A new cargo train carrying 50 goods containers departed Wednesday from Urad Back Banner, north Chinas Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and is expected to arrive in Moscow in about 10 days.

It is the first China-Europe freight train service officially launched in Urad Back Banner in the city of Bayannur, a significant hub connecting China and Mongolia and a node city of the new Silk Road Economic Belt.

In 2022, Urad Back Banner plans to operate 55 China-Europe freight trains, transporting about 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes of goods with an annual trade value of 300 million yuan (about 47.1 million U.S. dollars) to 500 million yuan.

The banner has completed the construction of two logistic rail lines and a large container yard, creating the largest and fastest railway logistics platform in the city, said Hai Gang, head of the banner's foreign affairs and commerce bureau.

An industrial park for warehousing, cold-chain, e-commerce, and logistics is also being planned to facilitate the cargo trade.

BEIJING — The World Bank is pleased to announce the appointment of Mara Warwick as the World Bank’s new Country Director for China and Mongolia and Director for Korea, effective today. Based in Beijing, Ms. Warwick leads a team that is managing an evolving partnership with China, a growing program of support to Mongolia, and a deepening knowledge partnership with Korea focused on innovation and technology.

Ms. Warwick has a distinguished World Bank career, serving as Country Director for Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe in her last post. She also has extensive experience in China, Mongolia and Korea, having worked as Portfolio and Operations Manager for these countries in 2012-2016. She has lived in China several times since 1994, including in Beijing when she was the World Bank’s Senior Urban Environment Specialist from 2006-2010.

Ms. Warwick also served in 2016-2020 as World Bank Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Previously she was Sector Coordinator for Sustainable Development in Türkiye. Trained as an environmental engineer, she has expertise in flood management, urban environmental services, and disaster risk management. Before joining the World Bank in 2003, she worked as an engineer in the private sector. Ms. Warwick received her B.E. in Civil Engineering from the University of Adelaide, Australia and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University in the US.

“I am very pleased to come back to China, Mongolia, and Korea,” said Ms. Warwick. “Over the years, I have witnessed firsthand the significant developments in the region since the 1990s. I look forward to working closely with all three countries, as vital World Bank partners, to help address development challenges and strengthen knowledge sharing.”

An Australian national, Ms. Warwick succeeds Martin Raiser, who has moved to Washington, DC to take on the role of Vice President for South Asia.

Over the last forty years, the World Bank’s relationship with China has evolved from one where China was a recipient of World Bank financial and technical assistance, to one where China is now also a contributor to the World Bank. The Bank’s lending and analytical programs in China today are focused on global public goods and institutional reforms to scale up impact, with knowledge and advisory services expected to play a growing role. The lending program has focused on marine plastics, biodiversity and water pollution control in China’s largest rivers, green agriculture, green finance, and food safety. The analytical program is similarly targeting China’s green transition across sectors.

Over the last three decades, the World Bank has provided over US$1.4 billion in development financing to Mongolia. Today, the World Bank Group’s Country Partnership Framework for Mongolia guides the Bank’s work to support Mongolia in overcoming COVID-19 and new emerging crises while working toward a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient recovery, with a strong focus on job creation and climate resilience.

The World Bank’s work in the Republic of Korea has evolved to match the country’s changing needs as it transformed from low-income to a high-income economy and a global leader in innovation and technology. Through the World Bank Group Korea Office, the World Bank hosts partnerships and joint projects with Korean partners to help developing countries enhance financial sector management, promote green growth innovation and share know-how about information and communication technology.

Within the framework of ‘Vision-2050’ long-term development policy and ‘Urban and Rural Policy’ of the government’s New Revival Policy, an objective of decentralization of Ulaanbaatar and establishment of satellite cities and new residential areas has been set. In this context, the engineering infrastructure work of ‘Khushigt Valley - New Settlement Zone’ commenced last Friday, August 12. Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene and parliament members attended the opening ceremony.

The Prime Minister stated, "Today, we are starting the construction of a new city in the Khushigt Valley and a diversified economic zone within the framework of the ‘New Revival Policy’. The government will further support new settlement areas in Darkhan-Uul, Orkhon, Umnugobi, Uvurkhangai aimags, and Baganuur and Nalaikh districts of the capital, solve the infrastructure problems and create a legal framework to attract private sectors and international investment. The Khushigt Valley development has the potential to be not only a new residential area, but also a special economic zone and an independent transportation and logistics hub. The Bogdkhan railway runs around the new settlement area, and the development projects are aligned."

