The one-day event run by XacBank, and supported by GCF, is designed to tap the entrepreneurial energies of the country’s private sector to drive low-emission innovation. It will bring together a range of experts to explore how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance energy efficiency, while also making Mongolian businesses more competitive.

The forum marks a crucial phase in ongoing endeavours by XacBank, one of Mongolia’s major lenders, to carve out a low-carbon energy sector in this landlocked country.

In July, GCF completed a USD 20 million transfer of climate finance to XacBank as part of a USD 60 million project to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) finance low-carbon initiatives in Mongolia.

The bulk of GCF’s support is in the form of loans, with at least half directed at women-led enterprises.
Speaking before the first of what XacBank plans to be yearly green finance forums, the bank’s president stressed the important role of Mongolian women in driving low-emission business opportunities.

“The increased involvement of women should mean a higher probability of effective climate finance,” said Amar Hanibal. “Statistics show women have a lower probability of default of loans, while our anecdotal observations indicate women-led businesses tend to be more accurate, risk averse and better planners.”

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement ICOs are “essentially a form of non-approved illegal public financing behavior and raises suspicions of illegal selling of notes and bills, illegal securities issuance, illegal deposit-taking, financial fraud, illegal direct marketing and related criminal activity.”

It added that individuals and organizations that have completed ICO fundraisings should make arrangements to return the money.

According to cryptocurrency analysis website Cryptocompare, $2.32 billion has been raised through ICOs, with $2.16 billion of that being raised since the start of 2017.

The PBOC added that "any so-called tokens financing trading platform shall not engage in the exchange of legal currency and tokens." It even goes so far as to ban platforms from "provid[ing] pricing, information, [and] intermediary services."

ICOs have surged in China this year as entrepreneurs could raise large sums, sometimes even hundreds of millions of dollars in minutes, by creating and issuing digital tokens.

Government data showed there had been 65 ICOs so far during the year, raising a combined 2.62 billion yuan ($394.6 million) from 105,000 individuals in the country.

In July, the US Securities and Exchange Commission warned that some ICOs should be regulated like other securities. Authorities in Singapore and Canada have issued similar warnings.

Some experts claim China’s ICO ban could be temporary. The director of the Shanghai-based financial technology consultancy Kapronasia, Zennon Kapron said he suspected regulators are putting the brakes on ICOs to better understand the phenomenon, but that could ease off in the future.

“Regulators globally are struggling to understand what ICOs are, what the risks are, and how to ring-fence and regulate them,” he told Reuters.

“China, in many ways, is no different than the US or Singapore in saying, ok, we need to push back on these for now until we figure out how to deal with them...I think it will be slightly a temporary measure,” Kapron added.

The meeting was co-chaired by V.Enkhbold, Director of the Mongolian Foreign Ministry Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, Xiao Weiming, Deputy Director of the western development division of the China's National Development and Reform Commission (CNDRC), and Ye.N.Popov, Head of the Asia, Africa and Latin America Department of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development.

The parties initialed a Memorandum of Understanding on setting up a mechanism to accelerate the Economic Corridor’s implementation after coming to an agreement over the document’s context.

In addition, the countries prioritized 32 projects, which are reflected in the Program, and discussed those projects to be realized in the first turn. The parties then included three of them in the Memorandum’s appendix on building up a central corridor of railways and learning a chance for Chinese companies to getting involved in renovation of the electricity network in Mongolia and Russia.

In order to implement the projects in the first turn, the countries concurred to establish a joint center for investment and projection in Ulaanbaatar.

Present at the meeting were representatives and officials from the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Road and Transportation, the Ministry of Energy, the Mongolian Embassy in Russia, the CNDRC, the Chinese Embassy in Russia, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Energy and the Russian Railways JSC. 
B.Ooluun

In the latest reports of Mongolia, Current Account recorded a deficit of 98.8 USD mn in Jul 2017. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased by 148.4 USD mn in Jul 2017. Mongolia's Direct Investment Abroad expanded by 0.2 USD mn in Jul 2017. Its Foreign Portfolio Investment fell by 43.3 USD mn in Mar 2017. The country's Nominal GDP was reported at 3.0 USD bn in Jun 2017.

Please review in details on the link https://www.ceicdata.com/indicator/mongolia/foreign-direct-investment--of-nominal-gdp 

Kh.Battulga is set to attend the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday and Friday. It will be his first visit to Russia since taking office on 10th of July. During the visit, Kh.Battulga and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting. Before this, two held informal meeting in Hungary on 27th of August during the 2017 World Judo Championships.

Following the meeting with President Putin, Kh.Battulga will hold talks with South Korea`s President Moon Jae-in to seek a means to develop bilateral relations and discuss North Korean missile and nuclear issues.

The project is a part of the Technical Assistance (TA) projects of the ADB. The TA projects are for international organisations and developed countries to send their experts to developing countries in order to provide consulting related to industrial development, technological development, etc.

The project in Mongolia is worth a total of more than USD 1 million. The KAMCO has become the first South Korean public enterprise to lead the ADB’s TA project of that size. Before the selection of the preferred bidder, the ADB looked into each candidate’s degree of understanding of the purpose of a public asset management corporation in Mongolia, past consulting history, methodology, etc. The candidates included consulting firms and accounting firms located in Great Britain, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand.

The KAMCO and FA are planning to conduct their consulting for approximately 24 months following negotiations with the ADB.

Rosgeo aims to start exploring two blocks off the country's south coast. The agreement covers a huge amount of geological exploration work, including drilling exploratory wells.

The company is expected to undertake 1,500 square miles of 3D seismic operations and over 8,000 miles of gravity-magnetic exploration activities.

The Russian company will get a 70 percent stake in the project with the remaining 30 percent going to PetroSA, according to Rosgeo’s CEO Roman Panov.

He stressed the project is aimed at oil and gas extraction and will be financed in partnership with Russian and South African banks.

The contract is seen as lucrative for the Russian company as it allows to employ its capacities, including drilling equipment and staff all year round.

Estimated reserves in the two blocks reportedly total 50 million tons of crude and 1.2 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.

Under the terms of the agreement, the daily volume of extracted gas is set to reach four million cubic meters. The gas will then be delivered to a gas-to-liquid refinery at Mossel Bay.

The new rules, which Huttunen said would “leave room for manoeuvre,” are expected to be in place by 2018 and the goal is to get rid of coal by 2030.

Flexibility in the legislation is needed to ensure supply and avoid the risk of blackouts, he added, particularly taking into account that 10 per cent of the country’s energy is produced by coal. In fact, Finland uses the most coal of all the Nordic countries.

To replace this source of energy, the Sauli Niinistö government will focus its efforts on making sure that the Olkiluoto 3 reactor comes online in 2018 and the Hanhikivi 1 reactor follows suit in 2024. Once this happens, about 60 per cent of Finland’s demand will be met by nuclear power. At present, operative reactors cover roughly 30 per cent of the country’s energy needs.

Instability in power supply could be in sight in the short term, however, as Sweden has plans to phase out two reactors. This means that there will be less energy available through the two countries’ interconnected grids.