Foreigners who tried to cross the Mongolian border with fake visas were found and deported.

Five citizens of Nigeria, who arrived for the purpose of travel, tried to enter Mongolia at the Chinggis Khaan International Airport using fake visas.

According to the laws of Mongolia, foreign citizens who obtain and forge visas or residence permit with false documents will be denied to enter the country for 5 years.

H.E. Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy, held a meeting with Odonbaatar Shijeekhuu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the UAE, to explore opportunities to strengthen trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. The meeting took place at the Ministry’s headquarters in Dubai.

During the meeting, the Minister of Economy emphasized the UAE’s commitment to solidify its economic and trade partnership with Mongolia, in fields of shared interest in a way that supports both countries’ developmental agendas as well as their sustainable economic growth.

H.E. Bin Touq said: “Mongolia is a promising market with which we aspire to increase trade and investment exchanges, especially in sectors such as tourism, aviation, logistics, agriculture and animal food trade, and food security. The partnership further aims to boost private sector cooperation between the two sides by highlighting the available opportunities in our markets, exploring new collaboration mechanisms and facilitating the exchange of expertise.”

Furthermore, H.E. reviewed the UAE’s ambitious strategy to attract talent and competencies from all vital sectors, in addition to its advanced infrastructure, attractive business environment, and the recently issued flexible legislations, as well as the incentives offered to companies to encourage FDI in the country’s promising market. The discussions also shed light on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPA) model pursued by the UAE, through which the country has signed three agreements so far, with India, Indonesia, and Israel. Through these agreements, the UAE aims to expand its partnerships to reach strategic global markets, in line with the Principles of the 50 and the UAE Centennial 2071 goals to build a highly competitive national economy based on knowledge and innovation.

The UAE is Mongolia’s number one Arab and GCC trade partner as of 2021. The non-oil trade between the two countries witnessed a 119 per cent growth in Q1 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. During this period, the UAE’s non-oil exports to Mongolia saw an 81 per cent growth, led by medical and pharmaceutical industry supplies, construction materials, and food materials such as tea, petrol, and mineral oil.

Mongolia’s Ambassador D.Gansukh met with Slovakian business representatives led by President of Slovakia-Mongolia Chamber of Commerce on September 5.

The Slovakian business delegation will visit Mongolia on September 20-27. During their visit, the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation with the Slovakia-Mongolia Chamber of Commerce, and organize bilateral meetings with relevant ministries.

The visit aims at intensifying trade and economic cooperation between the two countries and increasing ties between businessmen, and it will be an important activity to ensure the implementation of the agreement between the foreign ministries on economic cooperation, said the Ambassador.

Mongolia’s Honorary Consul to Slovakia P.Slavik attended the meeting.

President of Mongolia U.Khurelsukh will attend the General Debate of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly which will take place on September 20-26.

The 77th session of the UN General Assembly will be held under the theme 'A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges' and bring together top state officials of over 150 countries.

“The Mongolian President will deliver a statement to present the country’s position on the pressing issues of international relations, the foreign policy objectives, the socio-economic situation, and the policies to overcome the difficulties at the General Debate. He will also meet with the UN Secretary-General and heads of state and government of some countries”, said Minister of Foreign Affairs B.Battsetseg after today’s Cabinet meeting.

Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene will participate in the 7th Eastern Economic Forum to be held on September 6-8, 2022 in Vladivostok, Russian Federation.

The Eastern Economic Forum is a key international platform for intensifying trade, economic and investment cooperation in Asia and the Pacific. Mongolia has been participating in the event at the high level since 2016.

Russia's president is taking part in an international economic forum in the country's Far East.

Vladimir Putin says the event will focus on moving away from what he calls an "obsolete unipolar model."

Top officials from China's Communist Party, and the military junta in Myanmar, will also attend.

The Moscow-sponsored forum kicked off Monday.

There are delegates from about 60 countries.

Russian officials are expected to use the gathering to boost economic ties amid tough Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian Presidential Office says Li Zhanshu will attend the plenary session on Wednesday.

He's the chairman of China's National People's Congress Standing Committee.

He would become the most senior Chinese official to visit Russia since the start of the invasion.

Analysts say it's meant to underscore Beijing's ties to Russia at a time of heightened tensions with the United States.

Putin's office also confirmed that Myanmar's military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, will also be there.

The event wraps up on Thursday.

India is seeking a deeper foothold in Mongolia with defence minister Rajnath Singh’s two-day visit to Mongolia on Monday.

Singh’s visit is part of India’s broader, East Asia strategy. With Mongolia sharing borders with Russia and China, India is looking for a firmer connect with Ulaanbaatar, as a third major player. Japan is also keen to forge better ties with Mongolia

The defence minister will ride on two critical initiatives taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the country in 2015.

Following PM Modi’s visit, India has emerged as a critical player for providing energy security to Mongolia. India has provided $1.2 billion credit to Mongolia, which is being used to build a large oil refinery. The refinery in Dornogobi province will cover 75 per cent of the country’s energy requirements once it is commissioned in 2025.

“The refinery will address 75 % of Mongolia’s requirements. The country sources its fossil fuel from its biggest neighbour and traditional ally, Russia. India is also assisting Mongolia to build its railway and power infrastructure to help transport Mongolia’s mineral wealth,” Mongolian news website, news.mn reported in early April.

India is also setting up a cyber security centre in Mongolia, which Singh will inaugurate during his visit.

India-Mongolia ties are based on a strong cultural foundation as both countries are leveraging their shared heritage of Buddhism.

