Otgontsetseg “Otgo” Erhemjamts, (Mongolian) a finance professor and former associate dean of business at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., will be the new dean of USF’s School of Management, beginning July 1.

Otgontsetseg “Otgo” ErhemjamtsA first-generation immigrant to this country, Erhemjamts in 2005 was the first Mongolian student to earn a doctorate in finance in the United States.

“Otgo is passionate about education access and equity and has a deep understanding of the obstacles and opportunities for many of our students,” Provost Chinyere Oparah said.

Erhemjamts has worked in higher education for two decades.

During her time at Bentley, she oversaw the launch of 10 graduate certificate programs, addressed gender inequities in tenure and promotion policies, and co-chaired a committee that addressed systemic racial barriers at Bentley.

“I am thrilled and honored to be joining University of San Francisco,” Erhemjamts said. “I am truly impressed with its explicit commitment to social justice, betterment of the community, and to educating students to be socially and morally responsible. I very much look forward to collaborating with faculty, students, librarians, staff, administrators, alumni, and community partners within the School of Management and across the university.”

At Bentley, Erhemjamts mentored students who launched a student-led sustainable investment fund at Bentley that currently manages $660,000 of the institution’s endowment funds.

Erhemjamts is a published scholar whose research interests are banking, corporate finance, risk management and insurance, sustainable investing, and corporate social responsibility. Co-author of two finance textbooks used in undergraduate and MBA programs around the world, she is in the top 10 percent of authors whose work has been downloaded on the SSRN, a repository of published research formerly known as Social Science Research Network.

As co-principal investigator on a $2.4 million National Science Foundation grant, Erhemjamts is working to broaden the fusion of STEM and business curricula in undergraduate sustainability education.

Erhemjamts succeeds Charles Moses, who has been dean of the School of Management since June 2020 after joining USF as interim dean in 2019. Moses is heading to University of Pacific as dean of the Eberhardt School of Business.

Know-how from tech powerhouse Estonia has helped Mongolia carry out its digital transformation at impressive speed: part of a wider effort to diversify the Mongolian economy away from mining.

That the Covid-19 pandemic sped up the process of digitalisation across the world, across multiple sectors and geographies, is no longer a secret.

From primary healthcare to the delivery of public services, the pandemic served as a wake-up call for all stakeholders – governments, businesses, individuals – that digitalisation can help society become more resilient and better able to cope with challenges and threats such as Covid-19.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in Mongolia, the vast country of just 3.28 million people sandwiched between Russia and China.

Its own process of digital transformation, which began before the pandemic struck, allowed the authorities in Ulaanbaatar to cope extremely well with Covid-19 – it was one of the first countries in the world to fully reopen – but was also given a push by the need to ensure that ordinary people could access vital services online.

“We didn’t waste the opportunity that the pandemic offered us,” says Bolor-Erdene Battsengel, Mongolia’s state secretary for digital transformation.

Battsengel, who joined the government in 2020 after a decade in the development sector, at organisations including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, is spearheading Mongolia’s digital transformation with energy and vigour, and a recognition that the country’s future prosperity depends on the creation of a truly digital society.

She is one of several young, internationally-educated leaders “headhunted” – as she puts it – by the Mongolian People’s party after it won a majority in parliament in an election in 2020.

“I joined the government for a reason: e-Mongolia,” Battsengel tells Emerging Europe on the sidelines of the Mongolian Economic Forum in Ulaanbaatar, a private sector initiative first held in 2013 that offers a a platform for business, academics, think tanks, and individuals to communicate with the government.

“I wanted to cut out all of the human interaction between the citizen and the state. Within three months we launched e-Mongolia, initially with 181 services online. Then Covid-19 happened, and we used the lockdown smartly, adding more services but also encouraging citizens to use them. By the end of the lockdown we had about 90 per cent of the population using e-Mongolia, and 650 public services available.”

Mongolians can now set up a new business online, order a new passport, a new ID card, a driving license. Last year five fundamental laws were passed, covering open data sharing, personal data protection, cyber security, digital signatures, and digital assets.

