Mongolian investment climate discussion ongoing www.gogo.mn

Mongolian business and private sector representatives and corresponding government officials were invited to a seminar co-organized by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry today, January 17.
The seminar is designated to introduce the outcome of a study themed ‘Investment Environment of Mongolia, its improvement’ conducted by JICA.
Launched in December, 2015, the one-year study aimed to provide a report on the investment climate of Mongolia to Japanese companies, help them expand their business in Mongolia, and make recommendations to the planning of JICA’s private sector development programs. The study is also expected to contribute to the development of Mongolian businesses.
The study has been completed, but the conclusion will be made with participation of Mongolian government organizations and private sector representatives. Therefore, the seminar was a platform for Mongolian businesses to express and reflect their views in the final report of the study.
“Since 1990 when Mongolian transitioned to market economy, JICA has been implementing number of projects and programs in various sectors such as education, health, governance, agricultural development, private sector development and transportation”, said Sato Mutsumi, Chief Representative of JICA Mongolia Office in his opening speech.
“Number of Japanese companies interested in doing business in Mongolia come to us; but due to lack of sufficient knowledge on investment climate of Mongolia, we observe hesitation and caution. And this study will solve the problem”, he said.
Mongolia and Japan signed an Economic Partnership Agreement in June 2016.

Putin's Judo Partner Awarded $285M Contract For Crimea Railway www.themoscowtimes.com

The general contractor for the construction of a railway line on the Kerch bridge between Russia and Crimea will be Arkady Rotenberg's company Stroygazmontazh, Kommersant reports. The contract is estimated to be worth 17 billion rubles ($285 million).

Trump tells Germany to buy American automobiles, Germany to Trump: 'Build better cars' www.rt.com

China probes 'fake seasoning producing hub' near Tianjin www.bbc.com

Chinese authorities are investigating nearly 50 factories allegedly manufacturing fake versions of widely used food seasonings and sauces.
It comes after Beijing News reportedly uncovered the elaborate operation near the city of Tianjin.
The factories were using unapproved ingredients like industrial salt in seasonings including soy sauce and vinegar, the paper said.
The products were labelled with brands including Maggi, Knorr, and Nestle.
The seasonings, which include spices and chicken stock, are commonly used in Chinese cooking and can be widely found across Asia.
China has been rocked by various food scandals in recent years, with tainted milk powder killing six babies in 2008 and making more than 300,000 children ill.
Unhygienic conditions
The China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) said in a statement on Monday evening that it had dispatched officers to Tianjin to investigate the claims.
The Beijing News report said a "fake food seasoning manufacturing hub" had grown unchecked for more than 10 years in the town of Duliu near Tianjin.
Nearly 50 small factories, operating in a residential area, had been churning out fake seasoning estimated to be worth up to a 100m yuan ($14.5m, £12m) per year.
Reporters and local police visited the factories last week, acting on a tip-off from a whistleblower.
Pictures and video taken at the scene show workers making and packaging the products in dirty sheds using homemade equipment like plastic drums and garden hoses.
The factories were said to have used industrial grade salt unsafe for human consumption. They also recycled by-products from other food manufacturers, and were seen freely using highly regulated ingredients like the artificial sweetener cyclamate.
'Thoroughly rectify'
Beijing News quoted Nestle's China office as saying that its anti-counterfeit team was looking into the matter, and that "product experts will be helping law enforcement representatives in identifying suspicious products".
Chinese food brands such as Totole and Donggu, whose products were also faked, said they were either assisting investigations or conducting their own probes.
Totole added that it had known about the factories since 2007, and its anti-counterfeit team had conducted numerous crackdowns in Duliu, but had been unable to completely stamp them out.
The sheer scale of the operation revealed in local media shocked a country that is no stranger to food scandals, prompting questions online.
"Shouldn't the CFDA be the one that is punished? A whole village has been faking products for so many years. Can we still trust this department?" said one commenter on the CFDA's Weibo page.
"How many people have been poisoned by these fake products? Seasoning impacts so many lives, this is no game!" said another user.
The Food and Drug Administration said in its statement that it would "thoroughly rectify the problem of fake food seasoning production, and present the results of our investigation to the public in a timely fashion".
In 2014, the Shanghai Husi Food Company, a meat supplier to fast food chains McDonalds and KFC in China, was found to be repackaging old meat.
The following year authorities seized 100,000 tonnes of smuggled meat, some of it more than 40 years old.
Last month Chinese media reported that food suppliers in the north-western city of Shanxi were treating mushrooms with hazardous chemicals to make them look whiter and fresher.

Alibaba joins with name brands to fight counterfeits www.xinhuanet.com.cn

Mongolia plans to establish casino resorts www.mongolia.gogo.mn

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway wins reinsurance licence in Malaysia www.reuters.com

General Motors to announce $1 billion in U.S. investment www.reuters.com

General Motors Co (GM.N) will announce as early as Tuesday long-held plans to invest about $1 billion in its U.S. factories, following recent criticism of the company by President-elect Donald Trump, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters late on Monday.

The largest U.S. automaker is making the decision for business and not political reasons, said the person, who asked not to be identified.

The investment will help GM create or retain more than 1,000 jobs, while the automaker also plans to tout other efforts to boost U.S. employment, including adding engineers, the person added.

GM General Counsel Craig Glidden told the Wall Street Journal, which reported the company's plans earlier on Monday, that any investment the company might disclose had been long planned and was not a response to Trump's criticism.

GM declined comment on the investment to Reuters.

Since the beginning of this year, GM has come under heavy criticism from Trump for building vehicles in Mexico, as have other automakers. On Jan. 3, Trump threatened to impose a "big border tax" on GM for making some of its Chevrolet Cruze compact cars in Mexico.

At a news conference last week, Trump cited recent U.S. investments by other automakers and said "General Motors will be following, and I think they will be."

Trump, who campaigned hard on bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States, said in an interview with German newspaper Bild published on Monday that he would impose a border tax of 35 percent on German car companies' vehicles imported to the U.S. market.

Earlier this month he criticized Toyota Motor Corp's (7203.T) plans to move production of the Corolla to Mexico from Canada.

Auto sales have been rising since 2009 and hit a new record in 2016. Automakers have recently been touting American investments, but say the investments have not been in response to Trump.

Last week, Japan's Toyota said it would invest $10 billion in the United States over the next five years, while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCAU.N) said it would invest $1 billion to modernize two plants in the Midwest, creating 2,000 jobs.

Ford Motor Co (F.N) announced this month it would cancel a planned $1.6 billion factory in Mexico and would invest $700 million at a Michigan plant.

GM's "general plan is to build where we sell and we're focused on what we're doing in the United States," Chief Executive Mary Barra said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of an event in Washington on Monday. "We're a global company so we're going to continue that focus."

Barra, who told Reuters she planned to attend Trump's inauguration on Friday, said GM wants to work with him. "I do believe we have more in common than we have areas that we aren't aligned."

GM, which has more than 40 manufacturing sites in the United States, last year announced $2.9 billion in U.S. investments

But even as GM invests in U.S. plants, it has also been making job cuts. In recent months, GM announced plans to lay off about 3,300 employees at three factories.

It said in November it would cut about 2,000 jobs when it ends the third shift at its Lordstown, Ohio and Lansing, Michigan plants in January. Last month it said it planned to cancel the second shift and cut nearly 1,300 jobs from its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in March.

Visa to Mongolia will be granted online www.mongolia.gogo.mn

Scientists say mining e-waste may be an economical option www.mining.com