Facts confirm success of Belt and Road Initiative www.chinadaily.com

The hard facts attest to China's Belt and Road Initiative resulting in better-than-expected achievements in the past three years, said Shen Danyang, Ministry of Commerce spokesman.

Developing nations' demands for better life must be met, says World Bank head www.theguardian.com

Failure to meet the internet-inspired aspirations of people in poor countries runs the risk of creating the conditions for war, terrorism and increased migration, the president of the World Bank has warned.

Speaking in London ahead of the Bank’s spring meeting next week, Jim Yong Kim said an urgent development push was needed in order to meet the demands for a better life by those in developing countries, increasingly aware through their smartphones of how rich people lived.

The Bank is particularly worried about recent low growth in Africa and Kim said official aid money should be used to turn the billions of dollars provided by western countries into trillions of dollars of investment from the private sector.

“Aspirations, linked to opportunity, can breed dynamism and inclusive, sustainable economic growth,” Kim said, in a speech at the London School of Economics on Tuesday. “But I worry that if there’s no opportunity to achieve these aspirations, frustration may well lead to fragility, conflict, violence and eventually migration.

“We’re already seeing worrying trends – 2 billion people live in countries affected by fragility, conflict and violence. After a period of decline since the end of the Cold War, violent conflicts have increased rapidly since 2010. Terrorism incidents have increased by 120% since 2012.”

Kim said that an individual’s happiness was linked not just to their own income but also to the incomes of others. As internet coverage had expanded, the comparison was increasingly with people in rich countries.

“Keeping up with the Joneses used to be about keeping up with your neighbours. But it’s no longer only about the Joneses living around you – because of connectivity, the Joneses could be anywhere in the world.”

Kim said creating the right conditions for the private sector to invest was vital if the world was to meet the ambitious sustainable development goals by the target date of 2030.

The World Bank president believes that too much official aid has been spent on projects that the private sector could finance, and that instead of picking “low hanging fruit” official development assistance should be spent in more difficult areas.

He said the top priority should be to “systematically de-risk countries to enable private sector financing, while at the same time ensuring that these investments benefit poor countries and poor people. We should do this by crowding in the private sector whenever possible.”

Kim added that he wanted a “win-win” outcome, where the trillions of dollars earning little interest were used to fund projects such as solar power and transport infrastructure. Investors looking for more lucrative opportunities should be mobilised to help meet the “exploding aspirations” of people all over the world.

“This is a fundamental shift in our conception of who we are,” Kim said. “For too long, our first thought was how can we get the loan or the grant out of the door? But that’s often not what’s best for poor people and poor countries, and it’s not what’s best for the world. We need to have a different and difficult conversation about how we approach development finance.”

He singled out climate change as an area where urgent action was needed. He said time was running out and joint public-private action on both mitigating the impact of climate change and adapting to the changing environment was required immediately.

United Airlines shares fall after passenger removal www.bbc.com

Shares in the owner of United Airlines recovered some ground after the airline's boss issued a second statement apologising over its removal of a passenger.
United Continental Holdings stock fell 4% at one point before losses narrowed to finish down 1%.
Videos of a passenger being dragged off a United flight in the US sparked outrage on social media.
United's chief Oscar Munoz apologised for the "truly horrific" incident.
Mr Munoz initially issued a statement on Monday apologising "for having to re-accommodate these customers" before an internal email to United staff emerged revealing that the chief executive had called the passenger called "disruptive and belligerent".
Mr Munoz released another statement later on Tuesday, saying he "continues to be disturbed" by the incident and the company would "fix what's broken so it never happens again".

South Korean Shining Star Group to partner up for Ulaanbaatar’s development www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On April 11, Chairman of Citizens’ Representative Khural of Ulaanbaatar Ts.Sandui received the visiting delegation from Shining Star Group from the Republic of Korea, lead by the group’s president.

Women's group produces multi-usable fabric bags www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ A women's group in Dundgobi aimag is producing multi-times reusable fabric bags, supporting a campaign to refuse plastic bags. “We have initiated the production to make a contribution to decrease inefficient consumption of plastic bags and to avoid toxic garbage, which takes over 100 years to decompose” said head of “Amgalan Undral” Group Ch.Tserendorj.