“Now, if a government employee checks a citizen’s data, the citizen is notified by e-Mongolia. It’s totally transparent,” adds Battsengel, who is particularly proud of the fact that even people in the most remote parts of the vast country have access to digital services.

Lessons from Estonia

If it all sounds a lot like Estonia, the global pioneer and still champion of digital public services, there’s a good reason for that: the Baltic state’s e-Estonia model was the blueprint for Mongolia’s digital transformation.

“Estonia’s model is universal,” says Hannes Astok, executive director at the e-Governance Academy (eGA), a non-profit foundation set up by the Estonian government in 2002, in partnership with the Open Society Institute, and the United Nations Development Programme, that assists public sector institutions worldwide in digital transformation.

“Our model is universal because it relies on principles such as ‘once only’ data, decentralised databases, and citizen ownership of data that work well in both small and big countries. It is suitable for all governments,” Astok, also present at the Mongolia Economic Forum, tells Emerging Europe.

In the 20 years since it was set up, the eGA has worked with more than 130 countries around the world. The partnership usually starts with study visits to Estonia to see how it all works, before moving on to policy development, technical architecture development, procurement, implementation assistance and quality assurance. “Governments can select what they need,” says Astok.

Of the many success stories about which the eGA can boast, one of the most recent is Ukraine, where digital government has been one of the cornerstones of its resilience in the face of Russia’s invasion.

“For many of the people who have been forced to flee abroad, as well as internally displaced people within Ukraine, the Diia smartphone app has been the only way that they can prove their identity or access public services,” he adds. “We were heavily involved in its implementation.”

Political will

In Mongolia, Astok says that the digital transformation is helped by the fact that it is being driven from the top, by the country’s prime minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrain, who visited Estonia in 2019 when he was cabinet secretary and “became a big fan”.

“In each and every country, the political will has to be there in order to push through the transformation,” Astok says. “Here we find the momentum that is needed to make it work.”

Mongolia’s plans for digitalisation go way beyond the delivery of public services through an app, however.

Bolor-Erdene Battsengel says that Mongolia wants to become a digital nation as part of a wider push to diversify the economy, a landmark programme known as the New Recovery Policy, which has set a target of six per cent average growth for the next decade. That needs more foreign investment, something she says the country is ready for.

“We are currently working on creating an ICT Free Zone, which is important if we want to attract foreign companies. It’s both a framework – such as tax exemptions – but also a physical location, in Khushigtiin Khundii,” she says.

Khushigtiin Khundii (also known internationally as Maidar City) is a new, planned, environmentally-friendly city south of Ulaanbaatar to which much of the Mongolian government – including Battsengel’s ministry – will be moving.

A bridge to Russia and China

“A lot of companies have told me that they are interested in Mongolia because it can be a bridge to Russia and China. They have been reaching out to us, saying that if we have a friendlier business environment then they can expand into Russia and China from Mongolia. The ICT Free Zone is about creating that friendlier environment for IT firms, start-ups in particular, while also supporting local Mongolian companies.”

Firms investing in IT in Mongolia will need talent, of which Battsengel assures Emerging Europe there is plenty.

“We are not short of talent, despite our small population. We graduate about 50,000 IT students each year, but we also have a number of coding and software development programmes for young people,” she says.

“I always tell people that Mongolia is a hidden gem. It is a hidden technology gem that is booming now. Investors need to get in early to find the best opportunities, so what I am telling people is to come and take a look, check us out.

“Our economy used to be all about mining. Technology offers Mongolia a second chance. That’s what I am working to achieve.”

Mongolia is ramping up its efforts to supply raw material such as coking coal and copper to China in 2022 after a lackluster trade in 2021, as it expands its mining sector and boosts its transport network, said Batnairamdal Otgonshar, Vice-Minister at Mongolia’s Mining and Heavy Industry Ministry.

Mongolia is a key metallurgical coal and copper concentrates suppliers to China, with most of the trade happening through trucks. Mongolian truck suppliers in 2021 faced severe logistics issues in hauling shipments from land ports to China due to the pandemic-led restrictions at border crossings.

