1 MONGOLIA’S “TOP-100” BUSINESSES OF 2024 RECOGNIZED WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/07/04      2 MONGOLIA’S WWII LEGACY: ASSET OR LIABILITY IN 2025? WWW.THEDIPLOMAT.COM PUBLISHED:2025/07/04      3 UNDP LAUNCHES GRANTS TO STRENGTHEN CIVIC PARTICIPATION AND PUBLIC SERVICE INTEGRITY IN MONGOLIA WWW.UNDP.ORG PUBLISHED:2025/07/04      4 ION ANNOUNCES CLOSING OF DEBT SETTLEMENT AND UPDATE ON JOINT VENTURE ON URGAKH NARAN PROJECT WWW.STOCKTITAN.NET  PUBLISHED:2025/07/04      5 WOMEN’S 3X3 BASKETBALL TEAM CLIMBS TO WORLD NO. 5 WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2025/07/04      6 MONGOLIA RECORDS 24 MODERATE EARTHQUAKES IN FIRST HALF OF 2025 WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/07/04      7 FLIGHTS BETWEEN MOSCOW, ULAANBAATAR TO BE RESUMED BY YEAR-END WWW.TASS.COM PUBLISHED:2025/07/04      8 EMPEROR MEETS REPORTERS AHEAD OF VISIT TO MONGOLIA WWW.3.NHK.OR.JP PUBLISHED:2025/07/03      9 WOOD ADVANCES RARE EARTH ELEMENTS PROJECT IN MONGOLIA WWW.MININGWEEKLY.COM  PUBLISHED:2025/07/03      10 THE BANK OF MONGOLIA PURCHASES 5.9 TONS OF PRECIOUS METALS IN FIRST HALF OF 2025 WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/07/03      ХӨРӨНГӨ ОРУУЛАГЧДЫГ ХУРЛААР БУС, ХУУЛИАР УРЬДАГ ЮМ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/07/04     НҮҮРС ТЭЭВРИЙГ ХОЛИМОГ ТЭЭВРЭЭР ГҮЙЦЭТГЭНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/07/04     ВАЛЮТЫН НӨӨЦ 5.2 ТЭРБУМ АМ.ДОЛЛАРТ ХҮРЛЭЭ WWW.NEWS.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/07/04     УСНЫ САН БҮХИЙ ГАЗАРТ ТҮГЭЭМЭЛ ТАРХАЦТАЙ АШИГТ МАЛТМАЛЫН ТУСГАЙ ЗӨВШӨӨРӨЛ ОЛГОХЫГ ХОРИГЛОНО WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/07/04     КУВЕЙТ ЗАМ, ТЭЭВЭР, ДЭД БҮТЦИЙН САЛБАРТ ИДЭВХТЭЙ ХАМТРАН АЖИЛЛАХАА ИЛЭРХИЙЛЭВ WWW.ZINDAA.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/07/04     “ӨНДӨРХААН НИСЭХ БУУДАЛ” НЭЭЛТЭЭ ХИЙЛЭЭ WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/07/04     П.САЙНЗОРИГ: МАНАЙ УЛСЫН ГАДААД ПАСПОРТ ХҮЧИРХЭГ БАЙДЛЫНХАА ЭРЭМБЭЭР 69 ДҮГЭЭР БАЙРТ ЖАГСАЖ БАЙНА WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/07/04     Г.ЗАНДАНШАТАР: ХҮН ТӨВТЭЙ ХАНДЛАГА ТӨРИЙН АЛБАНЫ, ТӨРИЙН АЛБАН ХААГЧИЙН ҮНДСЭН ЗАРЧИМ БОЛОХ ЁСТОЙ WWW.ZINDAA.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/07/03     УЛААНБААТАР-МОСКВА ЧИГЛЭЛИЙН ШУУД НИСЛЭГИЙГ ЭНЭ ОНЫ СҮҮЛЭЭР СЭРГЭЭНЭ WWW.ITOIM.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/07/03     ИГАВАХАРА МАСАРҮ: ЯПОНЫ ЦОГ ЖАВХЛАНТ ЭЗЭН ХААН, ЭРХЭМ ДЭЭД ХАТНЫ АЙЛЧЛАЛ НЬ ХОЁР ОРНЫ ХАРИЛЦААНД ШИНЭ ХУУДСЫГ НЭЭХ АЛХАМ БОЛНО WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/07/03    

Events

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

NEWS

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Labour selects John Grogan to contest Keighley seat at General Election www.keighleynews.co.uk

(Mr.John Grogan is the Chairman of Mongolian-British Chamber of Commerce, very close business partner/"friend" of MBD and its business delegations to UK)

- JOHN Grogan is to reprise his battle to wrest Keighley from Tory control.

