1 MONGOLIA MARKS CENTENNIAL WITH A NEW COURSE FOR CHANGE WWW.EASTASIAFORUM.ORG PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      2 E-MART OPENS FIFTH STORE IN ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, TARGETING K-FOOD CRAZE WWW.BIZ.CHOSUN.COM PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      3 JAPAN AND MONGOLIA FORGE HISTORIC DEFENSE PACT UNDER THIRD NEIGHBOR STRATEGY WWW.ARMYRECOGNITION.COM  PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      4 CENTRAL BANK LOWERS ECONOMIC GROWTH FORECAST TO 5.2% WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      5 L. OYUN-ERDENE: EVERY CITIZEN WILL RECEIVE 350,000 MNT IN DIVIDENDS WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      6 THE BILL TO ELIMINATE THE QUOTA FOR FOREIGN WORKERS IN MONGOLIA HAS BEEN SUBMITTED WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      7 THE SECOND NATIONAL ONCOLOGY CENTER TO BE CONSTRUCTED IN ULAANBAATAR WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      8 GREEN BOND ISSUED FOR WASTE RECYCLING WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      9 BAGANUUR 50 MW BATTERY STORAGE POWER STATION SUPPLIES ENERGY TO CENTRAL SYSTEM WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      10 THE PENSION AMOUNT INCREASED BY SIX PERCENT WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      КОКС ХИМИЙН ҮЙЛДВЭРИЙН БҮТЭЭН БАЙГУУЛАЛТЫГ ИРЭХ ОНЫ ХОЁРДУГААР УЛИРАЛД ЭХЛҮҮЛНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     "ЭРДЭНЭС ТАВАНТОЛГОЙ” ХК-ИЙН ХУВЬЦАА ЭЗЭМШИГЧ ИРГЭН БҮРД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГ ӨНӨӨДӨР ОЛГОНО WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГИЙН ОРЛОГО 2040 ОНД 38 ИХ НАЯДАД ХҮРЭХ ТӨСӨӨЛӨЛ ГАРСАН WWW.NEWS.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ЭРДЭНЭС ОЮУ ТОЛГОЙ” ХХК-ИАС ХЭРЛЭН ТООНО ТӨСЛИЙГ ӨМНӨГОВЬ АЙМАГТ ТАНИЛЦУУЛЛАА WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     Л.ОЮУН-ЭРДЭНЭ: ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГААС НЭГ ИРГЭНД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГИЙН ХАДГАЛАМЖ ҮҮСЛЭЭ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ENTRÉE RESOURCES” 2 ЖИЛ ГАРУЙ ҮРГЭЛЖИЛСЭН АРБИТРЫН МАРГААНД ЯЛАЛТ БАЙГУУЛАВ WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ORANO MINING”-ИЙН ГЭРЭЭ БОЛОН ГАШУУНСУХАЙТ-ГАНЦМОД БООМТЫН ТӨСЛИЙН АСУУДЛААР ЗАСГИЙН ГАЗАР ХУРАЛДАЖ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     АЖИЛЧДЫН САРЫН ГОЛЧ ЦАЛИН III УЛИРЛЫН БАЙДЛААР ₮2 САЯ ОРЧИМ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     PROGRESSIVE EQUITY RESEARCH: 2025 ОН “PETRO MATAD” КОМПАНИД ЭЭЛТЭЙ БАЙХААР БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     2026 ОНЫГ ДУУСТАЛ ГАДААД АЖИЛТНЫ ТОО, ХУВЬ ХЭМЖЭЭГ ХЯЗГААРЛАХГҮЙ БАЙХ ХУУЛИЙН ТӨСӨЛ ӨРГӨН МЭДҮҮЛЭВ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19    

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MBCC “Doing Business with Mongolia seminar and Christmas Receptiom” Dec 10. 2024 London UK MBCCI London UK Goodman LLC

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Trump wants to sell half of emergency US oil reserve www.money.cnn.com