Mongolia is looking to launch three railway lines this year, which will bring the country’s mining sector to a whole new level, Otgonshar said in an interview with S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Railway shipments will be much convenient, cost-effective, and safer with less human contact amid COVID-19 border restrictions compared to trucks, once the rail networks come online, Otgonshar said.

Suppliers will use the new railway lines to ship coking coal and copper concentrates.

The Tavantolgoi-Gashuunsukhait railway line will come online in July, with 75% of the project complete so far, the minister said.

Meanwhile, construction on Zuunbayan-Khangi/Mandal railway lines started in March, and the country is aiming to start their operations later this year, Otgonshar said.

Copper concentrates

Transportation of Mongolia’s Erdenet copper concentrate through China’s Erenhot rail port was disrupted through December 2021 to January, due to China’s zero-COVID control policy.

Mongolian government is watching the logistics issue closely, Otgonshar said.

Despite transportation challenges, Mongolia still managed to export 335,000 mt of copper concentrates to China in the first quarter of this year, already meeting 25.6% of its annual target, he said.

Mongolia would just focus on China market as transportation costs for other markets are very high, and China’s market is big enough to absorb Mongolia’s increasing production, the minister added.

Copper concentrate from the Oyu Tolgoi mine was sold to Japanese and Korean smelters previously as a trial, according to market sources.

Mongolia exported 1.2 million mt of copper concentrates to China in 2021, accounting for 5.1% of China’s copper concentrate purchases, the minister said.

Mongolia is advancing its mining industry capabilities and the country has the potential to become the world’s fifth-largest copper player by 2030, Otgonshar said.

This is expected to happen following a major ramp-up of the Oyu Tolgoi mine, as full production is expected to reach in the next few years, Otgonshar added.

Oyu Tolgoi, in the South Gobi region of Mongolia, is one of the largest known copper and gold deposits in the world and it is expected to be the world’s fourth largest copper mine.

Mongolia has developed skills in running mines over the past 30 years and now it is time to move to the next level, going to more value-added processing, Otgonshar said.

The government is planning to build up a copper smelter in Erdenet mine by 2025-2026 while another copper smelter at the Oyu Tolgoi mine is also under discussion, the minister said.

Overcoming past hurdles, the Mongolian government reached an agreement with Rio Tinto and Oyu Tolgoi in January to commence underground mining operation.

As the government and Rio Tinto has resolved binding constraints, they can focus on production, processing concentrates, and produce more value-added products, Otgonshar said.

Oyu Tolgoi is expected to produce around 500,000 mt of copper per year on an average from 2028 to 2036 from the open pit and underground operations, according to Rio Tinto. An average of around 350,000 mt of copper is expected to be produced from the operations for further five years. The mine produced 163,000 mt in 2021.

Coking coal

China’s coking coal supplies were strained last year at a time of huge demand as Mongolian supplies struggled due to border restrictions.

Meanwhile, shipments from Australia — China’s traditional coal supplier — remained largely absent in 2021 due to an unofficial ban, sparking volatility in coking coal prices for most part of the year.

Platts assessed premium low-vol hard coking coal CFR China more than doubled to $615/mt in October 2021 from January 2021 level, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data.

Given the price increase in coking coal, it shows more demand for the product in China, Otgonshar said.

Mongolia is aiming to make a big comeback in China’s coking coal markets in 2022.

There was enough demand for Mongolia’s coking coal from China and many buyers showed increasing interests to buy more coking coal and thermal coal, even though the border challenge issues remained, Otgonshar said.

Mongolia is ready to export as much as they could to meet the demand in China, and hopefully the border issues will improve over the time, the minister added.

Transportation of Mongolian coking coal to China slowed down significantly from more than 2,000 trucks per day in 2020 to current 200-300 trucks per day.

Mongolia is looking to export 36.7 million mt of coking coal to China this year, Otgonshar said.

If realized, Mongolian shipments in 2022 would post a 161% jump from 2021 level. The country exported 14.04 million mt of coking coal to China in 2021, accounting for a quarter of China’s total imports.

RAPID CITY, S.D. — A delegation of prosecutors from Mongolia visited city hall Tuesday afternoon as part of an exchange program hosted by the Dacotah Territory International Visitor Program, a non-profit organization founded in Rapid City in 1995.

