a part of this. It will be clear by the end of the year. Representatives of China, Russia and Mongolia may participate in financing of the project,” he said.

Mongolia plans to build a dam on the Selenga River which flows into the Lake Baikal, but Russia has repeatedly warned about significant ecological risks of the project and expressed readiness to compensate the lack of power in the country. In April, Budargin said Russia suggested construction of an air power transmission line with a capacity of 500 kV or higher to transfer 1 gigawatt of power to Mongolia.

(58.5786 rubles – U.S. $1)

Guglielmo Picchi (MP, Italy) was appointed by the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office as Special Co-ordinator to lead the short-term OSCE observer mission, and will deliver the preliminary post-election statement at a press conference in Ulaanbaatar on 27 June.

“Since joining the OSCE in 2012, Mongolia has been an active and engaged member of the OSCE family, even hosting the Autumn Meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly in 2015. I look forward to observing first-hand the state of democratic progress in the country,” said Picchi.

The OSCE PA’s observation mission is headed by Georgios Varemenos (MP, Greece). Varemenos is the head of OSCE PA’s Greek Delegation, and has participated in numerous election observation missions with the OSCE PA.

Special Co-ordinator Picchi serves as Vice-Chair of the General Committee on Political Affairs and Security of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and as Vice-Chair of the PA's Ad Hoc Committee on Migration. He served as Head of the OSCE PA’s election observation mission to the Georgian parliamentary elections in 2016.

The OSCE PA observation mission to the Mongolian presidential election works closely with observers from the OSCE/ODIHR headed by Ambassador Geert-Hinrich Ahrens and parliamentary observers from the European Parliament led by Laima Andrikiene.

The elections will be assessed based on their compliance with criteria for democratic elections laid out in the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document.

Sides signed the cooperation agreement on June 21, Wednesday. The project team will identify a strategy to develop Mongolia’s foreign exchange market in the frameworks of the program which will wrap up this year.

The Bank of Korea’s study on Mongolian foreign exchange market is expected to make a major contribution to Mongolian economy, especially foreign exchange policy.

D.Boldbaatar, Senior economist in the Monetary Policy division of the Bank of Mongolia said, “Mongolia’s exchange market is relatively less transparent, and isn’t functioning efficiently”.