On August 9, Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene received UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who is on an official visiting to Mongolia.

At the outset of the meeting, the PM said he is glad to meet him again in Mongolia after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

PM said, “During the Olympic Games in Beijing, we discussed with you about hydropower plant to be built on the Eg River, which is the first important hydropower plant project of our country. Construction work for this project began in 2016 with a USD1 billion soft loan from China, but the work was put on hold due to Russia’s complaint filed with the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. However, studies conducted in the past have shown that this project will not have a negative impact on the water regime and resources of the Selenge River and Lake Baikal in Russia. In addition, our country announced an international tender. A French company is conducting a biological impact assessment. The results of the assessments and studies will be presented at the meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee next year. If the Committee issues a decision, it will become possible to continue the project”.

He asked Mr. Guterres for active support in resolving the problem of this project, which will play a crucial role in ensuring Mongolia's energy security.

In turn, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed that developing countries should not be in energy dependency. Therefore, in this regard, the UN is ready to provide policy support by familiarizing with the results of the studies at the 46th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. He also commended the Mongolian government for digitalizing its public services and making progress on e-governance to reduce the corruption index.

The Mongolian government aims to become a ‘digital nation’. In this context, the government intends to involve at least 90 percent of public services in a unified platform ‘E-Mongolia’ by 2024. The ‘New Revival Policy’ proposed by the government aims to decentralize the urban population, develop rural areas, and create new jobs.

At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed that the UN will conduct an assessment on urban and rural areas’ concentration.

Greens Party leader Adam Bandt has warned the Australian government needs to start moving away from coal exports to prop up its bottom line, saying net zero goals in major trade partners will cut into fossil fuel earnings.

Bandt said three of Australia’s biggest export markets for thermal coal — Japan, South Korea and Taiwan — had all pledged to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 or 2060. The process to decarbonize their economies to meet those targets would act as a “deadline” for Australian coal exports, he added.

“It’s going to be increasingly untenable for the government to maintain its desire to keep opening new coal and gas projects,” Bandt said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

The Greens Party has a significant number of senators in Australia’s upper house, making Bandt’s support vital to passing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s policy agenda. Since he was elected in May, Albanese has attempted to push greater climate action in Australia, including increasing emission cuts targets to 43% by 2030 and rolling out a strategy for greater use of electric vehicles.

However, Australia’s economy is heavily reliant on its mining and minerals exports, with the trade surplus hitting a record high in August off the back of strong growth in the resource sector. Coal is forecast to generate about A$104 billion ($73 billion) of export earnings in the year through June 30.

Australia is the world’s largest exporter of metallurgical coal and the second largest exporter of thermal coal.

Bandt has called on Albanese to go further in his action on climate change, including committing to end all new coal and gas mines in Australia. Albanese’s rejection of a moratorium on new fossil fuel projects is undermining his government’s promise of bolder decarbonization policies, according to campaigners.

“These weak targets could be blown out of the water in the next 12 months or so as the government approves some very big coal and gas projects that are on the books in Australia at the moment,” Bandt said.

(By Ben Westcott)

The 44th World Chess Olympiad was held in Chennai, India from July 28 to August 9, in which Mongolian chess players showed outstanding results.

In specific, a 17-year-old B. Mungunzul, chess player of the Khangarid sports club of Orkhon aimag, achieved a record in the chess sports history of Mongolia by winning a gold medal at the World Chess Olympiad.

Also, international master T. Munkhzul was awarded the prestigious title of international grandmaster among women while B.Nyamdavaa was granted a title of international judge.

In the 44th World Chess Olympiad, men’s team of Mongolia took 35th place out of 188 countries, with 6 wins, 2 draws, and 3 losses. In women’s category, national women’s team won 15th out of 162 countries, with 7 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses.

N. Gaprindashvili Trophy, created by FIDE in 1997, is given to the teams with the best combined performance in the Open and Women’s tournaments according to the sum of their positions in both results tables. According to the sum of men’s and women’s team results, the Mongolian Chess Federation ranked 24th in the world.

In a wood-paneled office Mongolia’s prime minister, Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, sits in front of a gilt framed painting that depicts a warrior and fawn. “It’s called Hero Going to War, by the Mongolian painter Otgontuvden Badam,” explains the chief of staff. But, sandwiched between Russia and China, the last thing Mongolia needs is war or heroics of any kind.

Oyun-Erdene is acutely aware of this as he settles in a leather armchair for a video interview in July. “We are located geopolitically between two superpowers,” says the Harvard Kennedy School alum, who became prime minister in January last year after serving two years as chief cabinet secretary. The nation—while twice the size of Turkey—is home to just 3.3 million people. “We are very sensitive to global economic fluctuations,” he says, “which is a blessing and a curse at the same time.”

The blessings are straightforward: Mongolia has the world’s biggest known coal reserves, second largest reserves of uranium, and one of the largest of silver. Throw in significant deposits of gold, copper, iron ore, phosphorus and zinc, and it’s clear why spiking commodity prices are a boon for its coffers.