The program promotes global understanding through professional, cultural and educational person-to-person exchanges with international visitors and local citizens.

Mayor Steve Allender greeted the delegation and spent nearly an hour with the group in Council Chambers.

“I enjoy meeting our international visitors,” said Mayor Allender. “It’s great these groups come to Rapid City and the Black Hills for a few days to learn about Rapid City, our area and the state. We get to share experiences – they learn from us, and we from them.”

The group visited informally about how city government operates, the work of law enforcement in the community, how city government and operations are financed and supported by citizens, the roles of mayor, city council and the various departments and staff, and how life is similar and different in Mongolia versus Rapid City.

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The group presented Mayor Allender a gift from Mongolia and the mayor presented city pins to each member of the Mongolian delegation. The group spent two days last week in Washington, DC and is spending the week in South Dakota.

The trip includes visits to the local court system and with state and local court officials and attorneys.

The end of 2021 saw Mongolia’s State Great Khural (parliament) ratify the ‘New Revival’ policy. As the COVID-19 pandemic led to Mongolia’s largest economic contraction since 1990 (-5.3%), the policy aims to ensure political and macroeconomic stability, accelerate public-private partnerships, create a favourable business environment, further open up the state to foreign and domestic investment, and implement fiscal reforms.

The policy’s implementation is also expected to establish a path in which the Vision 2050 policy goals can be achieved. Overall, the policy identifies six ‘recovery’ areas, which are Port, Energy, Industrial, Urban and Rural, Green Growth, and State Productivity recovery. Each of these recovery areas aim to overcome obstacles that limit Mongolia’s development.

This New Revival Policy presents opportunities to further develop EU-Mongolian trade and investment ties, building on Mongolia’s participation in the GSP+ Scheme (General Scheme of Preferences Plus), and the 2017 ratification of the EU-Mongolia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA). Specifically, the policy’s plan to expand Mongolia’s Free Economic Zones (FEZs), as well as improve domestic transport and sustainable energy sources provide the EU with opportunities to invest in, and aid Mongolia to achieve goals set out in the New Revival and Vision 2050 policies. For instance, the Green Growth strategy’s Billion Tree initiative provides opportunities to collaborate with Mongolia in combating desertification, as well as for the EU to invest in new streams of employment in the agricultural and forestry sectors. Moreover, given Mongolia’s GSP+ beneficiary status, which provides them duty-free exports on 66% of listed goods to the EU, the revival policy also presents opportunities for Mongolian businesses to expand their presence in the EU market and for EU businesses to expand their operations in Mongolia.

This Op-ed will analyse the New Revival policy and the key policies of each of the recovery areas. It will also look into how the EU can further invest in Mongolia, taking a focus on the mining and energy sectors, as well as on green development.

The New Revival Policy: A Post-Pandemic Renaissance

The New Revival policy aims to encourage Mongolia’s post-pandemic recovery by opening up the country to domestic and foreign investment. Such builds on the Vision 2050 policy, which aims to enhance Mongolia’s ‘social development, economic growth and its citizens’ quality of life’ by 2050. The Vision 2050 policy aims to achieve this by reducing poverty, creating a greener economy, improving the quality of education, and improving job access and equality for women. During the 2021 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), President Khürelsükh announced Mongolia’s aim to implement the Billion Tree initiative, which was then included in the New Revival policy. Then in December 2021, Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene outlined how the New Revival policy’s full implementation would see Mongolia’s GDP double, and the creation of a further 285,000 jobs by 2025. Moreover, he articulated how the policy would also see a doubling of the state’s energy capacity, and a tripling of dry port, land (border) port and airport capacity. Although the policy’s implementation is set to cost 100-120 trillion MNT (33-40 billion USD), he also argued that the policy’s outcome would see an improvement in Mongolians’ living standards, an increase in better-paying jobs in rural areas, and that the generated income will facilitate other developmental projects in the state.

