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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German firms to pay $24.6 bil. for nuclear waste www3.nhk.or.jp

 
The lower house of parliament in Germany has passed a bill to have the country's major utilities pay about 24.6 billion dollars to deal with nuclear waste.
 
The German government plans to phase out the country's nuclear power plants by 2022. The policy was drawn up following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
 
The lower house on Thursday approved a bill that determines how much of the cost the government and 4 power companies will each assume for handling radioactive waste from nuclear plants.
 
The bill makes the government responsible for intermediate storage and permanent disposal of the nuclear waste.
 
Nuclear plant operators are required to pay 23.6 billion euro, or 24.6 billion dollars, into the fund set up by the government.
 
The upper house is also expected to approve the bill on Friday.
 
In Germany, the government and utilities have been sharply at odds over the cost of radioactive waste disposal.
 
The utilities welcome the legislation. They say they will withdraw lawsuits demanding the government pay compensation for its exit policy from nuclear energy.
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$1 could soon be worth €1 www.cnn.com

 
It's so close, you can almost taste it.
The U.S. dollar has been powering higher since Donald Trump won the presidential election and the euro has been weakening, putting the two currencies on a collision course.
The dollar's 9% move since Election Day means it's now worth €0.96. That's its highest level since 2003.
The trend has led to predictions of parity -- that is, when $1 is worth €1. The last time that happened was 2002.
Adam Slater, the head economist at Oxford Economics, said Thursday that parity could be reached by the end of 2017. Other economists think the key psychological level will be reached even sooner.
Slater said the currency moves are now being driven by divergent monetary policies on either side of the Atlantic Ocean.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is raising interest rates as it sees the American economy improve and expects rising prices. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank has extended its stimulus program and kept interest rates at record lows to support the economy and boost inflation.
Investors are attracted to higher interest rates and stronger economies because they expect a better return on their money, which has pushed up the dollar. Europe is essentially the flip side of the coin.
President-elect Trump is also playing heavily into the currency equation because he's promised to slash taxes and regulations and support infrastructure projects. His policies could create an inflationary environment where the Federal Reserve will have to keep hiking interest rates to keep inflation at bay.
The major shift in these currencies is making European products and travel cheaper for Americans. European exporters, including German auto manufacturers, are expected to benefit.
Germany ships over $125 billion worth of goods to the U.S. annually, making it one of America's biggest trading partners.
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6th Burns Supper in Ulaanbaatar www.mongolianbusinessdatabase.com

Since 2012 Honorary Consul for Mongolia in Scotland in association with the Mongolian British Chamber of Commerce have hosted an annual Burns Supper in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar. As well as celebrating the life of Robert Burns, Scotland’s National Bard, we reflect on the growing ties between Scotland and Mongolia. In past years we have seen performances from the band of the Mongolian Armed Forces, the Ulaaanbaatar Scottish dance group and renowned Scottish bagpiper Alisdair McCallum.

The 6th Ulaanbaatar Burns Supper will take place on 28th January 2017.
Tickets are now on sale for this event at http://www.mongolianconsul.com/ulan-bator-burns-supper/

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Ulyukayev Arrest Scuppered Japanese Bid for Shares in Russia’s Rosneft www.themoscowtimes.com

 
The arrest of Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev may have killed off a privatization deal being brokered between Japanese investors and Russian oil giant Rosneft, the Dozhd television network reported Thursday.
 
Japan's state-owned Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) had earlier expressed interest in buying the Kremlin's 19.5 percent share in Rosneft, an unnamed source told the outlet.
 
Japanese negotiators were reportedly reassured that Ulyukayev was “absolutely trustworthy” prior to his Nov. 14 arrest on charges of corruption.
 
The arrest reportedly shook Japanese officials, who Dozhd's source described as having been “extremely cautious.”
 
The Russian side also had doubts about the Japanese deal, Dozhd reported. Rosneft feared the deal would not be settled before the Kremlin's Dec. 5 deadline.
 
