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    

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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Alibaba's Ma says no chance of U.S. trade war with China www.reuters.com

 
China and the United States are not about to be drawn into a trade war, Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma said on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
"China and (the) U.S. will never have a trade war. Give Trump some time. He's open minded," Ma told a panel at the meeting of business and political leaders in the Swiss Alps.
Ma met U.S. President-elect Donald Trump last week and laid out the Chinese e-commerce giant's new plan to bring one million small U.S. businesses onto its platform to sell to Chinese consumers over the next five years.
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Fed's Yellen says 'makes sense' to gradually raise interest rates www.reuters.com

 
With the U.S. economy close to full employment and inflation headed toward the Federal Reserve's 2 percent goal, it "makes sense" for the U.S. central bank to gradually lift interest rates, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said on Wednesday.
"Waiting too long to begin moving toward the neutral rate could risk a nasty surprise down the road - either too much inflation, financial instability, or both," Yellen told the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco.
"In that scenario, we could be forced to raise interest rates rapidly, which in turn could push the economy into a new recession."
The Fed raised short-term rates last month for only the second time since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, when it slashed rates to near zero and began buying massive amounts of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities to push down long-term borrowing costs.
The rate increase in December reflected confidence the U.S. economy will continue to recover, Yellen said.
The Fed chief said that she and other Fed policymakers expected the central bank to lift its key benchmark short-term rate "a few times a year" through 2019, putting it near the long-term sustainable rate of 3 percent.
That pace could change depending on how the outlook for the economy develops, Yellen cautioned.
"The economy is vast and vastly complex, and its path can take surprising twists and turns," she said.
Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields rose and the dollar strengthened after the remarks. Yellen said asset valuations including stock prices in part reflect expectations that the Fed will normalize rates faster than other central banks.
Republican businessman-turned-politician Donald Trump, who will be sworn in as U.S. president on Friday, has promised tax cuts, regulatory rollbacks and infrastructure spending that he says will boost economic growth.
Other Fed policymakers have suggested fiscal stimulus, with the unemployment rate now at a healthy 4.7 percent, could lead to a faster pace of rate hikes than currently anticipated.
Without commenting directly on Trump, Yellen said she will "closely follow" the many new economic policies that are under discussion.
"We will factor (any changes in economic policy) into the outlook and take account of their impact on what we need to do to achieve our dual mandate objectives," she said.
The U.S. economy is "close" on both the Fed's employment mandate and its inflation goal, Yellen said. But, she added, "our foot remains on the pedal in part because we want to make sure the economic expansion remains strong enough to withstand an unexpected shock, given that we don't have much room to cut interest rates."
Dramatic rate hikes will probably not be necessary because slow U.S. productivity growth is holding back economic growth, Yellen said.
"Nevertheless, as the economy approaches our objectives, it makes sense to gradually reduce the level of monetary policy support," she said.
 
 
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Middle classes in crisis, IMF's Christine Lagarde tells Davos 2017 www.theguardian.com

 
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has called for urgent action to tackle a “middle-class crisis” hitting working people as she warned that inequality, distrust and a lack of hope were fuelling growing populism.
 
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Lagarde said she had first highlighted the dangers of rising inequality four years ago but had been ignored. “I hope people will listen now,” she said.
 
Lagarde said the gulf between rich and poor was evident from an Oxfam report showing that eight billionaires own the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population – 3.6 billion people.
 
“With lower growth, more inequality and much more transparency, you have the good ingredients for a crisis of the middle classes [a US term to describe working people] in the advanced economies,” she said.
 
Lagarde added that the answer was not for countries to turn their back on globalisation but a mix of policies designed to stimulate activity and ensure the fruits of growth were more evenly spread.
 
“Policymakers need to get the signal now, and really think about how to address the public discontent. It [the policy response] needs to be granular, it needs to be regional, it needs to be focused on what will people get out of it. It probably includes more redistribution than we have in place at the moment.”
 
Lagarde’s view that the middle class was in crisis was shared by the outgoing US vice-president.
 