Having attracted investment from China, Japan, and Kuwait, the Port Revival policy aims to increase the capacity of Mongolia’s dry ports, land ports and airports, and improve the state’s transport infrastructure. Such is to encourage inter-regional competition and facilitate international trade. This policy includes the expansion of the Mongolian railway and highway network, as well as plans to further expand airport capacity. The rail expansion plans include the construction of railroads at the Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod and Shiveekhuren-Sekhee border checkpoints (Figure 1), as well as plans to construct cross country railways, such as the 1200km western Artssuuri-Nariinsukhait, Shiveekuren railway, and the eastern 420km Choibalsan-Khuut, Bichigt railway (figure 1).

The highway expansion includes the plan to build the 987 km Altanbulag, Zamiin-Uud highway which aims to connect Chinese and Russian border ports by road (Figure 2). Moreover, the airport expansions include the new Kuwait-funded Undurkhaan Airport, and the Deluun Boldog Airport, both of which are still under construction. This has been further coupled with the expansion of free economic zones (FEZ), such as the recent commissioning of the Khushig Valley FEZ.

The improvement in transport infrastructure feeds into the Industrial Revival strategy. This strategy aims to diversify Mongolia’s export market through the establishment of more value-added mining and agricultural processing plants (such as the Tavan Tolgoi coal concentrator, and Erdenet copper plant). Moreover, it also aims to expand their digital economy by creating a talent base, so as to develop science-based industries such as that surrounding digital innovation, artificial intelligence, and blockchain.

The Energy Revival strategy aims to integrate Mongolia into regional energy networks, and reduce their reliance on energy imports. Such includes the development of a high voltage transmission line which will connect Mongolia and Russia into the Northeast Asian Super Grid (Figure 3),as well as the construction of the Soyuz-Vostok gas pipeline from Russia through Mongolia to China (Figure 4). The policy also aims to commission new thermal plants and develop energy infrastructure in Mongolia, and invest into less polluting sources of energy, such as hydropower. This feeds into Mongolia’s Green Growth strategy, which aims to promote eco-friendly development through maintaining a ‘balanced ecosystem.’ Such includes the Blue Horse national program, which despite previous controversies surrounding its plans to flood the UNESCO world heritage site ‘Landscapes of Dauria’, the program aims to improve the national supply of drinking water and water for irrigation. Moreover, it also aims to revive dried lakes, ponds and rivers, and transport water to the Gobi region through the construction of dams and reservoirs. The Green Growth strategy also includes the Billion Tree initiative, of which aims to increase total national forest cover by 9% by 2030, the building of recycling plants, as well as the use of advanced sustainable technologies in aimags (provinces) and Ulaanbaator.

The Urban and Rural Revival strategy aims to encourage rural development and take the pressure away from cities, such as Ulaanbaatar. As its success depends on the successful implementation of the Port, Energy, and Industrial Revival strategies, the policy will encourage aimags to develop their own projects under the New Revival policy, and will aim to develop their centres as independent cities. Such will reduce urbanisation pressures on Ulaanbaatar, thus reducing the capital’s pollution and traffic congestion levels. The State Productivity Revival policy aims to improve the efficiency of the government by digitalising services, strengthening penalties for corruption and official crimes, and streamlining the administrative structures and government organisations by transferring functions to the private sector and professional associations.

What Can the EU do?

Mongolia has been a beneficiary of the EU’s GSP+ scheme (General Scheme of Preferences Plus) since 2005, and the EU is their third largest trading partner. Moreover, the EU has heavily invested into Mongolia, funding over 150 million EUR into development cooperation projects between 2015 and 2020. Such projects include areas such as the environment and sustainable energy (95 million EUR), mining and infrastructure (42 million EUR), and education, science, culture and health initiatives (21.6 million EUR). The EU TRAM Scheme (Trade Related Assistance for Mongolia) also works with the Mongolian government and businesses to diversify their exports through a value chain development approach, aid them to negotiate and implement trade policies, as well as improve the competitiveness of non-mineral products. This is all whilst ensuring that standards are adhered to by introducing international best practices in trade facilitation. Moreover, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has invested over 827 million EUR into the state over the past year, of which 71% (587 million EUR) went into industrial, commercial and agribusiness projects. With such high levels of cooperation, the New Revival’s policies offer even greater opportunities for investment and collaboration between the EU and Mongolia, in particular in mining and energy sectors, as well as in green development.