The immediate curse, however, is inflation. The price of fuel—especially the diesel vital to nomadic communities scattered across the steppes—is soaring. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, and ensuing Western sanctions, have also led to spikes in the cost of Russian chemicals (used for mining explosives, fertilizer, and agricultural feed) and food, of which the Russian Federation is one of Mongolia’s biggest suppliers.

Tourism, which made up 7.2% of GDP and accounted for 7.6% of employment in 2019 has now collapsed—costing the national economy some $470 million from the start of the pandemic until March, according to government figures—and not just because of COVID-19. The European embargo of Russian air space, as a result of the war in Ukraine, has led to a slashing of flights to Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar. Oyun-Erdene laments the “instability of the international community” and its effects on his country.

The situation threatens his bid to transform Mongolia from an impoverished agricultural economy—about a third of the population lives in some form of poverty—into a modern minerals exporter with a startup-friendly environment, plenty of international investment, and a thriving financial services sector. Upon taking office last year, he implemented an ambitious plan, Vision 2050, to increase GDP per capita almost tenfold, from $4,009 to $38,359 by the middle of the century. “We have done our homework and now we have to put these developments into real life,” Oyun-Erdene says.

Oyun-Erdene was born in Ulaanbaatar in 1980 but grew up in Berkh on the Eastern Mongolian Steppes. The village is known for its fluorspar mine—a mineral ore mix of calcium and fluorine—and has 10 times as many heads of livestock as people. He had a severe speech impediment until he was 5 years old, but overcame it with the patient coaxing of his grandfather—a renowned Buddhist abbot, chess master and instructor of mathematics and Mongolian language—from whom he adopted the patronymic Luvsannamsrai.

Oyun-Erdene did well academically, earning degrees in journalism and law, and then public policy at Harvard. (His Ivy League schooling marks him out from a previous generation of leaders mostly educated in the former Soviet bloc.) At the age of 21, Oyun-Erdene ran the governor’s office in Berkh. Later, he worked overseas for the NGO World Vision. The foray into international development left him mindful of the problems his own country faced. He later wrote of being “saddened to see how bureaucratic, corrupt, and politically divided” Mongolia had become by comparison with much of the world.

The country’s reliance on commodities was also problematic. As prices soared in the early 2000s, Mongolia briefly became the world’s fastest-growing economy, earning the nickname “Minegolia.” Prospectors from North America and Europe quaffed expensive Scotch in Ulaanbaatar nightclubs. But the mineral boom was short-lived, and by 2017 Mongolia went cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund for a $5.5 billion bailout.

Oyun-Erdene had been elected as an MP the previous year and grew in prominence by helping to organize mass protests against corruption. Today, commodity prices are high again and Oyun-Erdene hopes to avoid another cycle of boom and bust by modernizing Mongolia’s economy through infrastructural developments—there are dozens of projects underway, from hydroelectric dams to railways and power plants.

He has also earned himself tremendous political capital by renegotiating a deal with mining giant Rio Tinto for the $6.75 billion expansion of the vast Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in the Gobi Desert. In December, the Australian firm agreed to write off more than $2 billion in loans that Mongolia’s government was using to fund its share of the development. The renegotiation included guarantees to safeguard scarce water resources vital to nearby herder communities and to ensure that proper social infrastructure was provided for workers attached to the mine. Rio Tinto hopes that the move will “deliver greater economic value to Mongolia.” Oyun-Erdene says he wants such cooperation to be applied to “other mining locations.”

Modernization is badly needed. China accounts for over 90% of Mongolia’s exports—and they mostly travel by road. Thousands of rumbling, sooty trucks—loaded with minerals, coal or ore—make their way to the Chinese frontier, where tailbacks regularly span 15 miles. Drivers can wait for up to a week to cross. Mongolia is nowhere near its export capacity due to such basic infrastructure constraints.

Complicating the issue, Beijing’s draconian zero-COVID policy means that it sporadically seals the border, blocking trade. In June, a Chinese official suggested that its pandemic control measures may last for five years. Oyun-Erdene expresses concern for the “negative consequences” this has for his country, adding that “the zero-COVID policy of China is, of course, not only Mongolia’s issue, but a global economic issue.”

Landlocked Mongolia’s exports to other nations must also use Chinese ports. In a bid to ensure that “railway exportation will not depend on the COVID-19 situation,” Oyun-Erdene hopes to open five new rail crossings with China by the end of 2022.

Mongolia’s foreign policy requires similar agility. “If Mongolia is not engaged, then we are truly landlocked and geopolitically really challenged,” says Bolor Lkhaajav, an analyst on Mongolian foreign relations.

The country’s “third neighbor policy”—a long-running strategy of cultivating relationships beyond China and Russia—was born out of such concern. Western nations have been responsive in recent months, sensing kinship with a democratic country in an adversarial region. In late June, Germany announced that it was restarting bilateral aid with Mongolia after a two-year break. From July 1, Mongolians became eligible for Australia’s coveted holiday visa program.

“Broadly speaking, the West is reawakening to values diplomacy, energizing democracy promotion,” says Prof. Julian Dierkes, a Mongolia expert at the University of British Columbia. “This is, of course, where Mongolia triumphs.”

