Mongolia has imported 117 buses from China since the neighboring country opened its border on January 8.

Ulaanbaatar plans to import a total of 224 buses to improve public transport system.

The buses were imported through the port of Erenhot in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. 107 more are scheduled to arrive before the Mongolian New Year's spring holiday, Tsagaan Sar.

117 new buses have started running in Ulaanbaatar since Monday.

Erenhot Port is the largest land port between China and Mongolia. Erenhot border checkpoint opened two "green corridors" and assigned special screening personnel to facilitate the clearance of vehicles due to the large number of exported buses.

Khaltmaagiin Battulga, the former President of Mongolia, who is engaged in the coal business, returned to his hometown after receiving treatment in Korea and participated in the national judo championship. informs website isee.mn.

Battulga played sambo and judo for the Mongolia national team. In 1983 he became the world champion in sambo in Kiev, and in 1986 and 1990 he was the vice world champion. He is the president of the Mongolian Judo Federation.

On January 14, the Mongolian judo championship started at the Ulan Bator wrestling palace. On the social network page of the Mongolian Judo Federation, photos from the first day’s struggles, award-winning athletes and the jury were published. Battulga sits among the judges – in a suit, red scarf and baseball cap.

The Mongolian Anti-Corruption Agency released a list of people involved in the theft of coal exported to China on 13 December. One of the defendants was named Battulga, who served as president from 2017 to 2021. He was interrogated on 15 December, but on 18 December it was learned that he had flown from Mongolia to South Korea for scheduled treatment. Zandraagiin Dashdavaa, head of Mongolia’s independent Anti-Corruption Agency, told parliament on December 21 that he did not think Battulga had escaped investigation and hoped he would come forward when summoned to court. According to Mongolian media, the amount of damage caused by the theft can be up to 13 billion dollars.

Source: Ria

Two decades ago, Sumiyabazar Dolgorsuren was battling opponents on the wrestling mat as an Olympic athlete. Now he spends his days trying to put a stranglehold on Ulaanbaatar’s traffic and air pollution problems as mayor of the Mongolian capital.

While his wrestling career is over, Sumiyabazar is still taking on challenges that result in both wins and losses. He’s credited with improving parks and open spaces, but has been blamed for the increasingly intolerable traffic.

There is a lot riding on his success. The population of Ulaanbaatar has nearly tripled in the past two decades to 1.6mn people, putting a heavy strain on its ageing infrastructure, which mostly dates to the Soviet era. Many residents are looking to the 48-year-old mayor to fix their city’s multitude of problems, which range from affordable housing to air pollution to traffic.

The challenges are immense but Sumiyabazar is no stranger to pressure. He won the wrestling tournament in 2006. He has also represented Mongolia in the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics. He even had a short stint as a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter.

His unique ability to successfully throw his competitors to the ground runs in the family – his three brothers and his father have all wrestled at the national tournament level. One brother, Dagvadorj, went to Japan where he became a Yokozuna, the highest honour in sumo wrestling.

While some snickered at a wrestler trying to govern the nation’s capital, politics and wrestling have mingled before in the North Asian country.

Mongolia’s most famous wrestler, Bat-Erdene Badmaanyambuu, won the national Naadam tournament 11 times and then went on to a successful career as a member of parliament. Another wrestler and judo phenomenon, Batulgaa Khaltmaa, served as Mongolia’s fifth president.

Boxers and wrestlers beyond Mongolia’s borders have also achieved political success after retirement. Kyiv’s current mayor, Vitali Klitschko, has won multiple heavyweight titles as a boxer. And the flamboyant professional wrestler Jesse Ventura had a run as Minnesota’s governor in the early 2000s.

Sumiyabazar has followed their lead and is looking to make a name for himself as a problem solver. He has slashed spending to tighten up the city’s budget, going as far as banning end-of-year holiday parties for city staffers.

Bespectacled and fond of dark suits, Sumiyabazar does his work with an air of modesty. In a recent promotional video with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), he appears seated next to a chess board, busily arranging papers on his desk while speaking excitedly about transportation upgrades in the city.

As for alleviating city congestion, he’s made decentralisation a priority for his administration. A plan to build six commercial and administrative hubs in different corners of the capital is in motion to minimise the need for residents to go downtown.

City Hall has already moved from the central square to the southern outskirts. A new suburb close to the new airport is being planned. Sumiyabazar has been busy ordering the demolition of unsightly and illegally-placed garages, storage units and fences across the city.

Improving the city’s greenspace and public gathering areas has also been a priority. Especially downtown, where he’s transformed vast areas of waste ground into public parks.

The Children’s Park – a downtown fixture of the city that has been partially boarded up for years following an attempted land grab – is also going back to public hands. The mayor has vowed to redevelop the park and has enlisted financial aid from mining giant Rio Tinto.