Mongolia is a mineral-rich country, and the EU invests heavily into sustainable development and trade within the mining sector. Germany, as an example, has a large presence in Mongolia, investing into initiatives promoting the sustainable development of the sector, such as the Integrated Mineral Resources Initiative (IMRI), as well as into initiatives which promote job and skills training, such as the establishment of the German Mongolian Institute for Resource and Technology in Ulaanbaatar, which offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs in engineering. Moreover, the German copper producer Aurubis also signed a 15-year purchase agreement with the Mongolian company MAK in 2016. This agreement will supply 150,000 tons of copper concentrate produced at the Tsagaansuvarga mine to Aurubis.

The Port Revival strategy aims to develop the Free Economic Zones (FEZ) and domestic transport networks through connecting mining sites to both border ports and FEZ and transport hubs. This will allow the EU to further expand their presence in the mining sector, and will also offer the EU opportunities to aid Mongolia in diversifying their export market, especially in the value-added sectors. The recent establishment of the Khushig Valley FEZ will offer VAT and custom-free imports and zero VAT on domestic goods transported to the area. Moreover, its close proximity to the capital city and the New Ulaanbaatar international airport will provide businesses access to the global import and export markets, as well as to the capital’s talent. In aiding Mongolia to work towards the aims of the Industrial and Urban-Rural strategies, the EU could invest into the FEZ, opening value-added mining plants for the export market, and in the case of the Khushig Valley, use their close access to Ulaanbaatar to draw and train local talent. Given Mongolia’s GSP+ status, investment into the FEZs could further aid their export diversification in the mining and agricultural sectors, and expand the amount they export to the EU. Such would be in line with the EU’s Multi-Indicative Programme in Mongolia, and could be bolstered through investments into local infrastructure. Although the EU must take actions to limit the industry’s impact on the environment, such investments would both aid Mongolia in working to become economically independent, as well as further enhance EU-Mongolian ties.

The EU could further invest in projects which aim to reduce energy production and energy uses’ inefficiencies, as well as collaborate with the state and other institutions to fund green energy. At present, the EU funds initiatives such as the ‘Efficiency of Grid-based Energy Supply Schemes’ project (ENEV), which works to improve the energy efficiency of public buildings, and initiatives to improve and modernise technology in power plants. Although many of the newly commissioned thermal plants have received funding from other states, such as South Korea and China, the EU could work to invest into upgrading existing and new plants with technology that reduces consumption inefficiencies, as well as into building more energy efficient plants in import dependent regions, such as those in the western transmission system. Such would have the potential to aid Mongolia to reduce their reliance on energy imports, as well as reduce costs of energy production.

In aiding the state’s green energy transition, the EU could collaborate with the Mongolian government in harnessing their renewable energy source potential. Mongolia has a solar and wind potential that is equivalent to 2,600GW of installed capacity annually, of which meets their domestic energy demands (1.2GW in 2018). As underlined by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), it has not been harnessed due to poor flexible generation, and that the ‘market lacks the system to provide regulation or ancillary service in an efficient manner.’ The ADB has worked to combat this issue by loaning Mongolia 100 million USD to fund the installation of a battery energy storage system (BESS). As underlined by the ADB, This system will have a capacity of 125 MW/160MWh and will ‘supply clean peaking power that is charged by renewable energy electricity and provide regulation reserve to integrate additional renewable energy capacity in the transmission grid.’ The BESS system is estimated to reduce Mongolia’s CO2 emissions by 842,039 tons per year by 2025, and will provide 859GWh of renewable electricity into the central grid annually. Given that France’s energy conglomerate, Engie, already operates a 55 MW wind farm in Sainshand, the EU could further build on such expertise and expand their presence in the country, and collaborate with the Mongolian government in developing their solar and wind energy capacities through the export of solar panels and wind turbines. In ensuring the sector’s development, this could be supported by skills training initiatives. This would both develop a workforce in this sector, as well as aid Mongolia in working to balance urban-rural development by offering high paying jobs outside of urban centres.

