Leading huge ships with a total crew of over 20,000, Zheng's ships visited ports across the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and Africa, "not as conquerors with warships, guns or swords" but as "friendly emissaries" sailing treasure-loaded ships, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in the keynote speech of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing on May 14.

One theory has it that several parts of Zheng's fleet passed through the Arctic Ocean in their wooden vessels and discovered Greenland and Iceland -- see former British submarine commander Gavin Menzies' book, "1421: The Year China Discovered the World."

The authenticity of that theory aside, Xi's Belt and Road voyage seems to be taking a similarly ambitious turn north to those icy waters.

Chinese diplomacy with countries and regions bordering the Arctic has intensified greatly in the past two months. Xi visited Alaska and Finland, while a senior Communist Party delegation was just in Iceland and a Norwegian leader visited Beijing for the first time since relations soured in 2010 over the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

This choice of destinations is no coincidence. "Looking at the visit to Finland, Alaska and Iceland, you can see the connection with the Arctic Council's chairmanship calendar," said Damien Degeorges, a Reykjavik, Iceland-based consultant specializing in Arctic affairs.

The Arctic Council serves as the leading intergovernmental forum among countries in the region: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the U.S. The council determines regulations on sustainable development and environmental protection.

"Earlier this month, Alaska hosted a ministerial meeting ending the U.S. chairmanship," Degeorges said. "Now Finland is holding the current chairmanship, and in two years it will be Iceland."

Xi visited Finland en route to his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in April. After meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Xi said Beijing and Helsinki would "seize the opportunity of Finland's rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council to enhance cooperation in Arctic affairs."

Degeorges also sees the resumption of diplomacy with Norway in the same context. "It was essential for China to normalize relations with Norway, which is a major actor in the Arctic," he said.

According to PM J.Erdenebat, the economic growth has shown increases in the first quarter of 2017. The major products in the sector, namely cashmere, wool, leather, textiles, wood and carpentry products constitute 60 percent of the total output of the industry. As of 2016, around 2 thousand factories were operating in this field, providing workplace for 48.8 thousand people.

By an estimate, around 9.4 tons of cashmere, 29 thousand tons of wool and 14 million skins and hides are expected to be prepared in 2017. The main focus for the light industry is to process 30-60 percent of these materials into final products, increasing the production to MNT 4 trillion and total sales to MNT 3.5 trillion by the end of 2017.

As of today, a total of 34 factories is processing leather in Ulaanbaatar and around 200 SMEs are producing final products with hides and skins in rural areas, providing jobs for 5.6 thousand people. In 2015, the local tanneries have processed 2 million raw skins and hides and produced final products worth MNT 169.6 billion. And at the end of 2016, the total production of processed leather was at 1.6 million, while semi-processed leather production reached 4.3 million and the total sales increased by 12% to MNT 259.5 billion. Out of the latter number, MNT 182 billion is comprised of processed raw skins and hides, while the remaining MNT 77.7 billion is of final products.

Also, with an aim to support small and medium size enterprises in the non-mining sectors to strengthen their export capabilities and expand access to exports market, “Export Development Project” has started being implemented since March, 2017 with the cooperation of World Bank.

Mongolia imported MNT 204 billion worth of cosmetics and household chemical products in 2016, which is 90 percent of the total domestic consumption. Therefore, the Government is supporting SMEs by exempting them from customs and value added tax, providing equipment leasing opportunities through banks.

PM J.Erdenebat also mentioned to implement policies to further support SMEs and provide a favorable environment for investment. As stated on the Government’s Action Plan for 2016-2020, a hundred factories in the export-oriented sectors will be established in rural areas to substitute imports through “Industrialization 21:100” program. In consideration of the area’s resource output, human resource and development plan, these factories will improve living conditions in the areas through their profit.
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The province will also stop the construction of more coal mines over the period to further reduce capacity, state-owned news agency Xinhua reported, quoting a recent coal industry development plan published by the local government.

Currently, Shanxi supplies coking coal to China's top steel mills and also exports to Japan and Korea.
Coal output at Shanxi, in the country's north, will be capped by 2020 at 1 billion tonnes and capacity at 1.2 billion tonnes annually by 2020.

Currently, the province supplies coking coal to China's top steel mills and also exports to Japan and Korea.

Earlier this month, provincial authorities announced they it will close 18 collieries and cut 17 million tonnes of coal capacity by the end of the year.