He has been selected by Labour to contest the Parliamentary seat at the General Election, on June 8.

In 2015, he failed in his bid to unseat sitting Conservative MP Kris Hopkins, who was returned with a 3,053 majority.

But Mr Grogan said this week he was confident the polls nationally would tighten in the coming weeks and that he was looking forward to a "robust but civilised" campaign.

"I'm delighted to be standing again in Keighley," he said.

"I was asked to put forward my name in a couple of safe Labour seats, but I wanted to stand my ground and fly the party flag in Keighley and Ilkley once again.

"The constituency is 23rd on the national list of target seats for Labour and if we are to get rid of the Conservative majority in Parliament, it is crucial that it is a Labour gain on June 8."

Mr Grogan said he first campaigned for Labour in Keighley in 1979, when the late Bob Cryer stood and took the seat by just 78 votes.

And he began his latest campaign today with the constituency's last Labour MP, Ann Cryer, exactly 20 years after her election victory and the party's national success.

Mr Grogan, 56, who lives at Burley-in-Wharfedale, was MP for Selby from that same year until 2010.

"When we were in Parliament together Ann and I voted the same way on 95 per cent of votes," he said.

"As we remember that great victory in 1997 we of course are also looking forward to the coming campaign.

"I anticipate some robust discussions on policy in the next five weeks, but I'm sure the local campaign will be civilised and courteous as it was last time.

"I expect the national polls to tighten as the campaign goes on and electors begin to look beyond the Conservatives' mantra of 'strong and stable'.

"There is not much stability in Keighley's schools at the moment, for example, as they face very significant cuts in funding.

"In the coming weeks I will set out Labour's policies for Keighley and Ilkley regarding education, health, transport, Brexit and housing."

On the issue of party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Mr Grogan said neither he nor Mrs Cryer had voted for him in the leadership contest.

But he added: "I think he has made a strong start to the campaign.

"Both of us know his many qualities from our time working together on the backbenches on issues such as Iraq."

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Japan Display still swimming in red ink after missing Apple wave www.asia.nikkei.com

 
TOKYO -- Japan Display's dismal fiscal 2016 earnings stood out in the sea of good results from electronic-device makers, but the company has only itself to blame for misreading a clear shift in demand from its biggest customer -- Apple.
 
The major LCD panel manufacturer on Wednesday reported a group net loss of 31.6 billion yen ($277 million) for the year ended in March. The third consecutive year of net losses came despite Chairman Mitsuru Homma expressing hope for a annual profit as recently as February.
 
Japan Display continued a familiar pattern, having repeatedly downgraded earnings forecasts since its stock listing in 2014. President Shuji Aruga said at the earnings briefing that he felt "greatly responsible" for the disappointing result. Homma was a no-show.
 
Missing the boat
 
The red ink sprung mainly from the business of supplying liquid crystal display panels for smartphones, which generates roughly 80% of the company's sales. Japan Display struggled to keep output flowing smoothly, beset by delays in improving the production yield of a new type of panel.
 
South Korea's Samsung Electronics also snatched some business from Japan Display by pitching organic light-emitting diode panels to Chinese smartphone makers for use in their upmarket handsets.
 
Japan Display said during Wednesday's briefing that it aims to counter the setback in smartphone panels by boosting sales of LCD panels for other electronic devices, such as automotive displays. But this segment looks unprepared to deliver, accounting for only around 10% of the company's sales.
 
Storms ahead
 
"Three straight years of net losses will be viewed as a seriously negative factor when we consider additional loans," an official of a lender bank noted. But things could get even worse for Japan Display.
 
Apple, the source of roughly half of Japan Display's sales, is expected to use an OLED panel on the iPhone for the first time with the new model set for release in the fall. This change could sink Japan Display's fiscal 2017 sales by 20% compared with a year earlier, according to some estimates.
 
OLED displays are expected to make up a significantly bigger share of the iPhone's 2018 models, said Yoshio Tamura of research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants.
 