With regard to the Green Growth strategy, the EU could also invest into Mongolia’s Billion Tree initiative, as well as support work in the forestry sector. At present, due to high amounts of forest fires, unsustainable forestry and mining activities, and overgrazing, Mongolia is described as the world’s desertification hotspot, with over 90% of the state’s land being at risk. Whilst the Billion Tree national initiative has attracted the support of 300 companies in Ulaanbaatar and has seen Mongolia’s forested area increase by 0.2% between 2016 and 2021 (national forest cover at 8%), there are still criticisms that the initiative remains understaffed. This is especially important as trees require a high amount of care following being planted, and, due to Mongolia’s harsh climate, ongoing special care to ensure their growth and protection. Although Defence Minister Saikhanbayar has underlined that the armed forces will aid in caring for the trees, the state has also articulated their interest in bolstering the sector and opening it up for investment.

As the EU has invested into environmental protection projects in Mongolia, such as Germany’s ‘Protecting Mongolia’s Unique Biodiversity’ initiative, and the Czech Republic’s funding of the ‘Development of Forest and the Gene Pool of Local Forest Tree Ecotypes,’ the EU could both supply seeds for the initiative, as well as invest into further developing skills training in the forestry and agricultural management sectors. Skills training in the short term would foster a talent pool which would protect and aid the forests’ development, and in the long term, would diversify and open up new opportunities in the forestry sector, such as in green tourism. Investments into agricultural management would help improve farming practices, and thus limit the impact which overgrazing has on desertification. Such investments would not only aid Mongolia to reach the goals set out in the Green Growth recovery, but would also bridge their urban-rural development gap by providing high salaried jobs in rural areas.

Ultimately, the New Revival policy both paves a path for Mongolia’s recovery from the pandemic, as well as aids them in becoming economically independent. Although the policy seemingly does not address issues surrounding poverty, a key issue in Mongolia, it nonetheless provides a clear path for social and economic development. Given the sheer amount of investment opportunities this policy offers, the EU should actively consider investing into Mongolia as a means of strengthening bilateral ties, encouraging trade in the mining and energy sectors, as well as in aiding forestry development. Although considerations must be taken surrounding the conditions and the nature of the investment, this policy has the potential to further expand and diversify Mongolia’s export market to the EU under the GSP+ system, and enable EU companies to expand their operations in Mongolia.

Author: Matt Bonini, EIAS Junior Researcher

Mongolian commercial banks have imposed limitations on foreign-exchange transactions amid the country's dwindling forex reserves due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Mongolia's forex reserves fell to 3.3 billion U.S. dollars as of Tuesday, down 1.2 billion dollars from the end of 2021, Atarbaatar Enkhjin, head of the reserve management and financial markets department of the Bank of Mongolia, said in a statement.

The decline in forex reserves is likely the result of a 40-percent increase in imports since the beginning of this year, and COVID-19 restrictions have prevented the country from exporting much of its coal, its main export product, despite the high prices of raw materials in the world market.

"Also, due to the situation between Russia and Ukraine that began in late February, the uncertainty of the external environment is deteriorating beyond our expectations. Due to this, there is a certain pressure on the forex reserves and the exchange rate of the Mongolian Tugriks," Enkhjin said.

Mongolia's forex reserves stood at 4.9 billion dollars at the end of April 2021, hitting an all-time high, according to the central bank.

Since the beginning of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on Feb. 24, Mongolian commercial banks have begun to impose unexpected limitations on the daily volume of transactions of U.S. dollars.

The central bank explained that limiting U.S.-dollar transactions was not made by the Bank of Mongolia but by commercial banks themselves due to the lack of foreign exchange supply in the market.

A month ago, a daily limit of 50 million Mongolian tugriks (about 16,550 dollars) was imposed on foreign currency transactions for individuals. The amount then dropped sharply to 30 million and continued to fall to the current limit of 300,000 tugriks (about 99.3 dollars).

Mongolia exported 2.52 million tonnes of coal during the first three months of 2022, down 62.18% year on year, showed the latest data from the Mongolian Customs General Administration (MCGA).

The exports were worth $676 million in January-March, down 1.9% year on year.

MCGA didn't release the specific figure for March, yet Sxcoal calculated the exports at 1.23 million tonnes based on the overall exports published by the customs authority, down 42.83% year on year but up 81.99% month on month, registering the third consecutive month of rise.