Tree planting is also high on the city’s agenda. In March Sumiyabazar announced that 120 million trees will be planted by 2030, as part of the government's plan to plant 1 billion trees across the country.

"The Amusement Park area should be turned into a green space," Sumiyabazar said in a public address. "The one billion tree national movement is important for establishing parks and green space in every district to create a comfortable living environment for citizens."

The mayor has also taken steps to stop the destruction of historic Russian buildings in his city and has taken measures to have them preserved.

“The various beautification and livability projects of the downtown core have been pursued with some drive and competence,” said Julian Dierkes, a Canadian professor of public policy and a frequent visitor to the city. “It’s less clear that this is earning him much public approval.”

As Dierkes indicates, many have expressed doubt that Sumiyabazar’s public improvement projects have amounted to money well spent. Social media critics have lashed out at some of the efforts, forcing the mayor to pull the plug on at least one of them, a plan to improve the flow of the Selbe River through the city.

Many locals want the city to focus on improving infrastructure beyond downtown. The city’s shambolic outskirts, known locally as ger (or yurt) districts, are still in a dire state.

Most of these areas lack many basic utilities such as central heat and running water. Paved roads, public schools, emergency services and other features of urban fabric are also lacking or absent. Families heat their homes with coal briquettes which pollutes areas around the city.

Sumiyabazar, a member of the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), appears to favour a policy of replacing the ger districts with apartment complexes, giving residents an option to swap their land for a condominium.

The mayor announced earlier this year that 30bn tugrik ($8.8mn) would be set aside in the capital city budget to improve infrastructure in ger districts. It’s far short of what is needed to overhaul these areas but Mongolia’s budget has been constrained by a drop in foreign investment and global economic headwinds that have sent inflation soaring.

In order to pay for improvements Sumiyabazar has tried opening doors to new businesses, promoting the free market economy, and loosening restrictions. Last year he lifted most restrictions on closing times, allowing business owners to work through the night.

"There should be nightlife and business in Ulaanbaatar," he said in a release. "If you have a dedicated building for your service and trade you can not only open bars and discos but also restaurants, coffeeshops and grocery stores until 5:00 am., increasing your income and expanding your business."

"We aim to create city streets that promote Mongolian customs, culture, national cuisine, and livelihoods to support citizens and businesses and to actively implement policies in Ulaanbaatar to support tourism and development."

Despite the visual enhancements in Ulaanbaatar, Sumiyabazar still faces public opinion challenges. He gets credit for improving the atmosphere downtown. But he also gets panned by netizens looking for officials to blame for the city’s traffic woes.

Others are just wary of Ulaanbaatar politicians, given the city’s history of corruption and land grabs committed under previous administrations. Escaping clouds of controversy is not easy in a country where the public assumes most politicians are running shady side hustles, made all the more apparent by recent headlines of a “coal mafia” profiting off the country’s mining industry.

“I am very sceptical that the Sumiyabazar team can change Ulaanbaatar into a better place,” said Sumati Luvsandendev, head of the Sant Maral Foundation, a public polling organisation. “All consecutive city governments have a reputation for high level corruption, mismanagement, and low professionalism.”

In order to succeed he’ll need to stay above the finger-pointing and allegations that threaten to topple other senior leaders in power. But Sumiyabazar is not one to compete in a popularity contest. He grew up resolving issues less with charm and more with brute strength.

Personality may not be Sumiyabazar’s strong suit. But fixing the city’s multitude of problems will require a different sort of effort, a full-throttle approach that might be well suited to a person who rose to power through a sport that requires not just strength, but considerable strategy too.

By Michael Kohn

Esports tournament organizer BLAST has announced the locations for three CS:GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournaments with a prize pool of USD 1.25 million. For the first time in four years, the RMRs will be organized separately in European, Asian, and American regions.

Robbie Douek, CEO of BLAST:

“We are thrilled to reveal the roadmap for the BLAST.tv Paris Major from the iconic Eiffel Tower, the perfect location to follow up on President Macron’s announcement last September. While all roads lead to Paris this May, we are proud to deliver a truly global Major with the RMRs set to be hosted regionally for the first time in four years from locations in Mexico, Mongolia, and Denmark - giving players from all around the world a chance of reaching the pinnacle of Counter-Strike and esports.”

The Asia RMR will be organized in Ulaanbaatar by Mongolian Esports Association (MESA). Throughout 2022, MESA successfully hosted domestic CS:GO competitions in addition to PUBG Mobile.

The top eight Asian teams will participate in the Asia RMR in April. Four out of the eight teams will be able to clinch their spot in the tournament from open qualifiers which will be held in February, while the other four teams will receive direct invites to the main tournament based on their rankings.