Apple's shift toward OLED panels likely will prompt Chinese smartphone makers to follow suit, since they have grown by imitating the U.S. tech giant. This poses a serious threat to Japan Display's plan to capture market share for its LCD panels among high-end Chinese-made models.
 
With its eyes fixed on LCDs, Japan Display kicked off production at a 190 billion yen panel plant in Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture in December. Though the company has the technology to manufacture OLED panels, it is unable to ready production in time to supply them to Apple in 2018, Aruga said, in essence admitting management's failure to anticipate a major shift in the industry.
 
Samsung, by contrast, has invested billions of dollars to raise its OLED production capacity. Fellow South Korean manufacturer LG Display is expected to begin supplying Apple in 2018.
 
Japan Display was created five years ago through a merger of the LCD panel operations at major Japanese electronics manufacturers under the lead of the Innovation Network Corp. of Japan. Still the top shareholder, the public-private investment fund has enlisted Nobuhiro Higashiiriki, president of Japanese OLED panel developer JOLED, to take the helm at Japan Display next month to try to change course. But some warn that navigating the transition from LCDs to OLEDs will would prove a challenge for even a deft hand.
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After IMF postpones approval, Parliament repeals Subclause 11 requirement of mandatory FX deposits in Mongolian banks, awaits IMF board review of assistance package – but is it over? NAMBC Newsletter

The State Great Khural has repealed the highly controversial subclause 11 in the revised budget legislation that would have required foreign companies to deposit foreign exchange sales revenues in Mongolian banks. The board of directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had postponed approval of the Mongolia bailout package, scheduled for April 28, because of concern about that clause. The IMF will now re-examine the amended budget law and proceed towards a decision. The mandatory bank deposit clause was not in the Government’s original bill but rather was added by MPs during the Budget Committee consideration of the bill.

Besides erecting a major new impediment to FDI, and throwing a scare into overseas financial markets that were beginning to incline towards taking another chance on Mongolia, the provision would have been a clear violation of existing Investment Agreements (IA) and Production Sharing Contracts (PSC), which guarantee investors no changes in tax and performance requirements beyond those in effect at the time the IA or PSC was signed. Foreign companies making multi-billion dollar investments in projects with life spans of 30 to 60 years must have a stable tax and regulatory environment in order to secure the necessary capital. Among the foreign investors with major stakes in the sanctity of Investment Agreement contracts are the IFC and MIGA, members of the World Bank Group, which arranged US$2.2 billion in debt and guarantees to support the Oyu Tolgoi copper. Mongolia concluded its Investment Agreement on Oyu Tolgoi in 2009. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group are sister organizations that were both created at the international Bretton Woods Conference (New Hampshire, USA) in July 1944. The IMF and the World Bank Group hold their semi-annual meetings together at the same time and place because of the close ties between the two.

However, comments made by a Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) leader when the MPP announced that they would support repeal of subclause 11 with their 85% majority in parliament have reignited worries among foreign investors about whether this issue will come back again. MP Khayankhyarvaa Damdin, MPP floor leader in the State Great Khural, told a Mongolian reporter for Nikkei Asian Review that, yes, the parliament would “change the new regulation again [i.e., repeal and delete subclause 11],” but he went on to explain, “Because the economy is in a dire state, Mongolia first needs to be part of the [IMF] grant,.” However, he concluded, “after that, we will discuss whether foreign investment should go through a Mongolian bank."

Some observers suggest that the IMF board – and the global financial community – might welcome, if not require, reassurances of stability and transparency in the form of an official statement from the Mongolian Government declaring that proposals requiring mandatory bank deposits would not again be raised during the life of the current government, which runs until the next parliamentary election in 2020. One Canadian financial analyst told us, “The [Mongolian] Government offered an undertaking to China last December that promised no future visits by the Dalai Lama for the duration of the incumbent government and that same modus vivendi regarding forced bank deposits may well be a good idea now.”

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Agreement on Indian government loan to be submitted for immediate parliamentary discussion www.montsame.mn

 
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The cabinet discussed the bill of ratification of General Agreement on Credit Line of USD 1.0 billion between the Government of Mongolia and the Government of the Republic of India, and resolved to recommend the parliament to run immediate discussion on this matter.
 