Public transport revenue doubles following new policy www.en.montsame.mn

OT spends MNT 1.9 trillion and Erdenet spends MNT 390 billion on procurement www.gogo.mn

Mongolian biggest producing and processing companies such as Erdenet, Darkhan Metallurgical Plant, Oyutolgoi, and Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi introduced their procurement plan for 2017 at the Mining Mongolia expo that was held on Apr 5-7 in Ulaanbaatar city. 
All mining experts agree to purchase safety, healthy, environmentally friendly, value-added, quality and competitively priced products. Meanwhile, they consider that supplier must meet general requirements, such as the supply of products on time and adherence to business ethics. 
Oyu Tolgoi has made service contracts worth $760 million at the end of 2016 and 82 percent of the expenditure or $63 million was spent with Umnugobi supplier companies. The total amount of national procurement was relatively high compared to other mining companies.
In other words, every $8 out of $10 spent by the Oyu Tolgoi has remained in Mongolia. In 2017, the company plans to make a $83 million contract with local suppliers.
Moreover, 83 percent of the underground equipment was purchased from local suppliers. National producers supply cast balls, chalk powder, concentrate bags and staff clothing for the first time. Procurement notices and proposals of Oyu Tolgoi are published on their website. 
In addition, Oyu Tolgoi enabled their suppliers to receive a soft loan from commercial banks, which considered as an important step in supporting their business partner.

PM J.Erdenebat: Government will continue to ensure favorable working environment for international banks in Mongolia www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Prime Minister of Mongolia J.Erdenebat addressed a plenary session of the State Great Khural (Parliament) on Friday, April 7, to give briefing on cooperation of the government with international banking and financial organizations.

Foreign officials applaud Initiative www.chinadaily.com

From a business and investment perspective, the Belt and Road Initiative will benefit not only China but also economies in Asia and Europe, said several foreign officials.

Forty-seven officials from 14 countries began a 15-day seminar on energy strategies of the Belt and Road Initiative economies in Beijing recently.

China University of Petroleum jointly organized the seminar with the Academy for International Business Officials of the Ministry of Commerce.

At the event, Ahmady Mohammad Yasin, an official from Afghanistan's Ministry of Energy and Water, said the initiative is important for every country.

As Afghanistan has abundant resources, he hoped the two countries could have more cooperation in the energy and mining sectors.

"The Belt and Road Initiative is not only for China, Asia, Europe, but also the whole world," Shambhu Prasad Ghimire, advisor to the deputy speaker of the Legislature-Parliament Secretariat of Nepal, said.

"It makes very good connection with each other, not only for development but also for the happiness and the prosperity of the people," he added.

Ghimire said China has cooperated with Nepal in infrastructure from the very beginning. He is looking forward to cooperation in health and education, in particular, in building hospitals in rural areas and polytechnic schools that impart practical skills.

The Belt and Road Initiative "shows the leadership of China and its responsibility for the rest of the world", said Loannis Economides, senior industrial extension officer in Cyprus' Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism.

Cyprus has rich natural gas reserves. At present some international companies, including Total, Eni, Kogas and ExxonMobil are exploring natural gas in the exclusive economic zone in Cyprus, Economides said.

He hoped that Chinese companies will join in the country's natural gas exploration in future.

"We hope that in future we'll get a Chinese company as well. If there are more discoveries, I'm sure that will interest Chinese companies because this is in line with the energy policy of China," he added.

Economides is optimistic about progress in liquefied natural gas as it is more environmentally friendly than oil.

Being near to the Suez Cannel, Cyprus has been a base for international shipping management companies. He hoped that Chinese companies would also base themselves there to manage their fleet.

Cyprus has a trade deficit with China and it hopes to export more to China in the future and is seeking such opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative, he said.

Data provided by the China University of Petroleum show 55 percent of the world's proved reserves of crude oil and more than 76 percent of the proved reserves of natural gas come from the economies along the Belt and Road Initiative.

In 2014, 71.5 percent of China's oil imports and 96.1 percent of its natural gas imports came from the economies along the Belt and Road Initiative.

By 2016, China oil majors including China National Petroleum Corp and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp had invested in some 200 oil and gas projects in more than 50 economies overseas, according to a blue book issued by the China Petroleum Enterprise Association and China Oil and Gas Center.

The university said it is proud of the tradition of training personnel to accommodate the globalization of Chinese oil and gas giants.

Amid increasing interest in the Belt and Road Initiative, it plans to start overseas student recruitment this year in its new campus in Karamay city, a key linkage on the Belt and Road routes and located in China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Global recession more likely and coming soon, warns Saxo Bank rt.com

While markets are forecasting only a 10 percent chance of a global recession, Danish investment firm Saxo Bank puts the odds at over 60 percent.