Rosneft had reportedly faced considerable state pressure to sell the shares before the end of the year and provide a much-needed boost to Russian state coffers.
 
The Kremlin's 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft was bought by British-Swiss commodities trading firm Glencore and the Qatari Sovereign Wealth Fund for 10.2 billion euros ($11.3 billion).
 
Rosneft's shares skyrocketed by 5.1 percent to reach 364.5 rubles ($5.75) per share when news of the deal broke on Dec. 8.
 
Neither JOGMEC's Moscow office’s nor the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry responded to requests for comment.
 
Rosneft press secretary Mikhail Leontiev told Dozhd that negotiations had been carried out between several companies, but did not comment on a potential deal with JOGMEC.
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Facebook finally gets serious about fighting fake news www.aljazeera.com

 
Facebook is taking new measures to curb the spread of fake news on its huge and influential social network, focusing on the "worst of the worst" offenders.
 
The online behemoth is partnering with outside fact-checkers to sort honest news reports from made-up stories that play to people's passions and preconceived notions.
 
Fake news stories touch on a broad range of subjects, from unproven cancer cures to celebrity hoaxes and backyard Bigfoot sightings. But fake political stories have drawn attention because of the possibility they influenced public perceptions and could have swayed the US presidential election.
 
There have been other dangerous real-world consequences.
 
A fake story about a child sex ring at a Washington DC, pizza joint prompted a man to fire an assault rifle inside the restaurant, Comet Ping Pong.
 
"We do believe that we have an obligation to combat the spread of fake news," said John Hegeman, vice president of product management on news feed, in an interview.
 
But he added Facebook also takes its role to provide people an open platform seriously, and it is not the company's place to decide what is true or false.
 
To start, Facebook is making it easier for users to report fake news when they see it, which they can now do in two steps. If enough people report a story as fake, Facebook will pass it to third-party fact-checking organisations that are part of the nonprofit Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network.
 
The five fact-checking organisations Facebook is currently working with are ABC News, The Associated Press, FactCheck.org, Politifact and Snopes. Facebook says this group is likely to expand.
 
Stories that flunk the fact check won't be removed from Facebook. But they'll be publicly flagged as "disputed", which will force them to appear lower down in people's news feed. Users can click on a link to learn why that is. And if people decide they want to share the story with friends anyway, they can - but they'll get another warning.
By partnering with respected outside organisations and flagging, rather than removing, fake stories, Facebook is sidestepping some of the biggest concerns experts had raised about it exercising its considerable power in this area.
 
For instance, some worried Facebook might act as a censor - and not a skillful one, either, being an engineer-led company with little experience making complex media ethics decisions.
 
"They definitely don't have the expertise," said Robyn Caplan, researcher at Data & Society, a nonprofit research institute funded in part by Microsoft and the National Science Foundation.
 
In an interview before Facebook's announcement, she urged the company to "engage media professionals and organisations that are working on these issues".
 
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said fake news constitutes less than one percent of what's on Facebook , but critics say that's wildly misleading. For a site with nearly two billion users tapping out posts by the millisecond, even one percent is a huge number, especially since the total includes everything that's posted on Facebook - photos, videos, and daily updates in addition to news articles.
 
In a study released on Thursday, the Pew Research Center found nearly one-quarter of Americans say they have shared a made-up news story, either knowingly or unknowingly. Forty-five percent said the government, politicians, and elected officials bear responsibility for preventing made-up stories from gaining attention.
 
Forty-two percent put this responsibility on social networking sites and search engines, and a similar percentage on the public itself.
 
Fake news stories can be quicker to go viral than news stories from traditional sources. That's because they were created for sharing - they are clickable, often inflammatory, and pander to emotional responses.
 
Mike Caufield, director of blended and networked learning at Washington State University Vancouver, tracked whether real or fake news is more likely to be shared on Facebook.
 