Joe Biden said globalisation and new technology were in effect “hollowing out the middle class, the traditional engine of economic growth and social stability in western nations”.
 
He added: “We cannot undo the changes that technology has wrought in our world, nor should we try. But we can and we must take action to mitigate the economic trends that are stoking unrest in so many advanced economies and undermining people’s basic sense of dignity.”
 
Addressing his audience directly, Biden said the top 1% was not “pulling its weight” and urged that income tax be made more progressive.
 
Larry Summers, the Harvard professor and former US Treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, questioned whether concern over income inequality really explained the crisis in the middle classes. “The US has just elected the world’s biggest example of conspicuous consumption. That is a bizarre manifestation of a concern over inequality.”
 
This year’s Davos has been dominated so far by concerns that the results of referendums in the UK and Italy together with the election of Donald Trump as US president represent a retreat from globalisation into nationalism and protectionism.
 
Summers said many voters thought “too much is being done for the poor, rather than that too little is being done for the poor”, and suggested that the surge of populism was due to issues such as “national unity and strength”, not just envy over wealth.
 
Middle-class voters, he added, felt governments weren’t working for them. “They feel the governments are fighting for people in developing countries, for people who have recently come into their countries, for minority groups who used to suffer discrimination, but not the people “in the centre of the country”.
 
He added: “They feel they are not being heard, and they’ve expressed that in the Brexit vote, the Italian referendum and in the US election.”
 
Summers was dismissive of the policies proposed by Trump, saying that the lesson of history was that populism ended up harming the people it was supposed to help. He said tax cuts would benefit the already super-rich and the small number of jobs relocated to the US by presidential strong-arming of corporations would be dwarfed by the jobs losses caused by the rise in the value of the dollar.
 
“The people who will be the victims of populist policies are the lower-income and middle-class people in whose name the policy is offered,” Summers said.
 
The Italian finance minister, Pier Carlo Padoan, said there was no “silver bullet” that would solve the crisis but it was important to take populists seriously.
 
“Policymakers must deliver a vision of a better future – something that is lacking in Europe right now,” he said.
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World's biggest hedge fund fears populism www.rt.com

 
Ray Dalio, the founder and co-chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, often referred to as the world's largest hedge fund, says rising populism in developed countries has a greater effect on markets than central banks.
 
"Populism scares me. I want to be loud and clear — populism scares me. It is the extremes,” said Dalio at Bloomberg’s panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Bridgewater Associates oversees $150 billion in assets, making it the largest known hedge fund.
 
"Populism is not just the belief that there is a wealth gap... But it's also a sense that they don't represent me. It's a matter of nationalism; it's a matter of getting greater control. It's a matter of increased polarity - the left becomes more left, the right becomes more right - and that particular dynamic, I would say that this is the first year where populism is the most important issue globally," he said.
 
"I would say before it used to be central banks, central banks don't matter as much, now the number one issue economically - and as a market participant - is how populism manifests itself over the next year or two," Dalio added.
 
Dalio mentioned Huey Long, the Louisiana populist who was assassinated after announcing a run for president in 1935. Long favored wealth redistribution. He also acknowledged “the world’s wealth gap is the highest since the 1930s.”
 
"In the 1930s every government that existed practically was populist. So populism by definition is nationalist and protectionist. And it's also a matter of values. There is a sense of threat; my country is losing its values to internationalism,” he said.
 
“We may be at a point where globalization is ending, and provincialization and nationalization are taking hold,” Dalio added.
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Rio Tinto, Chinalco put an end to copper joint venture www.mining.com

Mining giants Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) and Aluminum Corp. of China (Chinalco) have decided to call it quits on a six-year-old exploration joint venture originally set to find copper deposits in China.

Rio had dropped a hint about the breakup on Tuesday by saying it had discontinued exploration work in China, India and Mexico, with no further details.
A Chinalco spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg that the partnership, named Chinalco Rio Tinto Exploration Co, was being disbanded, but did not provide further details.

Rio had dropped a hint about the breakup on Tuesday by saying it had discontinued exploration work in China, India and Mexico, as part of a quarterly update on its operations. The miner, however, did not give any further information on such decisions at the time.