The 20-year loan will have annual interest rate of 1.75 percent with 5-year grace period. It has been agreed by both governments to dedicate the credit financing to projects on industrialization, railroad, infrastructure, agriculture and other important economic fields.
 
In regard to the amount of financing, credit grace period for infrastructural projects costing more than USD 200 million and project with strategic importance that cost USD 100 million or more will be seven years, with overall credit term of 25 years.
 
 
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Cabinet approves draft agreements on infrastructure development www.en.montsame.mn

 
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ During its regular meeting on May 10, Wednesday, the Cabinet discussed and approved draft special loan agreements on projects ‘Construction of steel-concrete bridges on Tuul River in Bayanzurkh and Sonsgolon’ and ‘Construction of Ulaanbaatar-Mandalgobi electricity transmission network and electrical substation’ to be established by the Ministry of Finance and Chinese Export-Import Bank.
 
From USD 1 billion soft loan issued by the Export-Import Bank following an agreement established with Mongolian Government in 2015, USD 118 million fund will be allocated for the Ulaanbaatar-Mandalgobi electricity transmission network and electrical substation project.
 
With establishment of the agreement, the Cabinet views, electricity will be distributed to major mines like Oyu Tolgoi, Tavan Tolgoi and Tsagaan Suvarga, and moreover, there will be two electricity sources when Tavan Tolgoi power station launches its operation.
 
The Bayanzurkh bridge on Tuul River, inaugurated in 1963 and 1965, will be enlarged with the project, and the road leading to Sonsgolon bridge will be expanded to a four-lane road.
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Ross: Washington won't oppose TPP without US www.nhk.or.jp

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says that he will not oppose an Asia-Pacific free trade deal that may take effect without the participation of the US.

Ross stressed on Tuesday that the US will seek bilateral deals to reduce its trade deficit.

The US pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in January. The remaining 11 member countries, including Japan, are pursuing the possibility of getting the deal implemented without the US.

The Pacific-Rim countries will hold a ministerial meeting in Vietnam in late May to discuss the trade deal.

An NHK correspondent says the US administration is eager to not only protect domestic manufacturers, but also to boost exports of US farm goods.

He also said that the administration may start pressuring trade partners to enter bilateral negotiations.

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China says Silk Road plan is not tied to presidency www.reuters.com

China's President Xi Jinping initiated the ambitious "Belt and Road" development plan but it has become a world plan not tied to his presidency, the Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday, days before Xi hosts a global forum on the initiative.

The forum in Beijing next week will draw heads of state to discuss Xi's plan to expand trade links between Asia, Africa and Europe through billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.

Representatives from more than 100 countries will attend China's biggest diplomatic event of the year, though only one leader from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, is set to join.

China says between 2014 and 2016, its businesses signed projects worth $304.9 billion along inland and maritime corridors of the plan, also known as the New Silk Road. But some of the projects could be in development for years.

Judging by recent precedent in China's political system, Xi is slated to step down from the presidency in early 2023 at the end of his second five-year term.

Asked what guarantee the world had that the initiative would go on after Xi's second term, Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming told a news briefing that its vitality lay in countries' hopes for development and not in the idea of "who proposed it or what term in office there is later".

"The Belt and Road initiative was proposed by President Xi in 2013, but this initiative is not an individual proposal, or merely left at a proposal level. Rather it is an initiative that has been widely received by the whole world. It is jointly owned by everyone," Qian said.

China has repeatedly rebuffed concern that the plan is part of a grand strategy to expand its economic interests for selfish gain and to seek global dominance, saying that anyone can join the plan to boost common prosperity.

Xi has used the initiative to help portray China as an open economy, distinct from a rising wave of global protectionism.

However, the government has faced criticism from foreign business groups and governments alike, who say it has done little to remove discriminatory policies and market barriers that favor Chinese companies.

Foreign business groups have questioned whether multinational companies would be able to compete with Chinese firms through the plan in transparent bidding processes.

Zhang Xingfu, an official from the Commerce Ministry's cooperation department, played down such concerns.

"Chinese enterprises conducting investment and cooperative business in countries along the Belt and Road initiative will ... actively participate in project bidding, and cooperate and compete with international enterprises in the same industries on the same platform," Zhang said.