 
The country dipped into the US strategic oil reserve, during several recent disruptions such as the 2011 turmoil in Libya and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Now, President Trump wants to sell off half of the oil sitting in the strategic reserve, which is made up of a complex of tanks and deep underground storage caverns.
Except for the fact that the sale would be done over time, little is known about the exact timing of the move. But Trump's fiscal 2018 budget estimates the it would generate roughly $16.6 billion over the next decade.
It's true that the US shale oil boom has dramatically altered the global energy landscape, turning America into a leading producer and reducing dependence on imports. The surge of American oil has also created a huge glut that OPEC is still struggling to mop up.
All of this is a huge change from the early 1970s when the Arab Oil Embargo sparked long gas lines and hurt the American economy so much that it inspired the creation of the strategic petroleum reserve, which today is the largest stockpile of government-owned emergency oil on the planet.
Yet some energy analysts warn that selling half the SPR could backfire, especially in today's uncertain world.
"It's a bit concerning. You're reducing the government's budget deficit, but you're putting more risk onto the consumer. That's who is going to pay for it," said Carl Evans, senior crude oil analyst at Genscape, an energy market research firm.
"It does seem like a short-term cash grab," he said.
Evans pointed to the risk posed by the political strife in Venezuela and Nigeria that has caused production to tumble in those OPEC nations.
To justify the proposed sale, the Trump administration pointed to the surge in US oil output.
The national security "risk goes down dramatically when we have increased production like today," Mick Mulvaney, the director of Trump's Office of Management and Budget, told reporters on Tuesday.
But Jason Bordoff, director of Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, warned that even though US oil imports are down "prices at the pump will spike" if there's a supply disruption.
"The national security asset of the SPR helps provide a cushion. It would be foolish to sell it off because of a domestic oil production boom, the longevity of which remains somewhat uncertain," said Bordoff, who served as an energy adviser to President Obama and has testified before Congress on energy policy issues.
It's not clear if Trump wants to sell 50% of the strategic reserve from current levels, or on top of the reductions Congress recently agreed to. Those cuts would already wipe out more than 150 million barrels from the SPR, according to S&P Global Platts.
Other analysts think now is the perfect time to unload some of the strategic oil reserve, especially because there are costs linked to maintaining this complex that is located in Texas and Louisiana.
"It makes a lot of sense for the US to reduce these rather massive holdings," said Michael Dei-Michei, head of research at JBC Energy.
Selling the oil could generate a nice profit at today's prices of around $50 a barrel. The average price paid for oil in the reserve is just $29.70 a barrel.
The 688 million barrels currently sitting in the reserve are enough to cover 149 days worth of America's import needs, according to the Energy Department.
That means the US is well above the 90-day minimum required by the International Energy Agency (IEA). However, cutting half of the strategic reserve would obviously lower that cushion, potentially to below the IEA threshold. The Energy Department website notes that in the past the US has met this commitment by combining SPR stockpiles with private-sector inventories.
Bordoff, the Columbia professor, acknowledged that the dramatic changes in the world since the 1970s mean it would be wise to take time to think about the purpose and size of the SPR going forward.
"But to propose in the budget to slash it in half seems premature given that I don't know the full analysis has been done," he said.
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Two resolutions sponsored by Mongolia adopted by ESCAP 73rd session www.en.montsame.mn

 
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The 73rd session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) convened from 15 to 19 May 2017 in Bangkok, Thailand. Delegations from 45 member-states of the Commission attended the session, which was held under the theme of the “Regional Cooperation for Sustainable Energy” and discussed the issues related to enhancing cooperation on inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development in the region.
 
The Mongolian delegation to the session was headed by His Excellency Mr. Tsend Munkh-Orgil, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the Foreign Minister of Mongolia took part as a main speaker at the High-level Exchange of the Special Body on Least Developed, Landlocked Developing and Pacific Island Developing Countries, which discussed infrastructure and sustainable development in these countries with special needs. During the session, H.E. Mr. Tsend Munkh-Orgil met with H.E. Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP and exchanged views on the issues pertaining to Mongolia-ESCAP cooperation.
 
Moreover, H.E. Mr. Tugsbilguun Tumurkhuleg, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of Mongolia to ESCAP delivered a statement at the plenary meeting of the session and introduced actions taken by the Government of Mongolia to achieve the SDGs, as well as Mongolia’s views on regional cooperation in energy and infrastructure.
 
In addition, two resolutions sponsored by Mongolia, namely, on Strengthening the Regional Mechanism for Implementing the Vienna Programme of Action for LLDCs for 2014-2024 and on Enhancing Regional Cooperation for the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 in Asia and the Pacific, with the latter having been sponsored together with the Kingdom of Thailand, were adopted by the session.
 
