Buyant-Ukhaa International Airport, February 7, 04:34 AM - Deputy chief of National Emergency Management Agency, Brigadier-General B. Uuganbayar, his rescue team of 35 search and rescue specialists and two search dogs headed to Turkey.

Today, plane carrying 1.500 woolen blankets, 10 tonnes of meat, 2 tonnes of candles and other aids leaves Mongolia to Turkey and Syria.

S. Amarsaikhan, Mongolian Deputy Prime Minister, and Head of the State Emergency Commission met with the team and reminded the team that the Turkish government sent help to our Mongolian herders during the harsh winters in 2010 and 2016, also said, “Wishing you nothing but the best on your mission. Please come home safe.”

The Ambassador extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkey, Zafer Ateş extends his warmest appreciation to the Government of Mongolia for its valuable support and solidarity.

Pope Francis has announced his intention to visit Mongolia later this year.

The landlocked Asian country might seem an odd destination for a papal visit. There are only about 1,300 Catholics in Mongolia—probably not as many as in your home parish—accounting for just 0.04% of the country’s population. But the Pope has taken a keen interest in the missionary territory, choosing its only bishop, Giorgio Morengo, to receive a cardinal’s red hat last year. And surely no one would deny that the faithful Catholics of Mongolia deserve the pastoral attention of the Roman Pontiff, just like the Catholics of any other nation.

Still, the plan for a trip to Mongolia sharpens one of the mysterious questions about this pontificate. As he approaches the 10th anniversary of his election, why hasn’t Pope Francis visited his homeland? Among all his travel destinations, why hasn’t he ever chosen a trip back to Argentina?

For many of his 40 trips outside Italy—which the Vatican categorizes as “pastoral voyages”—Pope Francis has chosen to visit many countries where Catholics, and even Christians, are a tiny minority, such as Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Turkey. Yet he hasn’t been back to Argentina, where 92% of the people are counted as Catholics. He has traveled to east Asia; he has only recently returned from sub-Saharan Africa. But he hasn’t made it home

The omission of Argentina from the Pope’s travel dockets is even more curious, when one considers that he has crisscrossed South America, hopping around neighboring countries without touching down. In 2013 he was in Brazil; in 2015, Ecuador and Bolivia and Paraguay; in 2017, Colombia; in 2018, Chile and Peru. Any one of those trips could have allowed for a stop in Buenos Aires, where he was born and raised—where he served, as auxiliary bishop and then as archbishop, for over 20 years.

While he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the future Pontiff was known for avoiding foreign travel. When church business took him to Rome, he returned home as quickly as he could—unlike the many prelates who take every opportunity to lengthen their stays in the Eternal City. In fact when he reported to Rome for the conclave of 2013 he had every intention of returning to Buenos Aires as soon as the new Pope was elected. Ten years later, he still hasn’t returned.

Pope John Paul II, elected in October 1978, made it to Poland by June of the following year, despite the marked reluctance of the country’s Communist leaders to allow a papal visit. Pope Benedict XVI was in Germany less than six months after his election in 2005 (although the World Youth Day event that brought him to Cologne had been scheduled long before his election). Before them, of course, since the advent of air travel made foreign trips feasible, every Pope had been Italian.

To date, then, Pope Francis is the only Roman Pontiff in history who, having the ability to fly back to his native country for a visit, has not taken that opportunity. I have no theory to explain why he has not traveled home. But as the years go by, and the list of papal voyages lengthens, the mystery grows more intriguing.

Philip F. Lawler

Mongolia has imported materials and products worth USD 688 million as of the first month of 2023, a 23.6 percent increase compared with 2022, according to Mongolian Customs General Administration (MCGA).

The shares of imported goods are as follows:

Equipment and machinery were 15.2 percent (or USD 104.5 million);

Mineral products were 26.2 percent (or USD 180.2 million), of which 88.6 percent (or USD 159.6 million) is petroleum;

Food products, such as meat and vegetables, were 10.6 percent (or USD 72.9 million);

Automobile and aircraft were 21.0 percent (or USD 144.2 million);

Iron and steel products were 6.9 percent (or USD 47.3 million) and

Chemical products were 5.4 percent (or USD 37.3 million) and altogether made up 82.6 of the total imports in 2022.

Our country imports materials and products with definite origins from 105 countries, of which 35.8 percent are from China; 29.2 percent from Russia; 9.7 percent from Japan; 3.5 percent from South Korea; and 3.3 percent from the United States.

The Government of Mongolia is preparing a bill to amend the Tobacco Control Law and representatives from the World Health Organization are coming to provide technical assistance.

On February 2, the authorities of the Ministry of Health and the WHO representatives met with Ts. Munkh-Orgil, M. Oyunchimeg, and J. Chinburen, members of the Standing Committee on Social Policy of the State Great Khural and exchanged views on the existing Tobacco Control Law and the bill that is currently being developed to amend it.

The member M. Oyunchimeg noted that the poor control over the new type of cigarette (Electronic Cigarette) and the low tobacco tax became the causes of weak enforcement of this law.

The representatives of the WHO emphasized that the best way to strengthen the Tobacco Control Law was to increase its tax.

The project of the New Oil Refinery plant included in the “Action Plan 2016–2020” of the Mongolian Government, has started with the soft loan of the Indian Government in Altanshiree soum, Dornogobi aimag.

Upon the commencement of this new refinery plant, it will address 75% of the Mongolian energy supply, stop Mongolian dependence on Russia for fuel and Mongolia’s GDP is estimated to grow by over 10 percent.