Mongolia has not built a new city since 1980. After 40 years, the planning of a new city is in the process. As part of the infrastructure construction for the new residential area, the construction of water and electricity supply sources has started.

During the ceremony, Minister of Construction and Urban Development B. Munkhbaatar noted, "The plan of the new residential area was finalized and approved, with the issuance of technical solution, budget and investment. This year, due to the construction plan, more than MNT30 billion has been included in the state budget. Accordingly, the construction of an engineering network from five water wells in south to the airport is starting. Also, the construction of the 35 kW power transmission line has started today. To speed up the project implementation, the government is planning to allocate more than MNT200 billion in the next year's state budget in phases."

As a representative of the private sector, President of Tavan Bogd Group Ts. Baatarsaikhan said, "I am confident that enterprises will support and participate in the development of the new residential area. Our company plans to build a factory in this area and create 4,000 jobs.”

It is planned that, in the first turn, 35 thousand people will be settled in the new settlement area of ​​the Khushigt Valley. By 2040, it will be the region, where 150,000 people have settled, and business, tourism, transportation, logistics, production and services have developed along with highly active administrative, culture, education, health, and economic activities.

At the cabinet meeting dated August 10, 2022, as part of the decentralization of Ulaanbaatar, a decision was made to move some government institutions to Khushigt Valley.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets, signed onto by leaders around the world including Mongolia, represent aspirations to end poverty and hunger, protect the planet, promote justice, eliminate disparities and inequalities, and bring prosperity by 2030. Mongolia is one of the early adopters of the SDGs. In line with these global goals, the Parliament of Mongolia adopted its Vision-2050, a strategic policy document on the country’s development priorities in the years to come.

Achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a milestone in achieving Vision 2050. To achieve this agenda, Mongolia must take more ambitious actions to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs.

SDGs are everyone’s business. These goals are to be achieved by all concerted and collective efforts by all stakeholders, including the Government, development partners, private sector, academia, civil society and last, but not least, by individual citizens.

For this purpose, this campaign “SDG Open Day”, the UN Mongolia, together with its key partners, proposes to engage with the Mongolian communities, especially the private sector, and the public in Ulaanbaatar city, in a range of activities and events geared towards advocating and promoting SDGs while showcasing and acknowledging good works and significant progress thus far towards SDGs and to inspire sustainable behaviours and lifestyle and mobilize more commitment from businesses, communities and the wider public to the promotion of SDGs in Mongolia.

Moreover, this campaign will also give space and a platform to acknowledge and commitment of the Mongolian stakeholders to the promotion and implementation of the SDGs, showcasing their best practices and substantial contributions they have made towards solving some of the pressing issues Mongolian communities face.

The campaign will aim to engage with at least 5000 people in person at the event and more than 100,000 people through a social media campaign. Around 100 organizations and entities will be selected to showcase their best practices and sustainability products based on the selection criteria to be elaborated.

In a nutshell, the campaign will aim to shift the gear from building awareness to accelerating the implementation of the SDGs to achieve the Agenda by 2030.

UN Mongolia

The Moscow Exchange will be partially reopened to foreign investors from Monday after a nearly six-month suspension during the Ukraine war.

It says only investors from "countries that are not hostile" will be allowed to trade bonds.

The move excludes many of Russia's largest investors that have imposed sanctions on its economy.

Russia had sealed off its markets in February to restrict money from leaving the country during the war.

In a statement (in Russian) on Friday, the Moscow Exchange said it would be reopening its bond market to "non-resident clients from countries that are not hostile, as well as non-residents whose ultimate beneficiaries are Russian legal entities or individuals."

China and Turkey are likely to be among these nations, as they have not imposed sanctions against Russia.

It added that banks, brokers and investment management companies had started registering their foreign clients with the exchange.

Russia closed its stock and bond markets hours after President Vladimir Putin sent thousands of troops into Ukraine on 24 February.

In March, it began a phased re-opening which was limited to bonds issued by the Russian government.

Monday's resumption of trading excludes investors from "hostile" countries, who remain banned from selling Russian securities.

These countries include members of the European Union, Canada and Japan. The group accounted for 90% of investments into Russia last year.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and sanctions imposed by Western governments have taken a toll on its economy.

The country is believed to have defaulted on its debt in June for the first time since 1998.

While it had money to make a $100m (£82.5m) payment, sanctions made it impossible to get the sum to international creditors.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said an intermediary bank had withheld the money and that the reserves were blocked "unlawfully".