In the course of the session, the Embassy of Mongolia in Bangkok in collaboration with the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries, based in Ulaanbaatar, hosted a High-level Luncheon for representatives of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries to inform them of the activities of the International Think Tank for LLDCs and its operationalization, as well as objectives and current status of the “Multilateral Agreement on the Establishment of an International Think Tank for LLDCs”.
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Mongolia to consider buying Belarusian fire trucks www.eng.belta.by

 
MINSK, 23 May (BelTA) – Mongolia will consider buying Belarusian fire-fighting and rescue equipment in Belarus, BelTA learned from the website of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry. Deputy Head of the National Emergency Management Agency of Mongolia Sukhbaatar Zaluukhuu met with Belarusian Deputy Emergencies Minister Alexander Khudoleyev in the national center for control and emergency response on 23 May. The Mongolian side was invited to consider buying Belarus-made fire trucks and emergency response equipment. The sides discussed prospects of advancing cooperation in training personnel in Belarus for the Mongolian emergency response agency. The sharing of Belarusian experience in the sphere of creation of the educational and training base for Mongolian specialists was mentioned as well.
 
 
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Greece fails to reach bailout deal with eurozone finance ministers www.rt.com

 
The International Monetary Fund, European finance ministers, and Greek authorities have fallen short of securing more debt relief for Greece, according to EU officials.
The parties postponed a final decision on a release of further bailout funds for Athens until their next meeting, scheduled for June 15.
“At this point, we have not reached an overall agreement. It looks like the formal conclusion of the second review is very close,” said Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem after Monday's meeting.
Greece needs more emergency cash to avoid a default in July when the country faces debt repayments of nearly €7.3 billion.
To get a new installment of bailout funds, Athens has already approved tax rises and additional pension cuts.
However, the EU ministers concluded that the country has not made enough progress on that front and still needs to take further measures.
Last Thursday, Greek lawmakers passed new legislation with over four billion euros ($4.48 billion) in new austerity measures.
According to the Greek government, the country has fulfilled all the conditions agreed with creditors.
“Greece has met its obligations. Now it's our partners and lenders who have a moral, political and legal duty to meet theirs,” said Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos.
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Miners ready for new Mongolia boom with one-fifth of the country to be opened for digging www.cnbc.com

 
A new mining boom may be just around the corner in Mongolia, mining industry executives said, as it moves to open nearly 21 percent, a bit more than one-fifth, of the country for exploration to shore up its finances following an IMF-led bailout.
 
This month Mongolia's government removed the main obstacle to its $5.5 billion IMF-led bailout. It annulled a controversial banking law that would have required companies like Rio Tinto to funnel all sales revenues from foreign investment projects through Mongolian banks and proposed the wider exploration area.
 
Andrew Stewart, managing director and CEO of Xanadu Mines, told CNBC's "Street Signs" that the reform along with other steps to opening the mining sector should see investment grow.
 
"It is an important thing for Mongolia as a whole. I think the reaction and the commitment you are seeing from the Mongolian government over the last two weeks to repeal this tax, it shows its firm commitment to really get the foreign investments going and particularly that is very much settled on the mineral exploration and the mining industry in Mongolia", Stewart said.
 
Stewart told CNBC that Xanadu's flagship Kharmagtai project, located 120km south of Oyu Tolgoi, demonstrates that Mongolia offers increasingly favorable odds for discovering significant copper and gold deposits when compared to mature mining jurisdictions such as Australia and Canada.
 
Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry Ts. Dashdorj was said to have remarked that the landlocked country bordering China and Russia and among the top 20 countries by landmass needs to take the step to resolve economic woes that go back several years. IMF data shows that the economy only grew 1 percent in 2016 from 2.4 percent in 2015.
 
Given that mining accounts for around a quarter of GDP and more than 80 percent of exports in Mongolia, by increasing mining exploration, Mongolia could potentially raise GDP and economic security.
 
Stewart said he feels that encouraging exploration is critical to establishing a healthy mining industry and great discoveries are often made when there are structural changes in the industry.
 
The 2017 Asian Development Outlook report by Asian Development Bank stated that Mongolia's growth will accelerate this year on large mining investments. Growth is forecast to accelerate to 2.5 percent this year but moderate slightly to 2.0 percent in 2018 on the base effect of the surge in coal production in 2017.
 
This is based on the assumption that investment in the second phase of Oyu Tolgoi mine will rise from $200 million last year to $1 billion in 2017 and $1.2 billion in 2018.
 
While Oyu Tolgoi is Mongolia's highest profile mining operation, the country plays host to a number of the copper, gold and coal mines.
 
David Paull, managing director of Aspire Mining, told CNBC over email that Mongolia is richly endowed with mineral resources - The Erdenet Copper Mine has been operating for several decades and the indications are that there is still a number of decades of mine life to come.
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Mongolian and German Health ministers pledge cooperation in training physicians www.en.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On the sidelines of her attendance in the 70th World Health Assembly, being held in Geneva, Minister of Health A.Tsogtsetseg met with her German counterpart Hermann Grohe and exchanged opinions on bilateral cooperation.
 
