‘Nomadic Mongolia – 2022’ grand festival of intangible cultural heritage will be held on August 12-14, 2022 at the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park with aims to promote 362 elements of intangible cultural heritage.

To ensure the implementation of the measures and law set out in the cultural industry development policy, preparations are underway to organize the festival. The festival will be co-organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Department of Culture and Arts, government implementing agency.

At the festival, folk art performances and exhibitions of crafts will be organized by the inheritors from 21 aimags and capital city. In addition, several activities to be held such as competitions, creative cultural industry, trade fairs, dairy products and traditional cuisine fair, art performances by the inheritors of national intangible cultural heritage and children.

Intangible cultural heritage is the origin of the existence, creativity, and development of every nation, ethnic group, or community. It is an expression of the unique aspect of human life, behavior and development, aside from being an important factor that directly influences the civilizational and national security.

In this sense, preserving the intangible cultural heritage is considered as one of pressing issues faced by humanity, and it is still at the center of the world's attention.

The ‘Law on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage’ states that intangible cultural heritage is acknowledged by communities, ethnic groups, and individuals as a part of their cultural heritage such as customs, form of expressing and depicting, traditional knowledge, methods, and its associated items including artifacts, instruments, works of art, and cultural spaces.

Mongolia joined the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2005, and has an obligation before international community to protect the intangible cultural heritage on its territory.

A total of eight heritages of Mongolia have been registered in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity so far.

1. Morin Khuur (horse head fiddle 2008)

2. Mongolian long song (2008)

3. Naadam festival (2010)

4. Art of singing – khoomei (2010)

5. Eagle hunting or falconry (2010)

6. Traditional craftsmanship of ger and its associated customs (2013)

7. The knuckle-bone shooting (2014),

8. Traditional technique of making airag in khokhuur (2019).

Seven elements have been inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding:

1. ‘Mongolian epic’, Mongolian oral epic (2009)

2. ‘Biyelgee’, Mongolian folk dance (2009)

3. Tsuur (end blown flute) performance (2009)

4. Folk long song performance technique of Limbe performances-circular breathing (2011)

5. Mongolian calligraphy (2013)

6. ‘Coaxing Ritual for Baby Camels’ (2015)

7. Ritual of worshipping mountain (2017)

8.

As part of the implementation of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the President of Mongolia issued a decree on 'Promotion of Mongolian Heroic Epics', and the Government of Mongolia approved the ‘National program to safeguard intangible cultural heritage’ and a set of measures of the protection.

Furthermore, numerous events were organized such as the International Symposium and Festival "Epos of Central Asia-II" (2013), the project ‘Preservation and revival of Mongolian epic traditions’ (2013-2016), a series of combined theoretical and practical trainings in within the framework of the project ‘Strengthening the capacity of Mongolia for the convention implementation’ (2012-2016), the project ‘On inheriting folk long song performance technique of Limber Performers-Circular Breathings’ (2019-2022) and others.

Taking into account the uniqueness of our nomadic culture, the intangible cultural heritage in Mongolia is divided into seven categories: Mother language and oral traditions; Folk art; Traditional festivals, rituals, ceremonies and games; traditional knowledge on nature and the universe; Mongolian wisdom; Mongolians' traditional practice in animal husbandry; and Mongolian crafts.

With a purpose of preserving the intangible cultural heritage, promoting its inheritors, developing talents, promoting and disseminating it to the public, the Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage states that the National Festival of Intangible Cultural Heritage ‘Nomadic Mongolia’ shall be organized every three years.

HONG KONG, July 25 (Reuters) - China's population has slowed significantly and is expected to start to shrink ahead of 2025, the state backed Global Times reported, citing a senior health official.

Birth data released late on Sunday showed that the number of new births in 2021 was the lowest in decades in several provinces.

The number of births in central Hunan province fell below 500,000 for the first time in nearly 60 years, the Global Times said. Only China's southern Guangdong province has had more than 1 million new births, it said.

China is battling to reverse a rapid shrinkage in natural population growth as many young people opt not to have children due to factors including the high cost and work pressure.

China's population is expected to start to shrink in 2021-2025, the Global Times said, citing Yang Wenzhuang, head of population and family affairs at the National Health Commission.

A change in China’s laws last year to allow women to have three children has not helped, with many women saying the change comes too late and they have insufficient job security and gender equality.

Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Stephen Coates

Construction work for oil refinery consists of four engineering-procurement – construction (EPC-1,2,3 and 4) phase projects, and India’s state-owned company, ‘Engineers India Limited’ is monitoring the performance of the EPC-1, which is a complex project of industrial non-technological facilities, construction site infrastructure, and road and water supply system, in accordance with international norms and standards, reported the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry.

‘JMC Projects’ LLC of India as a general contractor of the project and engineers and technical experts of 21 subcontracting companies of Mongolia or a total of 641 people with 250 pieces of equipment are working according to a plan to hand over the project on November 29, 2022.

The EPC-1 project has four main stages: preparatory work, blueprint development, procurement, and construction, and the overall project is progressing at 63 percent. In detail, the construction of water storage tank is running at 85 percent, first aid and hospital building -80 percent, office and training center – 45 percent, cafeteria -84 percent, laboratory -85 percent, warehouse -45 percent, firefighting unit’s facility – 52 percent, repair facility -35 percent, drainage pipe-30 percent, floodwater harvesting area -82.5 percent, electric power transmission line-90 percent as well as others.

A tender for the selection of the general contractor for the EPC-2 unpatented technology facility works was announced on June 6, 2022 on an expedited basis and proposals will be received on August 16, 2022.

Moreover, a tender for the selection of the general contractor for the EPC-3 –construction of power plant of the Oil Refinery was announced on May 04, 2022 and proposals were received on July 04, 2022.

In addition, license holders for patented technology works of EPC-4 have been selected. Relevant contracts have been established with leading corporations of the petrochemical industry, such as KT - Kinetics Technology, UOP Honeywell, and Axens Solutions.

S&P Global Ratings affirmed the "B" Foreign Currency LT credit rating of Mongolia on July 21, 2022. The outlook is stable.

The following factors led S&P to keep the credit rating and the economic outlook unchanged:

Mongolia's economy is expected to grow by 2.5 percent in 2022. The outlook for economic growth for the next 2-3 years will continue to be positive due to the influence of foreign direct investment in the mining sector.

Until 2025, real GDP growth is expected to be 6.4 percent per year on average because sustainable investments will be made in mining projects such as Tavantolgoi and Oyutolgoi. At the beginning of this year, the Government of Mongolia successfully concluded a negotiation with Rio Tinto regarding the Oyutolgoi project, and issues related to cost overruns were resolved.

Maintaining the credit rating at ‘Stable’ in the future is due to the expectation that the economic recovery will continue normally. Also, from 2022 Mongolia's budget, debt, and foreign sector situations will improve.

Mongolia’s external debt risk is decreasing with the credit support of international donor partners. The Bank of Mongolia successfully extended the CNY 15 billion swap agreement with the People's Bank of China in August 2020 until 2023.

Concerns about potential sovereign defaults among Asia’s frontier markets are growing with the Economist Intelligence Unit joining Malayan Banking in warning of risks amid faster inflation and rising borrowing costs.

Laos has the highest chance of non-payment in the next four years, followed by Mongolia, the EIU said in a report, adding that Myanmar is also a potential risk.

Global bond investors are becoming more wary of the threat of a historic cascade of defaults after Sri Lanka and Russia halted debt payments this year.

The concerns are more acute in frontier economies struggling with surging imports that are cutting into their reserves, compounded by aggressive interest-rate hikes from the Federal Reserve which are driving up borrowing costs globally.

It’s a risk that’s been echoed about vulnerable developing economies around the globe this year, with Bloomberg Intelligence pointing to particular uncertainty in El Salvador, Ghana, Egypt, Tunisia and Pakistan.

There are now 21 emerging markets with sovereign debt that trades at distressed levels – yields more than 10 percentage points above that of similar-maturity Treasuries – which can indicate investors believe a default is a real possibility.

That’s more than double the number at the end of 2021, according to data compiled from a Bloomberg index.

“Our analysis indicates conclusively that Laos and Mongolia are most at risk of following Sri Lanka into default in 2022-2026, with the former of more immediate concern,” EIU said. Despite forecasts for relative stability in Myanmar, “an escalation of the domestic conflict could come with little warning, jeopardising the sovereign’s repayment capacity”.

The outlook for Myanmar’s economic growth remains weak as surging inflation, dollar shortages and lingering domestic conflict pose challenges to its pandemic recovery, according to a World Bank report this week.

On June 9, 2022, the court of the Khan-Uul district of the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar sentenced the champion judoka and the former president of the Mongolian National Olympic Committee (MNOC) Naidangiin Tüvshinbayar to 16 years in jail for brutally murdering his childhood friend and a fellow judoka Erdenebilegiin Enkhbat, putting an end to a legal saga that kept the nation in awe for more than a year.