He compared a made-up story from a fake outlet with articles in local newspapers. The fake story, headlined "FBI Agent Suspected In Hillary Leaks Found Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide" from the nonexistent Denver Guardian, was shared 1,000 times more than material from the real newspapers.
 
"To put this in perspective, if you combined the top stories from the Boston Globe, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and LA Times, they still had only 5 percent the viewership of an article from a fake news," he wrote in a blog post.
 
Facebook is emphasising it's only going after the most egregious fake news creators and sites, "the clear hoaxes spread by spammers for their own gain", wrote Adam Mosseri , vice president of product for Facebook's news feed, in a blog post Thursday.
 
Depriving scammers of money could be effective.
 
"Google and Facebook are the single two biggest engines for monetization," said Susan Bidel, a senior analyst at Forrester Research focusing on digital publishers. "I don't think you are ever going to completely eradicate it. But it could get down to a manageable level."
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Australian court increases fine over 'misleading' Nurofen www.bbc.com

The UK manufacturer of Nurofen has been hit with an increased fine of A$6m (£3.6m; $4.4m) for misleading customers in Australia.
Australia's Federal Court ruled last year that products marketed as targeting specific pains, such as migraines, were actually identical.
Reckitt Benckiser was fined A$1.7m in April, but Australia's consumer watchdog argued the sum was too low.
The court on Friday agreed to increase the penalty.
"The objective of any penalty in this case must be to ensure that Reckitt Benckiser and other 'would-be wrongdoers' think twice and decide not to act against the strong public interest," the court's justices said in a joint statement.
The pharmaceutical giant was also ordered to pay the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) legal costs.
The ACCC said the company had profited substantially from misleading customers on products including Nurofen Back Pain, Nurofen Period Pain, Nurofen Migraine Pain and Nurofen Tension Headache.
"This is the highest corporate penalty awarded for misleading conduct under the Australian Consumer Law," ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

"The ACCC welcomes this decision, having originally submitted that a penalty of $6 million or higher was appropriate given the longstanding and widespread nature of the conduct, and the substantial sales and profit that was made."
In a statement to the BBC, Nurofen said it acknowledged the court's decision but would seek legal advice.
"Nurofen is disappointed by this decision, as it considers that the original penalty of the Federal Court in April was appropriate in all of the circumstances," the statement read.
The court in April ruled that Reckitt Benckiser had contravened Australian consumer law by saying its Nurofen Specific Pain products were each formulated to treat a specific type of pain.
Each product contained the same active ingredient, ibuprofen lysine 342mg.
The company said: "Nurofen did not intend to mislead consumers, however we recognise that we could have done more to assist our consumers in navigating the Nurofen Specific Pain Range."
Earlier this year, Reckitt Benckiser removed a TV advert for one of its products - Nurofen Express. The advert had implied that the capsules directly targeted muscles in the head.
The company has said it will not re-broadcast it, following complaints that the ad was misleading.

 
 
 
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Housing Price Index for old apartments drops by 7.8 percent www.mongolia.gogo.mn

 
Following is the public report on results of the “Housing Price Index” (HPI) research conducted independently by Tenkhleg Zuuch LLC at the request of Mongol Bank for November 2016.
The research shows that the general index of housing price was at 0.8 percent in November 2016. It shows a decline by 0.3 percent compared to the previous month. The general index dropped by 4.4% compared to the starting period, and by 5.5 % compared to the same month in previous year. Below are the Price index indicators classified by new and old houses.
The new house price index was at 15.7 percent. There is no change compared to the previous month. The index dropped by 2.8% compared to an earlier period of this year, and by 3.3% compared to the same month in previous year.
The old house price index was at 8.1 percent. This shows a decline by 0.8 percent compared to the previous month. The index dropped by 6.7% compared to the earlier period of this year, and by 7.8 % compared to the same month in previous year.
HPI was calculated by applying Hedonic regression methods and the calculation was based on the information available for 4938 old and new houses supplied for sale at the real estate market of Ulaanbaatar for the particular month, reports the Bank of Mongolia.
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World Bank raises record $75bn to help poorest members www.theguardian.com

 
The World Bank has pledged to step up the fight against extreme poverty after announcing that tough negotiations with rich countries have left it with a record $75bn (£60bn) for grants and soft loans to its poorest members over the next three years.
 