China's largest oil refiner Sinopec has reportedly extracted crude oil and natural gas from a newly drilled oil reserve with wells around 8,000 meters deep, in the Tarim Basin of the Xinjiang region.

According to Xinhua agency, citing the company on Wednesday, the site could potentially yield 244 tons of crude oil and 970,000 cubic meters of natural gas per day.

The Shunbei oil and gas field has 41 ultra-deep drilling wells, and is one of the world's deepest onshore commercial oil and gas fields, according to Sinopec.

The company expects the discovery to boost China's energy security.

Economic ties between Russia and China are showing steady growth despite the difficult international situation, Beijing's ambassador to Moscow said on Friday, predicting that trade could hit $200 billion this year.

“Russian-Chinese trade and economic cooperation shows excellent results and sustainable development, despite the tests associated with the pandemic, the global economic downturn and the difficult international and regional situation,” Zhang Hanhui told RIA Novosti news agency.

In the first seven months of the year, Beijing-Moscow trade surged by 29%, reaching $97.71 billion, the ambassador said, citing Chinese customs data.

During that time, China’s exports to Russia totalled $36.26 billion, marking an increase of 5.2% from the same period of 2021. Imports from Russia jumped by 48.8%, to reach $61.44 billion.

Listing some of the priorities for bilateral trade, Zhang highlighted energy, nuclear power, aviation, space, basic infrastructure, as well as digital technology, medicine, green energy, agriculture, and science and innovation.

“All this lays a powerful foundation for our trade and economic cooperation to reach a new level,” he said.

A Tyrone-born businessman has said finishing third in the world’s toughest horse race was “beyond his wildest aspirations”.

Patrick Heffron and his co-rider Chris Walker completed the infamous 1,000km-long Mongol Derby last month, which is considered a feat in itself.

They managed to place in the top three and were even in with a chance of winning the gruelling cross-country challenge when heading towards the finish.

“It was an amazing experience and fairly demanding. Physically and mentally, it’s quite tough but one hell of an experience,” Patrick told Sunday Life.

Officially the longest horse race in the world, it sees competitors from across the globe ride unsupported through the vast, untouched wilderness of the Mongolian steppe.

Riders change horses every 35km or so and either sleep in tents or befriend the local nomadic people, who are world-renowned expert horsemen themselves.

Their mounts are often wild from the steppe and not fully tamed for riding, but competitors can be penalised for breaching time limits imposed on each leg regardless of the terrain.

“One minute you’re in a bog, 30km later you’re riding past camels and it’s desert-like,” explained international property developer Patrick.

“You also have these marmot holes and mouse holes when you are galloping through the steppe, and the next thing the horse just disappears into a hole and you are catapulted out.

“So, you have to hold on to the bloody horse before it disappears because if you’re only halfway in it’s a long walk.”

Explaining the sheer grit required to make it to the finish line, the 44-year-old said: “You are riding up to 130-140km per day.

“You are riding semi-wild horses. You might be lucky and get one that’s relatively tame, but you might also get one that really doesn’t like you being there.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with the food, but goat noodle soup... (after) day five it becomes quite tedious.

“It’s such a vast country that we didn’t see a fence for 940km. (There was) no evidence of agricultural cultivation until near the finish station.

“We were sleeping in bivvy bags or finding a local herding family, ideally with livestock, and it’s amazing because they really do take you into their house.

“They really welcome you. You sleep in a yurt (a portable round tent), or a ger as it’s called there, on the floor with the family who feed you, water you and despatch you to the next morning.”

The language barrier wasn’t a total block on getting on with the locals, many of whom are now used to encountering riders from the annual event.

“I learnt (to say) ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’. It’s not an easy (language) to speak, and there was a lot of hand gestures with lots of ‘hellos’ and lots of ‘thank yous’, along with my pidgin Mongolian,” explained Patrick.

Patrick also said he was lucky to have an excellent co-rider in the shape of Gloucestershire man Chris.

“We rode together, which is crucial, because it’s a long way to go alone and also if something happens,” he added.

Asked if he was daunted by the prospect of taking on the longest horse race in the world, Patrick said: “It’s a bit of fun, (but) it’s not for the faint-hearted or for somebody who has not got a lot of experience riding.

“If you said to me, ‘What are your aspirations?’, I would have said that I would love to complete it because only 25 out of 46 (teams) completed the race.

“The next aspiration might have been a top 10 placing, but to get into the top three was beyond my wildest aspirations.

“Luck is definitely an element of it. There is absolutely no chance I would do it again.”