The dignitaries agreed on resuming annual consultative meetings of health to be hosted by both countries in turns.
 
It was highlighted the two countries had been actively collaborating in leukemia diagnostics, epidemic surveillance in medical institutions, hospital-acquired infections and in training of cardiac surgeons and nurses, as well as diagnostics and treatment of pneumonia and Hepatitis B and C.
 
Unfortunately, the collaboration has slowed down since 2013 and the annual meetings had stopped.
 
Therefore, the Health Ministers of Mongolia and Germany agreed on cooperating in preparing physicians specialized in cardiovascular surgery and leukemia treatment, and joint efforts for realizing the Whole Liver Mongolia Program.
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Google and Microsoft teach us not to fear brain drain www.asia.nikkei.com

 
Palo Alto, U.S. -- Name one thing Microsoft and Google have in common beyond competing in a variety of fields from operating systems to browsers and cloud service. They are both headed by an Indian in his 40s.
 
Satya Nadella, the 49-year-old chief executive officer of Microsoft, is from Hyderabad in Southern India. He studied electrical engineering at university and moved to the U.S. in 1988. He earned a master's degree in computer science and management in the U.S. and joined Microsoft in 1992. After successfully leading Microsoft's cloud business, he became the company's third CEO in 2014.
 
Sundar Pichai, Google's 44-year-old CEO, is the son of an electrical engineer in the southern Indian city of Chennai. He set foot in the U.S. as a scholarship student at Stanford University in 1993. After working for McKinsey & Co., he joined Google in 2004. He led the development of Chrome, now the world's most widely used internet browser. He reached the top job in 2015.
 
The southern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area nicknamed Silicon Valley is a multiethnic society where nearly 40% of the 3 million or so people who live there are foreign-born. Though Indians trail behind Mexicans and Chinese by sheer number, they are by far the dominant group among startup founders and employees of information technology companies in the area. Their increasing presence at the top of the American IT industry owes to a rich pool of talent at home with the ability to think logically -- nurtured through India's strength in math and science educations -- and English language skills.
 
In a speech two years ago, addressed to 18,000 Indian expatriates filling a stadium in Silicon Valley, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he considers them as more of a "brain deposit" than a brain drain, as some in India make them out to be. As those people eventually return home, he said, they will contribute to the development of India.
 
Modi's words were not merely lip service for the occasion. In fact, people like Nadella and Pichai achieved what Indians see as an American dream. They returned triumphantly as heroes and promised to build infrastructure and create jobs. Money and talent are already beginning to flow back home.
 
Meanwhile, the number of Japanese companies and residents based in Silicon Valley has hit 20-year highs -- 770 and around 44,000, respectively. The increase has been driven by a sense of urgency to catch up with the disruptive force caused by the internet of things, an age we are entering when everything will be connected online. Still, Japan's presence here is smaller than that of not just India, but China and South Korea as well.
 
"Fears of a brain drain tend to get in the way, and there is not enough support for those willing to leave [Japan] to take on a challenge," laments Gen Isayama, CEO of venture capital World Innovation Lab, or WiL, based in both Tokyo and Silicon Valley.
 
Some worry that U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" approach to protecting jobs may undermine Silicon Valley's diversity and competitiveness. But the tech hub has not lost its appeal to businesses and people wanting to innovate.
 
Just as the height of a pyramid is a function of its base, it may not be too late for Japan to start worrying about a brain drain until it sees a Japanese become a Silicon Valley CEO first.
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Banks use fintech to drive change, key report finds www.chinadaily.com.cn

 
The rapid development of financial technology has seen listed Chinese banks continue a major drive to transform their branches and reform their operations, according to the findings of a report issued on Monday by Ernst & Young.
 
It analyzed the annual reports last year of 37 A-share and H-share listed lenders－five large commercial banks, nine joint-stock commercial banks, 22 city commercial banks and rural commercial banks as well as the Postal Savings Bank of China.
 
It found that Chinese-listed banks are paying ever-increasing attention to the application of finance technology, or fintech.
 
Of the 37 listed banks, 30 mentioned fintech in their 2016 annual reports.
 
Chinese listed banks have continued use fintech to drive the transformation of the branches and operational reforms. In 2016, the total number of branches in large commercial banks declined for the first time, it found, while the proportion of smart branches increased further.
 