After becoming the first Mongolian to ever win an Olympic gold medal in Beijing 2008 and later, in London 2012, the first Mongolian Olympic multimedalist, Tüvshinbayar was destined to rise to stardom in a country that traditionally reveres wrestlers, and his success, according to Reuters, “prompted leaders from feuding parties to join thousands of revellers in the streets to celebrate their champion.” Indeed, he soon became known as the person whose victory helped Mongolia overcome the parliamentary deadlock between the rivals Democratic Party and Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) following a post-election violence that claimed five lives in July 2008, while CNN would generously credit him as the sports legend who single-handedly sparked the country’s interest in judo.

Along with being decorated with the country’s highest professional and athletic awards and titles, including the Hero of Labor order (Хөдөлмөрийн баатар), he soon became one of the most prominent media icons in Mongolia, featuring in Pepsi ads and, of course, in political campaigns, as his fame as a “unifier of the Mongolians in times of trouble” carried on. Thus, he became the campaign promoter of the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Khaltmaagiin Battulga, a former world champion wrestler, who would eventually win the elections in 2017 in the second round with a narrow margin of 50.6 percent. Besides being an extravagant and controversial politician and businessman, who named his group of companies “Genco,” in reference to the name of the Corleone family’s company in “The Godfather,” as well as the builder of the biggest equestrian statue in the world, Battulga was also the president of the Mongolian Judo Federation, so that the success of Mongolian judokas, including the Olympic triumph of Tüvshinbayar, was often attributed to him.

Already before the presidential elections of 2017 Tüvshinbayar was regarded as the protégé and a close associate of Battulga and the Democratic Party, so that in 2016 he, a native of the Zavkhan province, participated in the parliamentary elections in the Bayankhongor province in southwestern Mongolia, the traditional constituency of the president-to-be, just to scandalously lose by a margin of 98 votes. A few weeks later he gave up his bid for the third Olympic medal by losing in the first round at Rio 2016, and this failure was broadly linked to his involvement in the election campaign and neglecting athletic duties. In 2020, he was about to participate in the parliamentary elections again from the same district, but instead ran as a sole candidate for the presidency of the Mongolian National Olympic Committee with the backing of the country’s president, and was elected by a sweeping 94.6 percent. Interestingly, in February 2022, he was appointed the adviser to the current Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, who, by the way, serves as the chairman of the rival Mongolian People's Party.

However, after his protector became the president of Mongolia, Tüvshinbayar was accused of being a bully while gaining notoriety for his excessive alcohol consumption. Prior to the deadly brawl in 2021, he was involved in at least three instances of physical violence, one of them right on the eve of the presidential elections of 2017. The future president had to deny it and even defended Tüvshinbayar in a public interview while casting his vote:

Translation Original Quote

How could that be possible? You should stop believing in such things. Not only would champion Tüvshinbayar never beat a person, he would never touch anybody.

The president would be proven wrong. On April 2, 2021, while meeting with a few prominent Democratic Party figures from his native Zavkhan province, including the provincial governor, chairperson and representatives of the municipal council, an intoxicated Tüvshinbayar attacked and beat up his childhood friend and a promising star of Mongolian wrestling (үндэсний бөх), the holder of the rank of “national falcon” (улсын начин), Erdenebilegiin Enkhbat, after allegedly knocking him out with a heavy object. Suffering from numerous traumas and severe brain damage, Enkhbat passed away in a South Korean clinic on December 24, 2021 at the age of 37, without regaining consciousness.

After the bloody assault, many were hesitant to openly blame the legendary athlete, as was the case of the Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene, who bluntly stated that it was “inappropriate for him to say whether Tüvshinbayar was right or wrong,” praising, nevertheless, his “glorious” deeds in unifying the nation during the time of turmoil. Today, after more than a year since the heinous attack, the legendary hero who gave honor to the nation is slowly but steadily turning into a national villain, taking along with him the political reputation of the former president Battulga.