Despite budgetary pressures caused by slow growth and austerity, the Washington-based institution said 47 countries had agreed to make donations to the International Development Association – its fund for providing assistance to the least-developed nations.
 
The bank said that for the first time in IDA’s 56-year history it would be using its strong credit rating to raise money for the fund from the world’s capital markets. A third of the $75bn will be raised in this way, with a third contributed by donor governments and a third coming from the bank’s own resources. The last IDA round raised just under $52bn.
 
“This is a pivotal step in the movement to end extreme poverty,” the World Bank Group president, Jim Yong Kim, said. “The commitments made by our partners, combined with IDA’s innovations to crowd in the private sector and raise funds from capital markets, will transform the development trajectory of the world’s poorest countries. We are grateful for our partners’ trust in IDA’s ability to deliver results.”
 
IDA was set up in 1960 and runs on three-year replenishment cycles. The new round – IDA18 – will run from 2017 to 2020 and is intended to support health and nutrition for 400 million people, access to water for 45 million people, training for 9-10 million teachers and immunisations for 130-180 million children.
 
The bank will not reveal details of the contributions made by individual countries until the new year. Britain was the biggest single donor to the last round of funding (IDA17), followed by the US.
 
The Department for International Development will maintain funding for IDA at its previous sterling level but, at a time when government aid spending has come under attack, will insist on reforms at the bank to ensure the money is well spent. The development secretary, Priti Patel, has made it clear to Kim that he should be able to explain why, where and how the bank is spending UK taxpayers’ money.
 
Kyle Peters, the World Bank Group’s interim managing director and co-chair of the IDA18 negotiations, said: “With this innovative package, the world’s poorest countries – especially the most fragile and vulnerable – will get the support they need to grow, create opportunities for people, and make themselves more resilient to shocks and crises.
 
“IDA’s focus on issues like climate change, gender equality and preventing conflict and violence will also contribute to greater stability and progress around the world.”
 
Peters added that the commitment was a “decisive and inspiring” response to the challenge of achieving the ambitious sustainable development goals for poverty reduction adopted by the international community in 2015.
 
The bank said it had asked donor countries to match the contributions in national currencies that they made to IDA17 and that in the vast majority of cases the call had been heeded.
 
Kim believes the extra money will help achieve the two key goals he has set for the bank: eradicating extreme poverty by 2030 and raising the living standards of the bottom 40% of the population in developing countries. The bank says IDA will be able to double the resources to address fragility, conflict and violence as well as additional financing for refugees and countries that host them.
 
Some of the extra funding will be channelled through the bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, a decision that drew criticism from the development charity Oxfam. Nick Galasso, head of Oxfam’s World Bank office, said: “This is great and sorely needed news, when the world faces the crises of inequality and climate change.
 
“The World Bank is also proposing to dramatically increase the money it gives via the private sector, which would be a bad idea. The bank has a very poor track record in this area, bankrolling corporations that make active use of tax havens and others that have been involved in murderous land grabs. We urge the bank to significantly increase their oversight and protections before a single dollar is invested in this way.”
 