The regional qualifiers will be organized based on the following four regions: Central Asia, China, Oceania, and the remaining Asian countries (SEA, South Asia, and East Asia). It is estimated that more than 1500 players of 500 teams from 48 Asian countries will compete.

The top two teams of the tournament will receive their invitation to compete in the Paris Major on May 8-21 in Paris, France. The Majors are considered to be the most important and prestigious tournaments in the CS:GO scene.

MESA: We are planning to live stream the Asia RMR in over 27 languages directly from Ulaanbaatar in April 2023.

In 2022, MESA was selected by BLAST to host its Blast Premier tournament for Asia under the name MESA Nomadic Masters at the Steppe Arena, Ulaanbaatar. The tournament brought together more than 10 thousand people (double counted) and became the most in-person attended event in Asian esports history.

Today marks the 31st anniversary of the adoption of the democratic Constitution of Mongolia.

Mongolia has had four constitutions in its history with each of its discussions held in 1924, 1940, 1960, and 1992 respectively. While the earlier constitutions revolved around Marxist ideology, the new 1992 Constitution is considered democratic as it protects the common interest of the citizens of Mongolia without discrimination of social class and ideology. Thus, the day of January 13 came to be marked as Constitution Day each year.

For the new democratic Constitution of Mongolia, a discussion took place among over 430 deputies of the People’s Great Khural, and over 50 members of the State Baga Khural over the course of 75 days. A public discussion was also held for the new Constitution, which involved about 75 percent of the 1.2 million citizens, the total population of Mongolia at the time, and over 200 thousand suggestions were received on the matter.

The new Constitution of Mongolia established the legal framework for a balanced system of state power, setting the base procedure, rights, and obligations of the State Great Khural (parliament), the institution of the State Head - the President of Mongolia, the Government of Mongolia, and the judiciary.

Mongolia will start selling coal at border prices instead of mine-mouth prices through commodity exchange from February 1. Ensuring the preparation of transparent online trading, the parties involved in the coal trade, including those interested in selling and buying coal, participated in the trial e-auction of coal export.

The “Energy Resource” LLC conducted the trial e-auction of coal export on January 12, 2023. During the trial e-auction, the company sold 12,800 tons of coal in two lots through the MSE’s call option of a coal spot contract. The border price reached USD 187 per ton.

The initial bid price increased by 12.2 percent based on the orders offered by the participants in the trading during the auction.

With the Parliament’s approval of the Law on Mining Products Exchange, the Government assigned the Financial Regulatory Commission of Mongolia to conduct the online coal trading at the Mongolian Stock Exchange JSC, and to monitor the implementation, until the law entered into force. To implement actions stipulated in Paragraph 3.2 of the Government’s Action Plan 2020-2024, the Resolution No.466 of the Government approved the “Regulation on Open Online Trading of Coal Export” on December 14, 2022.

Mongolia’s export reached USD 12.5 billion, said Finance Minister B.Javkhlan at the government meeting. The Ministry of Finance presented the execution of the budget for 2022.

The state budget deficit has decreased, and the budget balance has improved by MNT 1.4 trillion.

Mongolia expected economic growth to be between 2.6 percent and 3 percent by the end of the year, but overall growth reached 4 percent. This means that after an economic contraction of -4.6 percent in 2020, there has been consistent economic growth in 2021 and 2022.

The budget deficit, which was supposed to be MNT 2.4 trillion, decreased to MNT 979.3 billion.

Imports also slightly increased. However, the difference of 3.8 billion, or the improvement in our trade balance, has had a significant impact on economic growth and the reduction of the budget deficit this year.

Coal is the largest export commodity in volume terms. Last May, when the budget was revised, coal exports were revised to 18 million tonnes by the end of the year. However, 31.7 million tonnes of coal were exported as of 31 December, which influenced the increase in budget revenues and foreign exchange earnings.

Hakuho, probably the greatest sumo wrestler of all time, will hold his official retirement ceremony on 28 January at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan. Former yokozuna Hakuho holds the winner of a record 45 grand sumo tournaments. The Mongolian-born former grand champion, now known as the stablemaster Miyagino, drew the curtain on his 20-year wrestling career after last September’s Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament.

His retirement ceremony is sponsored by Toyota Corporation and Sankyo. Regular tickets for the retirement ceremony range from 4,000 to 60,000 yen and are already sold out. VIP tickets with NFTs are now sold for 1-5 million yen.

Six Diamond VIP tickets for ¥5 million (USD 38,000) include cutting his hairs, having a dinner with him, membership in his fan club, special NFTs and souvenirs. 14 people who bought 1 million yen “Platinum VIP” tickets, will have same privileges; but could not cut his hair. It is estimated that about 400 people will participate in his ceremony.

Since Hakuho announced retirement, he lost 10 kilogram weight.