The exports were worth $349 million in March, with average price at $284.76/t, rising $172.10/t year on year and $13.49/t month on month.

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Mongolia exported 2.34 million tonnes of coal to China from January to March, dropping 62.51% year on year, taking up 93% of the total.

In March, exports to China declined 44.50% year on year but rose 80.18% month on month to 1.13 million tonnes, taking up 92% of the total. The exports were worth $323 million, with average price at $285.14/t, up $174.64/t year on year and $12.03/t month on month.

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Mongolia's exports of bituminous coal declined 62.00% year on year to 2.49 million tonnes over January-March; that of anthracite were 35,900 tonnes, compared with zero a year ago; and other coal exports fell to zero, compared with 126,900 tonnes a year earlier.

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In March, Mongolia's bituminous coal exports stood at 1.21 million tonnes, down 42.27% year on year but up 81.94% month on month; exports of anthracite stood at 19,300 tonnes, rising 85.32% year on year; other coal exports were null in March, compared with 54,300 tonnes a year ago.

(Writing by Lilya Li Editing by Tammy Yang)

Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) saw its Kamoa-Kakula copper mining complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) hit a new production record in the first quarter of this year, with 55,602 tonnes in the period.

The Canadian miner, which kicked off production at the asset last year, said the operation also reached a monthly all-time-high of 19,605 tonnes of copper produced in March.

Commercial production of the 3.8-million-tonne-a-year Phase 2 concentrator plant at Kamoa-Kakula was declared last week, Ivanhoe said. This pushed daily output to a fresh high on April 8, with 25,126 tonnes milled and 1,202 tonnes of copper produced.

The company is confident the early commissioning of the Phase 2 concentrator plant will enable Kamoa Copper to reach the upper end of its 2022 copper production guidance of 290,000 to 340,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate.

The Phase 3 expansion is also advancing, Ivanhoe said, with first copper production expected by the end of 2024.

Co-chairperson Robert Friedland, who made his fortune from the Voisey’s Bay nickel project in Canada in the 1990s, believes the complex will become the world’s second-largest copper mine with the highest grades among major operations.

The Vancouver-based company has also vowed to produce the industry’s “greenest” copper, as it works to become the first net-zero operational carbon emitter among the world’s top-tier copper producers. Friedland has not set a target date for achieving that goal.

Construction work of a 25MW thermal plant will begin this May in Uliastai soum of Zavkhan aimag.

Within the framework of the government’s New Revival Policy, thermal plants with capacity of 25MW, 30MW and 5MW are planned to be built in Uliastai, Tosontsengel and Aldarkhaan soums respectively.

This year, it is also expected to have large construction works including ‘Arts suuri - Shivee khuren’ railroad, 167km auto road from Numrug and Tuduvtei soums to Arts suuri border crossing, 190 km auto road between Altai and Uliastai soums as well as wastewater treatment plant in Uliastai soum.

Zavkhan aimag receives more than 70 percent of its energy from central energy grid and 30 percent from the Taishir hydropower plant. The construction of abovementioned facilities will have a significant impact on the aimag’s economy and livelihoods, creating opportunities for SMEs development.

The Ministry of Digital Development and Communications of Mongolia and the e-Governance Academy signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 8 April to support the digital transformation of Mongolia.

The MoU was signed by B. Bolor-Erdene, State Secretary of the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications, and Hannes Astok, Executive Director of the e-Governance Academy.

The memorandum covers the following activities:

Digital skills improvement of civil servants responsible for the digital transformation of the government

Exchange of experience in introducing new, innovative and advanced technologies,

Support the development of the digital transformation strategies and e-government regulatory models

Improvement of the interoperability between main registers and databases

Re-design of e-services, development of digital identity and digital signature, and e-government financing framework

Cyber security capacity building

The collaboration with the Government of Mongolia started in 2020 with consultations on the e-government related policy development, the interoperability between public registers and databases and citizens’ digital awareness raising. Moreover, eGA experts compiled recommendations to the partner organisation (CITA) on key activities for further digital transformation.