China, the world’s largest coal consumer and producer, is in the midst of an aggressive plan to reduce the share of coal in its overall energy mix and consequent smog and greenhouse gas emissions.

As part of that strategy, Beijing announced in January its intention to shut down 800 million tonnes of outdated coal capacity by 2020.

The country has also made public recently its goal of modernizing its coal-fired power plants by 2020 in an effort to cut “polluting” emissions by 60%. The government also aims to add over 20 million kilowatts of installed wind power and more than 15 million kilowatts of installed photovoltaic power by the end of the decade.

The Northern China import price of 62% Fe content ore is down 15% for in May trading at $57.80 per dry metric tonne, the lowest since mid-October according to data supplied by The Steel Index.

“There may be a slowdown in demand from the housing sector but the infrastructure sector will still be sustained”
Benchmark prices are down a whopping 37% from their February highs when ore came to within shouting distance of triple digits.

Bloomberg quotes closely followed emerging markets investor Mark Mobius as saying volatile iron ore prices and the fundamentals of the industry have to be looked at separately.

Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, said the while fundamentals have bee stable, the price is "subject to all kinds of external factors" including how traders are betting on the price going up or down:

“I don’t see a big, big decline in the demand for iron ore going forward, I think there’ll be continuing demand not only in China but other parts of the world,” said Mobius, who’s spent over 40 years tracking emerging markets. “If you look at Chinese imports of iron ore, it’s almost a straight line, continuing to go up,” adding that in contrast the price “is going all over the place.”

“There may be a slowdown in demand from the housing sector but the infrastructure sector will still be sustained,” Mobius said. “If the One Belt, One Road program proceeds, there’ll be continuing demand.”

Tugrug rate is strenthening in direct connection to IMF’s funding within the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). IMF Executive Board approved a three-year extended arrangement under EFF for Mongolia on May 24 and the first funding of USD 38.6 million was deposited into the central bank on May 25 to increase foreign exchange reserves.

The foreign exchange reserves were planned to be raised to USD1.6 billion in 2017, 2.7 in 2018, USD3.5 billion in 2019 and USD4 billion in 2020.
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The consultation meeting was attended by representatives of Financial Regulatory Commission, Authority for Fair Competition and Customers Protection, Mongolian Bankers Association, Bank and Financial Academy and other professional unions.

The first ever project targeted to financial consumer protection covers whole financial sector and as a result of the project, financial consumer protection framework is expected to be enhanced and system and mechanism to resolve disputes in finance sector in non-judicial process to be formed.

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Head of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Social Policy, Education, Culture and Science L.Enkh-Amgalan pointed out that over 90 percent of state-owned enterprises are facing deficits, but their directors are getting paid high salaries, driving expensive vehicles, and renting expensive offices. He said the state cannot afford to function this way, and that there should be a greater focus on reforming the leadership and management of stateowned companies.

Vice-Speaker of Parliament Ts.Nyamdorj said that some state-owned companies are operating by taking out loans from other companies and the state. He asked what the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority, Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry, and the Government Agency for Policy Coordination on State Property are doing to address the deficits facing these state-owned enterprises.

Cabinet Secretariat J.Munkhbat stated that there should be an emphasis on improving management and addressing the deficits of Erdenes Mongol Company.

MP B.Undarmaa asked the Minister of Energy what measures are being taken to provide ger district residents with permanent electricity in the framework of ger-district re-planning projects.

Minister of Energy P.Gankhuu noted that more than 1,600 households are connected to the central electricity network, and that the ministry has announced tender bids for a project that would provide 6,000 households with permanent electricity this year.

Member of Parliament B.Saranchimeg asked Minister of Nature, Environment, and Tourism
D.Oyunkhorol what kind of projects her ministry is implementing to deal with environmental challenges and to stop desertification.

Minister D.Oyunkhorol said that the ministry is working to collaborate with international organizations to implement projects and programs to combat desertification and adapt to climate change. The ministry is working on receiving funding from international organizations fighting climate change and green loan funds to implement programs addressing environmental issues.

Deputy Minister of Health L.Byambasuren pointed out that the average monthly salary for a doctor at public hospitals is 640,000 MNT, and the average monthly salary for a nurse is 560,000 MNT. She noted that these salaries are very low considering their workload, so the ministry is working to increase the salaries of the doctors, nurses, and staff of public hospital as part of the basic guidelines for 2018’s socio-economic development.