In June a 25-member delegation led by Law minister Kiren Rijiju visited Ulaanbaatar with the ceremonial casket of Buddhist holy relics. The visit was timed with Mongolian Buddh Purnima celebrations held on June 14.

The holy Buddha relics, which were housed in New Delhi’s National Museum, are known as the ‘Kapilvastu Relics’ since they are from a site in Bihar first discovered in 1898 which is believed to be the ancient city of Kapilvastu.

Flown to the Mongolian capital in a special Indian Air Force C-17 Globe Master, the relics were accorded the status of a State Guest. The two relics were housed in bullet-proof casings.

A government press statement said that the defence minister will hold talks with Mongolia’s Minister of Defence, Lt Gen. Saikhanbayar. He shall call on the President of Mongolia, U. Khurelsukh and Chairman of the State Great Khural of Mongolia, . G Zandanshatar. “The two democracies have a common interest in fostering peace and prosperity in the entire region,” the statement said.

Mongolia is one of the countries in the world with the greatest temperature variations throughout the day and across the seasons, owing to the combination of its landlocked location in the temperate zone and its extraordinary aridity. The country experiences warm to fairly hot summers and brutally cold winters due to sparse cloud cover, limited precipitation, and the lack of a significant water body's moderating effect.

These daily and yearly temperature severe differences are likely to grow further as a result of climate change and loss of plant cover, both of which exacerbate each other.

Upset climate patterns not only increase the amplitude of the daily and yearly temperature cycle, but also make it chaotic, resulting in irregular oscillations, frequent and escalating hot and cold waves, and staggered spells of precipitation.

Over 90 percent of Mongolia’s electricity is sourced from coal and air-pollution is becoming a growing concern. Because of use of simple building materials and traditional design, most Mongolian homes are inadequately insulated by modern standards. Houses without central heating are obliged to utilize raw coal for heating, which is an extremely inefficient calorific technology that leaves a large carbon footprint posing a significant health risk.

As a result of indiscriminate home and industrial coal consumption, the world's coldest capital city is threatened by debilitating pollution.

Because of the poor condition of the heat-conveying pipes, a lot of energy is wasted. Meanwhile, population increase, economic development, and urbanization are driving up the demand for civic heating.

Five thousand kilometers away, residents of Kankaanpää, a town in western Finland, enjoy year-round heating of homes, swimming pools, and baths, by means of an ingenious innovation – a seven-meter tall, four-meter wide silo of hot sand. Nicknamed the ‘sand battery’, this giant cylindrical structure situated in the Vatajankoski Power Plant, houses sand at a high temperature.

The sand is first heated to temperatures in the range of 500-1000 degrees Celsius using green electricity, i.e. electricity sourced from renewable sources such as solar or wind energy.

The heat is then retained for months by the well-insulated sand column, with little dissipation to the surroundings. When necessary, heat can be given by releasing hot air from the sand battery to heat water, which is then transported to housing and office blocks via thermal plumbing, often via the District Heating system, a lifeline during the harsh Arctic winters.

A sophisticated software package constantly monitors the entire system to coordinate charging, discharging, and distribution to improve productivity, retentivity, and utility. In the midst of Europe's recent gas crisis, inexpensive, adaptable, local solutions like the Sand Battery have become even more significant.

As climate change makes the weather more erratic and precarious, sand batteries are a game changer toward addressing both the cause and the consequence, assisting in overcoming the drawbacks of weather inconsistency while decreasing carbon footprint to prevent further climate change.

Sand has a high specific heat capacity when compared to metals, which means it can store a lot of heat for a given temperature rise. Most importantly, it is readily available in Mongolia. Furthermore, despite its temperate climate, Mongolia's prominently clear skies, flat terrain, and little vegetation provide the country with a high practical solar potential.

The country's southern region also has great potential for wind energy development. By tapping into these natural resources and storing the captured energy in a cost-effective yet trustworthy sand battery, Mongolia may easily improve energy security for its whole population.

Sand batteries are fairly scalable, adaptable to varied environments, require little to no maintenance, and can fill gaps and disruptions in energy supply. The excess of summer sunshine can be used to thermally charge the sand battery, and this stored heat can be used for home and even micro-industrial heating during the hard, dark winter months.

In Finland, high-temperature storage is used to keep as much heat as possible inside a restricted amount of sand. This high-temperature energy must be reduced in order to be used for indoor heating, which is a relatively wasteful operation.

However, in Mongolia, where sand is much easier to come by, the same amount of heat could be stored at a lower temperature (more in line with domestic requirements) by using a larger mass of sand, avoiding the need to moderate the temperature before supplying (allowing direct passage to buildings) and slowing the rate of heat loss.

Alternatively, the high-temperature heat might be delivered directly to industries that require such heating. The sand column might potentially be built underground by insulating and filling a borehole.

Even with tremendous advancements in solar and wind energy capture technology and infrastructure, energy storage and long-distance transmission remain significant hurdles. Large-scale battery technology continues to be a research hotspot, but the numerous ongoing competing research initiatives have yet to provide commercially viable and widely-adoptable solutions.

Metal-ion and polymer-based batteries are still too complex to be used economically. Grassroots solutions, such as the sand battery, can help decentralize, streamline, and simplify energy distribution, making not only energy but the entire energy-production process, more accessible and inexpensive across geography and demographics.

About the Author: Pitamber Kaushik is a writer, journalist, columnist, and independent researcher based out of Jharkhand, India. His writings have appeared in 130+ publications across 45+ countries.