Jamie Drummond, executive director for global strategy at the One Campaign, said: “We expect more than half of the $75bn committed during this replenishment to flow to Africa over the next three years. Such robust backing for the bank is a real boon for the fight against extreme poverty, hunger, deadly diseases, and the other root causes of forced displacement. It offers an important opportunity as we partner to help countries like Nigeria and Mali tackle extreme poverty, extreme climate, and extreme ideology.”
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Super Mario Run launches on the iPhone and iPad www.bbc.com

 
Games company Nintendo has rolled out Super Mario Run to iPhones and iPads.
The app marks the first time the firm has created a smartphone game based on its most famous character.
It follows the successful release of Pokemon Go earlier in the year. Nintendo owns a minority stake in the Pokemon Company, but the title was developed by a third party.
Experts predict the new game will also prove popular, but suggest an anti-piracy feature is misguided.
"Mario is one of the best loved and established icons of gaming and I think this is going to be tremendously successful," said Piers Harding-Rolls from the IHS Technology consultancy.
"To open up the full game you have to make an in-app purchase - it's quite big but it is a one-off and I don't think people will think Nintendo is trying to rinse their audience."
But he added that he thought it was a "misstep" to require users to be online in order to play - something the game's producer Shigeru Miyamoto has said was done to limit piracy.
"Some demographics will be wanting to use this as they commute and we know that the coverage in some markets is relatively patchy," said Mr Harding-Rolls.
"Not having offline capability to play will also be an issue for kids travelling in cars."
Build to unlock
Super Mario Run takes the Super Mario Bros format - where the character sprints from left to right, collecting coins, jumping over obstacles and squishing enemies - and tweaks the gameplay to make it easy to play one-handed on a touchscreen.
The free version acts as a brief demo, but paying a £7.99 fee offers full access to three modes:
World Tour - a story mode spanning six worlds, which Mario must travel across to save Princess Peach
Toad Rally - a multiplayer mode, in which players compete to show off challenging moves and collect coins to get the highest score
Kingdom Builder - a creation mode, where players use the coins they have earned elsewhere to add buildings and decorations, some of which unlock bonus characters and other extra content
For now the title is restricted to Apple's iOS platform, but Nintendo has said it will come to Android "at some point in the future".
Nintendo had initially shunned smartphones, preferring to focus on its own hardware.
However, weak sales of its Wii U console and a decline in demand for its 3DS handheld caused the firm to sustain large financial losses, putting it under pressure to change tack.
It launched its first smartphone game, Miitomo, in March to mixed reviews but strong demand.
Then in July, the release of Pokemon Go became a global phenomenon, lifting Nintendo's share price despite the fact it only received a relatively small cut of all sales.
But last month, the firm revealed that two subsequent Pokemon games released for the 3DS - Sun and Moon - had become the fastest-selling titles in its history in Europe and the Americas.
Nintendo's domestic rival Sony is also making a fresh efforts to create iOS and Android games based on its PlayStation brands.
On Monday, it revealed a new Parappa the Rapper title and an Everybody's Golf game were being developed by its ForwardWorks studio.
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Moscow & Tokyo seal deal to form joint investment fund www.rt.com

 
Russia and Japan have agreed to create a joint fund to encourage investment in an exclusive economic zone, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev.
 
The deal was signed between the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Russia's Far East Investment and Export Agency and the Far East Development Fund on Thursday during the first day of Russian President Vladimir Putin's trip to Japan.
 
The fund aims to boost cooperation between the countries and encourage Japanese investment in the Russian Far East region and the country in general.
 
“We signed a memorandum on creating a joint investment platform. Such funds help to set a better stage for investment,” Trutnev said, stressing that Russia is seeking new ways of attracting business.
 
The 100 billion yen ($901 million) fund will invest in medical and urban development projects as well as upgrades to manufacturing facilities, according to reports in the Japanese media.
 
The countries will provide roughly equal amounts to the fund so projects can start as early as next year.
 
President Putin is on a visit to Japan to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Putin’s visit to Japan has been on hold since 2014 and is seen as a breakthrough in Russian-Japanese relations.
 
Tokyo and Moscow are expected to sign nearly 50 business contracts on the sidelines of the Russian-Japanese business forum the leaders will attend on Friday.
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