In the meantime, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) data, Mongolia holds one of the worst homicide rates in Asia ranging annually between 7.24 and 5.98 (per 100,000 population) between 2014 and 2020, compared to that of 6.66 of Afghanistan (2018), 3.23 of Kazakhstan (2020), and 2.19 of Kyrgyzstan (2018). In Europe, only Russia has a higher homicide rate of 10.7 (2020). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) homicide data, in 2019, 197 intentional homicides were registered in Mongolia, compared to 90 in Georgia, the country with a compatible population. According to official national statistical data, the number of criminal actions causing deaths (intentional and unintentional homicides, accidents, suicides and inducing to suicide) rose by 17.3 percent from 382 in 2020 to 448 in 2021. According to a parliamentary report, between 70 to 80 percent of intentional murders in the country are committed under the influence of alcohol. What is even more alarming, for the first six months of 2022, the overall crime rate in Mongolia rose by a frightening 89.9 percent compared to the same period of 2021.

Written by Zhar Zardykhan

Rank-and-filer Ichinojo won his first title on Sunday at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament with 12 wins and three losses.

Ichinojo and Yokozuna Grand Champion Terunofuji were tied with 11 wins before the final day.

Ichinojo beat Ura on the final day, while Terunofuji lost to Ozeki Champion Takakeisho in the final bout.

Ichinojo became the first wrestler from the Hiramaku group, the lowest of the five ranks in the top Makunouchi division, to win a championship since Daieisho at the January 2021 tournament.

Ichinojo also became the eighth Mongolian-born wrestler from the Makunouchi division to win a title.

He did not take part in the last tournament because of a coronavirus infection.

Ichinojo maintained his style of pushing while grabbing his opponent's belt with his left hand throughout the tournament, and beat Terunofuji on the fifth day.

SEOUL: Southeast Asia is becoming a new battleground for South Korean convenience store chains, with local brands rushing to open stores in countries such as Malaysia and Vietnam.

Local convenience store chain GS25’s operator, GS Retail, said Monday it has joined hands with Malaysian retail conglomerate KK Group to make forays into the Malaysian market, reported Yonhap news agency.

KK Group operates 610 KK Mart convenience stores in Malaysia and owns other businesses, such as hotels and resorts.

The two companies will open their first GS25 convenience store in Malaysia next year, under a “master franchise deal” where KK Group pays royalty fees to operate GS25 stores in the Southeast Asian country.

Their goal is to further expand the number of GS25 stores to 500 over the next five years, it said.

Malaysia is GS25’s third entry overseas, after Vietnam and Mongolia.

Southeast Asia is seen as a promising market for local convenience store operators due to its relatively young population and rapidly growing fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.

South Korea’s largest convenience store chain by the number of stores, BGF Retail, recently opened its 100th CU store in Malaysia’s southern state of Perak and plans to increase the number to 500 within the next five years.

Emart 24, the fourth-largest local player by the number of stores, also operates 20 stores in Malaysia.

Competition is heating up in Mongolia as well.

CU operates 225 stores in Mongolia as of June this year. Its competitor GS25 operates 70 stores there since its entry last May. - Bernama

China’s C919 narrow-body jet, the country’s first domestically designed commercial passenger aircraft, is nearing certification, having successfully passed test-flight tasks, state-owned manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) said on its official social media account on Saturday, as cited by Reuters.

According to the manufacturer, six test planes successfully finished their tasks and the aircraft is now ready to receive a flight certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, which is necessary for commercial operations.

Beijing launched the C919 aircraft program back in 2008, but it faced a flood of regulatory and technical setbacks, including US export controls. While the plane is assembled in China, the C919 relies on Western components, such as flight controls and jet engines. Production started in 2011, and the first prototype was ready in 2015.

The first C919 is expected to be delivered to state-owned China Eastern Airlines in August. The airline placed an order for five C919 jets back in March 2021.

The C919 was designed to rival Europe’s Airbus 320neo and the US Boeing 737 MAX planes. However, this may prove difficult, as Airbus has a strong presence in the country (142 planes were delivered to Chinese companies in 2021 alone), and the Boeing 737 MAX was cleared to operate in China again earlier this year after two fatal crashes grounded the plane in 2019. At least 100 MAX planes are expected to be delivered to Chinese carriers this year.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the U.S. U.Batbayar visited George Mason University and met with the university’s Presidential Chief of Staff Ken Walsh.

While expressing gratitude to George Mason University for implementing the 2+2 program in cooperation with the Mongolian University of Science and Technology, the Ambassador discussed the ways to effectively implement this program. The sides also agreed to implement the university’s scholarship program in Mongolia and involve Mongolian students in the 3+2 program.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of George Mason University. 40,000 students study in the university’s four branches in Fairfax, Arlington, Manassas, and Incheon, South Korea.