Chinalco Rio Tinto Exploration Co., majority owned by the Chinese miner (with a 51% stake), had plans to expand the scope of its exploration targets to coal and potash. Since launched in 2011, it had mostly focused on the northern Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang provinces.

In October, Rio Tinto decided to sell its stake in the giant Simandou iron ore project in Guinea to Chinalco. The deal gave the Chinese group access to the world’s largest untapped resource of the steelmaking ingredient.

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S.Korean court dismisses warrant for Samsung chief www.nhk.or.jp

A court in Seoul has dismissed a request for an arrest warrant for the de facto head of the country's biggest family conglomerate, Samsung.

A special prosecutor's team looking into a political scandal involving President Park Geun-hye requested the arrest warrant on Monday for Samsung Electronics' vice chairman Lee Jae-yong. It is accusing Lee of bribery, embezzlement, and other charges.

The Seoul Central District Court summoned Lee for questioning on Wednesday, which lasted 4 hours.

South Korean media report that the court denied the request early Thursday.

The court reportedly judged there was not enough reason to issue the arrest warrant for Lee at this point.

Lee returned home from a detention house where he was awaiting the court decision.

The prosecutors say Lee paid about 36 million dollars to 2 foundations closely linked to the president's confidante Choi Soon-sil, in return for favors from the presidential office involving the merger of 2 Samsung affiliates.

The merger is believed to have been necessary for Lee to become head of the group's management.

Local media report that denial of the arrest warrant could deal a heavy blow to the prosecutors, who had planned to arrest Lee, while overriding concern about the negative impact on the country's economy.

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Arrest warrant sought for S.Korea culture minister www.nhk.or.jp

A special prosecutor's team in South Korea has requested an arrest warrant for Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun. She is suspected of abusing her power.

Cho is alleged to have helped create a blacklist of over 9,400 cultural figures considered critical of the administration of the country's disgraced president. Park Geun-hye is embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal.

The special prosecutor's team suspects the figures on the list were denied government support.

They asked a court in Seoul on Wednesday to issue arrest warrants for Cho and a former presidential chief of staff.

The court is to consider whether to approve the warrants, which include the first request to arrest a current minister in connection with Park's scandal.

Cho's predecessor, former culture minister Kim Jong-deok, was arrested last week on suspicion of abuse of power as part of the creation of the list.

Observers say attention is increasingly shifting to whether Park herself was involved in making the list.

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Rolls-Royce apologizes for bribery scandal and pays huge fine www.rt.com

British engineering company Rolls-Royce has agreed to pay a record £671 million ($830 million) to British, US and Brazilian authorities to settle bribery and corruption allegations.

The company said it “apologized unreservedly for the conduct which has been uncovered.”

The three countries launched the investigation five years ago, as they suspected Rolls-Royce of hiring intermediaries to pay bribes to win better contracts internationally.

According to Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), this is the “largest individual investigation conducted by the SFO to date.”

The SFO concluded that in Indonesia, senior Rolls-Royce employees agreed to pay $2.25 million and give a Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit car to an intermediary in exchange for a “favor to Rolls-Royce on a contract” for Trent aero engines. Separately, the British firm bribed a rival bidder to submit an uncompetitive bid to keep the contract.

In China, Rolls-Royce paid $5 million to CES, a state-owned Chinese airline, while negotiating the sale of T700 engines. The company agreed to provide the Chinese with a two-week MBA course at Columbia University, and "four-star accommodation and lavish extracurricular activities."

In Russia, Rolls-Royce won a contract to supply equipment to the state-owned gas company Gazprom by paying a senior Gazprom official, the SFO concluded.

Brian Leveson, the president of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court, said if Rolls-Royce had not been prosecuted, it would be hard to pursue any other company in the future.

“My reaction when first considering these papers was that if Rolls-Royce were not to be prosecuted in the context of such egregious criminality over decades, involving countries around the world, making truly vast corrupt payments and, consequentially, even greater profits, then it was difficult to see when any company would be prosecuted,” he said in his judgment.