(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Rosneft Executives Enjoy 9900% Rise in Bonus Payout www.themoscowtimes.com

Top managers at Russian oil company Rosneft will see their bonuses skyrocket by 9,900 percent for the first quarter of 2017.

Rosneft executives will receive a 1.5 billion ruble ($25.8 million) bonus, one hundred times more than the same period in 2016, Russia's Vedomosti newspaper reported Wednesday. The sum also equals more than half of the total executive bonuses received in 2016.

The decision comes despite a small slump in the company's revenue, which fell from 1,485 billion rubles ($25.6 billion) in the final quarter of 2016 to 1,410 billion rubles ($24.3 billion) in the first quarter of this year.

Rosneft said that the premiums were linked to the company's successful privatization and acquisition of Russian oil company Bashneft.

“The deal was conducted in an unprecedentedly difficult situation in the shortest possible time," a Rosneft representative told Vedomosti.

The company is yet to announce how the bonus will be divided among top executives.

Rosneft was privatized in December 2016, when the Russian government sold its 19.5 percent stake in the company to a consortium consisting of the British-Swiss commodities trading firm Glencore and the Qatari Sovereign Wealth Fund. The sale generated 10.5 billion euros ($11.3 billion) for the Russian budget, the Kremlin announced.

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Asian bio-safety committee convenes in Ulaanbaatar www.en.montsame.mn

 
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Second Consultative Meeting of the Asian countries’ unofficial committee on “Forwarding Biological Safety Mechanism” is taking place in Ulaanbaatar on May 10-12. The meeting is jointly organized by the Government of Mongolia and the Secretariat of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
 
12 representatives from Malaysia, Cambodia, Mongolia, China, South Korea and the Philippines are taking part in the meeting, considering conservation of bio-diversity, regional network required to ensure biological safety, raising public awareness and ensuring public involvement, as well as organizational and many other types of issues.
 
Mongolia is a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartagena Protocol, which was ratified by the State Great Khural in 2002. The Mongolian parliament passed the Law on Modified Organism in 2007, and since has been working to establish the legal ground for ensuring bio-safety.
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Detroit revival spurs JPMorgan to make fresh $50 million pledge www.reuters.com

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) is investing another $50 million in Detroit amid what city officials and bank executives describe as encouraging signs for urban renewal through public-private partnerships.
 
JPMorgan's latest investment, which it plans to announce on Wednesday, comes on top of a $100 million, five-year commitment the largest U.S. bank made to Detroit in 2014.
 
At the time, the city was bankrupt due to the near-collapse of the U.S. auto industry and six decades of economic decline and population exodus.
 
The bank has put up $107 million so far, funding blight removal, commercial and residential redevelopment, job skills training and loans to small businesses. Now it plans to reinvest $13 million from early loan repayments, and commit an additional $30 million, Peter Scher, the bank's head of corporate responsibility, said in an interview.
 
"There's been a much more vibrant comeback in the small business sector in Detroit than anyone expected," he said.
 
The $150 million commitment is tiny compared with the bank's $2.5 trillion balance sheet, but JPMorgan is the biggest bank in Detroit, aligning its interests with the city's. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has made it a personal mission to improve Detroit, visiting at least six times to check on the initiative.
 
Dimon has met with contractors who needed working capital to repair homes and with food entrepreneurs who needed shared commercial kitchens for bread baking and sausage-making.
 
The bank has worked with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to focus its efforts on neighborhoods with the most promise and city support.
 
"Detroit's resurgence is a model for what can be accomplished when leaders work together to create economic growth and opportunity,” Dimon said in a statement provided to Reuters.
 
JPMorgan has followed other private investors. Billionaire Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans Inc, and his companies control more than 90 properties downtown in a redevelopment push.
 
Detroit was once the fifth largest U.S. city with 1.85 million people. It now ranks below the top 20 and has its smallest population since 1850. But in July 2015, by the most recent Census Bureau estimate, Detroit's 677,116 residents were just 0.5 percent fewer than the year before, the smallest drop in decades.
 
The bureau will release 2016 figures later this month. Local officials hope to see gains.
 
"It will validate all the work that is going on here," said Carmine Palombo, deputy executive director of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.
 
Still, the city's unemployment rate was 10.9 percent in 2016, the highest among the 50 largest U.S. cities. Nearly 40 percent of residents live in poverty and Detroit had the second-highest violent crime rate in 2016 among major U.S. cities.
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