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India, M.P. Singh informs that: “Before putting this refinery plant operation, we believe that the Mongolian government will complete the 530 km long oil pipeline from Dornod to Dornogovi aimag. The completion of the first stage has reached 80%, even though it started during the pandemic. An Indian major infrastructure company Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited (MEIL), which has implemented projects worth USD 40 billion in 16 countries, is the constructor of the second stage. The tender proposal submission deadline for the fourth stage of construction is extended from January to mid-February at the request of applicants. The winner of the tender will be announced in March. When the weather gets warm (Construction Season starts) all the construction work will commence. The government authorities of our two countries are attaching great importance to this project.”

The refinery plant will create 1000 jobs; Therefore, I hope it will mark the beginning of the industrial revolution in Mongolia.

The Indian Government approved the financing amounts to USD 1.6 billion and about 800-1000 specialists and employees from India will come to Mongolia to carry out the construction work that will be resumed in spring.

Erenhot, the largest land port on the China-Mongolia border, witnessed a significant rise in import and export cargo volume in January, the railway authorities said on Friday.

The port saw over 1.42 million tonnes of import and export cargos in January, up over 90 percent year on year, according to the China Railway Hohhot Group. Its imported and exported cargos surpassed 1.18 million tonnes and 238,600 tonnes respectively in the month.

In January last year, the port handled a relatively low volume of cargo as a result of the pandemic. This year, the China Railway Hohhot Group has taken a slew of measures to improve support services such as cargo customs clearance, train inspection and reloading operations.

The port in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region now serves 64 China-Europe freight-train routes, connecting over 60 overseas destinations across more than 10 countries.

Editor: Yang Yifan

Mongolia plans to reach 1.5 million air passengers this year and 2 million in 2024, Minister of Road Transport Development Byambatsogt Sandag announced at a meeting with representatives of the tourism industry organized as part of the "Year of Visit to Mongolia" on February 6.

Mongolia is working with 39 countries on bilateral agreements on air traffic, the Minister said.

MIAT, Aero Mongolia, Hunnu Air, Eznis Airways, and Mongolian Airways operate international and domestic flights, as well as possible direct flights from the United States as part of air transport liberalization. In addition, work has been underway since 2023 to conclude an air service agreement for direct flights with Hungary, England, Azerbaijan, Greece, Spain and Qatar.

A Mongolian-German project is investigating abandoned early modern military and monastic sites in central Mongolia, including how the ruins of these urban nodes continue to shape cultural memory within nomadic society. Initial excavations have revealed a previously unknown site type, interpreted as garrisons from the period of Manchu rule (AD 1636–1911).

Introduction

In Mongolia, cities have been an integral part of nomadic society for more than a millennium. Abandoned urban sites from various periods dot the land, inscribing memories of lost empires and alliances into the cultural landscape. The relationship between sedentary urban and mobile herder lifeways has constituted a key cultural, economic and political factor in one of Eurasia's major pastoralist formations (Bruun & Narangoa Reference Bruun and Narangoa2006). This history is most prominently present in the Orkhon Valley, which preserves traces of various urban centres that include Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries AD (Rogers et al. Reference Rogers, Erdenebat and Gallon2005). Much less is known about the period of the Qing Dynasty (1636–1911), when Mongolia had fallen under Manchu dominance. This is the era in which most modern Mongolian cities are rooted, but subsequent political developments led to the abandonment or destruction of many of these urban sites.

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At the last Cabinet session, a draft of the Cooperation Agreement in Aviation Search and Rescue between the governments of Mongolia and the Republic of Kazakhstan was discussed. The Cabinet members approved the draft and agreed to grant a signing right to the Minister of Road and Transport Development S. Byambatsogt.

The draft of the Cooperation Agreement on Aviation Search and Rescue between the Government of Mongolia and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan has 13 articles. The agreement and its principles are basically about organizing the search and rescue activities in neighboring countries in accordance with the instructions and recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for the search and rescue activities, determining their responsible search and rescue area in the border between neighboring areas and flight information regions, exchanging information on aircraft accidents in their respective regions and measures taken, and creating the legal framework for providing emergency assistance to any person involved in an accident, regardless of nationality, social status, and the circumstances in which the person was found.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the Cooperation Agreement is of high significance to initiate search and rescue operations for aircraft and people are in danger on the border between neighboring areas and flight information regions in a short time, to reduce risks of the loss of human lives and to mobilize the resources efficiently.

At the initiative of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia B. Battsetseg, “Funding Program for Digital Solutions to Enhance Women Enterprise Recovery and Growth”, supported by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and Women Enterprise Recovery Fund, is going to be implemented in Mongolia for the first time.

In connection with this funding program, the International Women's Federation of Commerce and Industry (IWFCI) in Mongolia held a press conference on February 3, 2023. Under the program, 3-4 successful applicants or teams will receive MNT 200 million. In other words, the best project proposals with innovative digital solutions submitted by the applicants or companies will be selected and entitled to receive up to USD 10 thousand in co-funding. However, the funding will vary depending on the type of solution, scope, and amount of the required investment.

O. Baigal, President of the IWFCI Mongolia, said, “Enterprises sending their project proposals to this program are not required to be led by women or have women employees. However, they must propose digital solutions to support women enterprises economically impacted by COVID-19 and to address their financial and other business requirements.” IWFCI is a non-profit, non-government, member-based organization. It was established with the purpose of supporting women entering the business and developing trade across the globe in 1992, in Melbourne, Australia, while IWFCI Mongolia was founded in 2017. As an organizing body of the program, IWFCI Mongolia will start accepting applications on February 6, 2023.