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Hyundai unveils U.S. spending plan before inauguration www.asahi.com

SEOUL--Hyundai Motor Group said Tuesday it will significantly increase its investment in the U.S. while Donald Trump is president and is considering building a new U.S. factory.

Chung Jin Haeng, a president of the world's fifth-largest automotive group, said Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and their affiliated companies will spend $3.1 billion (350 billion yen) by 2021 on research and development and maintaining their factories in Alabama and Georgia.

That represents a 50 percent increase from the $2.1 billion the companies invested in the U.S. in 2012-2016. The increased spending comes mostly from research and development, as the South Korean maker of the Genesis and Tucson invests in artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, environmentally friendly cars and other future technologies.

Chung said Hyundai will study building a new U.S. factory if demand for cars rises during Trump's administration. The new administration's promise to create 1 million jobs and attract new companies could stimulate demand for cars and other products, he said.

"If there is such a sign, we will immediately review (the new plant)," he told reporters. "We won't miss when the time is right."

Hyundai did not provide any further details about a possible new plant.

The South Korean group does not usually disclose its five-year investment plan for specific countries, and the announcement of the U.S.-specific investment plans comes just a few days before the president-elect takes office on Friday.

Since Trump won the election, he has badgered auto companies about building their cars in the United States rather than Mexico.

The South Korean automotive conglomerate has not yet drawn public attention from the president-elect, who threatened to impose a border tax on vehicles made in Mexico by Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Toyota.

Automakers have responded to Trump's threat by affirming their commitment to the U.S. market. Earlier this month, Ford announced it had scrapped plans to build a new $1.6 billion small-car factory in Mexico while Fiat Chrysler announced a $1 billion investment plan in its two U.S. factories.

Nearly all automakers build small cars in Mexico to take advantage of its lower wages.

Hyundai is not an exception. When Kia's first Mexico plant launched operations just two months before the Nov. 8 election, the group said about 80 percent of the vehicles assembled there will be exported mainly to the United States and other countries. The plant has a capacity to turn out 400,000 cars per year.

That Mexico plant is now "a source of worry" for the carmaker, Chung said, without elaborating why. He said Hyundai does not plan additional investments in Mexico.

He denied that political pressure was behind the company's announcement of its U.S. investment plan.

"The U.S. market is strategically important for us," he said. "Success or the failure in the U.S. market is a measure of global success."

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China's richest man still wants to buy a Hollywood studio www.cnn.com

China's richest man has a problem: No one is willing to sell him a Hollywood studio.
Despite signs of increased hostility toward Chinese investment in the U.S., Wang Jianlin still wants to buy one of Hollywood's "Big Six."
"If we are able to buy one of the top six, that would be a great thing to do," the chairman of Dalian Wanda Group said Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "However, these six are not in a selling mood. That's something we can't crack."
Wang, who runs a gigantic real estate and entertainment business, has made a series of high-profile Hollywood acquisitions in recent years. But a major studio has proved elusive.
"Let me just communicate this message: I would be a happy buyer," Wang said of the studios, which include 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros (owned by CNN parent Time Warner (TWX)).

Wang's investments in the U.S. have attracted the attention of some U.S. lawmakers, who have called for tougher government scrutiny of such deals.
Wang brushed aside those concerns, saying the U.S. had nothing to fear.
"So far, the U.S. government has not launched any censorship or control of entertainment," he said. "That would be a step back."
But Wang also made clear that there would be consequences if the U.S. chose to interfere.
"If China were to retaliate, it would be bad for both parties," he said, adding that he had asked the head of the Motion Picture Association of America to tell President-elect Donald Trump: "No war, please."
But it's far from a level playing field. China already enforces strict controls on American entertainment companies, limiting the number of Western movies that can be shown in cinemas, and censoring their content.

Buying a major Hollywood studio would make Wang a top player in the industry. He already owns the AMC Theaters chain, and is active in film distribution. A major studio would give him control of film production, too.
If a deal were to materialize, he pledged to take a hands-off approach with the studio.
"It's still a company run by Americans," he said. "We won't interfere with content. We just want the profit."

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