The lenders continued to push the use of such digital tools as mobile banking, online banking and popular social media platform WeChat, while optimizing their brick-and-mortar branches. The report found that last year the extent to which digital channels substituted branch business further increased.
 
"Fintech such as big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain have changed and will continue to bring profound change," said Steven Xu, financial services partner at Ernst & Young.
 
"It will drive the transformation and upgrade of the traditional financial services industry and help financial institutions achieve innovations in products and service offerings and business models," Xu added.
 
The transformation of the branches was accompanied by a restructuring of staff. According to the report, over the past three years the growth in the head count of the listed banks slowed each year－particularly in the large commercial banks, whose total head count declined for the first time in 2016.
 
"In the long run, the optimization of branches and restructuring of personnel by listed banks will be conducive to improving their service capabilities at reduced costs," said Frank Jiang, financial services partner at Ernst & Young.
 
He said the process would improve the professional competence of employees in risk management and internal controls and sustaining banks' competitiveness.
 
The 37 listed banks reported total net profit of 1.5 trillion yuan ($218 billion) in 2016, up 3.7 percent year-on-year, compared with 2.9 percent year-on-year growth in 2015.
 
Looking to the future, Ernst & Young's Geoffrey Choi said 2017 was an important year for the implementation of China's 13th Five-Year Plan and a year for the continued deepening of supply-side structural reform.
 
"China's banking industry is still undergoing critical transformation, where both opportunities and challenges coexist," said Choi, assurance leader of EY financial services in Asia-Pacific.
 
"To cope with the complex and ever-changing environment, listed banks will continue to explore the path to transformation and development and fintech will inject new impetus into the shaping of future banking."
 
Choi added that banks should strengthen their risk prevention and controls during transformation, to achieve long-term sustainable development.
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NRI And JPX Embark On Project To Formulate Strategy For Money Market And Capital Market Development In Mongolia www.mondovisione.com

 
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (CEO: Shingo Konomoto, HQ: Tokyo, NRI) and Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (Group CEO: Akira Kiyota, HQ: Tokyo, JPX) have embarked on a project entitled “Money Market and Capital Market Development Strategy for Mongolia”, commissioned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
 
Mongolia has shown significant economic development since its transition to democracy and a market economy. Recently, however, due to factors such as falling prices of natural resources, the country’s economy has suffered a slowdown, leading to potential financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund and other organisations. Mongolia is working on policy initiatives for economic recovery and budget improvement, with support from various international donor organisations. Development of the capital market is among the important areas covered by these initiatives.
 
With funds from the Japan-EBRD Cooperation Fund, the EBRD selected a joint team of NRI and JPX staff to support Mongolia in establishing a long-term development plan for the Mongolian capital market, identifying barriers and recommending possible solutions. The project is expected to run from May to October 2017. This is the first time that the EBRD has selected a Japanese firm as a consultant company for technical assistance in the area of financial markets.
 
“The joint team of NRI and JPX appeared particularly strong among those candidates with in-depth knowledge both in money markets and capital markets. We expect the team to produce exceptionally high-quality deliverables that will support the aims of Mongolia’s national strategy for the development of financial markets,” said Tricia Huijeong Park, operation leader of the project at the EBRD Local Currency and Capital Markets Development Team.
 
Aude Pacatte, Head of Local Currency Portfolio Management at the EBRD Treasury, emphasises that money market development is a prerequisite of capital market development and that all stakeholders should work together to agree on the sequence of reforms and the role of each institution.
 
Irina Kravchenko, Head of the EBRD Resident Office in Ulaanbaatar, commented: “We believe this project is very important for the country and it is consistent with one of the main strategic priorities of the EBRD's new country strategy for Mongolia. We look forward to cooperating with NRI and JPX on this initiative and providing assistance to the Ministry of Finance of Mongolia to achieve the best possible outcome for development of the money and capital markets.”
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Rio Tinto launches new debt reduction programme www.mining.com

 
Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) launched today a $2.5-billion bond buyback plan with the idea of reducing reduce its gross debt.
 
In a press release, the global miner explained that, under the plan, it has issued a redemption notice for approximately $1.72 billion of its 2019 and 2020 US dollar-denominated notes and commenced cash tender offers to purchase up to approximately $781 million of its five 2021, 2022 and 2025 US dollar-denominated notes. Such offers will expire on June 20.
 
The company also said that today’s announcement is part of its ongoing capital management plan and follows the completion of a series of $7.5 billion US dollar-denominated note redemptions and repurchases in 2016.
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