Oyun-Erdene is keen to emphasize his country’s openness to the world. He’s just returned from Singapore, where he discussed listing Mongolian mining firms on its bourse. Before that, he was talking about digital transformation in Estonia and human resources in South Korea. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Mongolia on Aug. 8. “We have full confidence in our cooperation with our third neighbors,” the prime minister says.

Yet, in the current geopolitical climate, the approach is becoming tricky. Mongolia abstained from the U.N. General Assembly motion to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and voted against expelling Moscow from the U.N. Human Rights Council.

With regard to “the Ukraine and Russia war, we are truly regretful, and we have sent humanitarian assistance to Ukraine” Oyun-Erdene says. “But the foreign policy of Mongolia must remain independent. We believe that countries on the U.N. Security Council—major, big economic powerhouses—must come to decisions free from emotional distractions and be pragmatic, because every decision hugely affects the global economy and lives of millions.”

The bottom line? “Relations with our two neighbors is the priority.” The painted warrior on his office wall may be going to battle, but Oyun-Erdene’s fight will be to stay nonaligned.

In a visit to Mongolia on Tuesday, Secretary-General António Guterres underscored the UN’s full solidarity for the country, which he described as “a symbol of peace in a troubled world”.

Mr. Guterres was speaking to journalists at a press conference in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, following a meeting with the Foreign Minister, Battsetseg Batmunkh.

He stated that in a world with dramatic geopolitical divides, and where conflicts proliferate everywhere, Mongolia - as an area free of nuclear weapons - is an example for other countries to follow.

No more nuclear weapons

“We live in a world where for the first time in decades people are thinking that a nuclear war might be possible again,” said Mr. Guterres.

“There is only one way to be absolutely sure that a nuclear war is impossible, and that way is if there are no nuclear weapons.”

Mongolia is the latest stop on the Secretary-General’s visit to Asia, which began in Japan on Friday.

Tribute to peacekeepers

Over the past six decades, the country has become an increasingly important contributor to the UN’s work, he said.

Mr. Guterres expressed gratitude to Mongolian peacekeepers serving at UN peace operations, “often in the most challenging settings and with courage in the way they protect civilians where unfortunately, there’s sometimes no peace to keep”.

The Secretary-General had met with Mongolia’s President, Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, and other senior officials, earlier on Tuesday.

They discussed the geopolitical situation in the region, the challenges Mongolia faces as a landlocked country, and national efforts to tackle climate change.

Relatedly, Mr. Guterres also joined young people and peacekeepers at a tree-planting ceremony, part of Mongolia’s One Billion Trees campaign to address climate change and desertification.

“My generation was very stupid. My generation declared war on nature – with climate change with the loss of biodiversity, with pollution,” he said.

Mr. Guterres stressed how “nature is striking back” with storms, desertification, floods and disasters, which are making life very difficult for many people around the world and causing many victims.

“Your generation has an important task to make peace with nature,” he said. “And what we are going to do today, must be a gesture of that new attitude to make peace with nature.”

The Secretary-General also visited a nomadic family in Mongolia and learned about their way of life.

He also met a group of beneficiaries from UN projects, including women entrepreneurs and youth activists.

Mongolia exported 11.1 million tons of coal in the first seven months of this year, data from the Mongolian Customs General Administration showed Tuesday.

The figure marks a year-on-year increase of 11.2 percent, the data showed.

Coal is the main export commodity of Mongolia, which is rich in natural resources.

The landlocked Asian country has planned to export at least 36 million tons of coal in 2022, according to the Mongolian Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry.

The country exported 15.9 million tons of coal in 2021, down 44.3 percent year on year.

Two Territory riders have travelled halfway around the world to compete in the world's longest and toughest horse race.

Set to cross the start line on Wednesday, Katherine's Jess Di Pasquale and Darwin-based Natalie Bell, will be competing in the Mongol Derby, a gruelling ten-day horse race across 1000km of Mongolian wilderness.

The race aims to recreate a legendary part of Mongolian history: In 1224, Genghis Khan established the world's first long-distance postal transmission system, using a large network of horse stations spaced from Kharkhorin to the Caspian Sea.

Changing their horses every 40km, riders - who travel from all over the world to take part in the race - will be living with herders or camping under the stars along the way.

They are allowed to carry only a 5kg of essential survival kit and the navigation between the 25 horse stations will be up to the riders alone as there is no marked course.

Combining survival skills and horsemanship, competitors will need an extra level of determination and sometimes sheer luck to make it to the finish line or even take out the win.

"We trained as much as we could," Mrs Di Pasquale said.

"It was hard fitting it in around life, work and family, but we rode every chance we had, got several long distance endurance rides in and tested and trialled our gear within an inch of its life."

But the experienced rider, who has followed the race for a long time, said it wasn't lack of preparedness she was worried about, but her navigation skills.

"We are both sh***ing ourselves to be brutally honest," she said.

"I think the navigation will be the hardest part.

"Hopefully we don't end up in Russia or China."

Using the race as a challenge after having two children, Kace (5) and Primrose (2), Mrs Di Pasquale said together with her friend - and former Pony Club rival - Natalie Bell, she also wanted to raise money for two good causes: Steppe and Hoof, an organisation that supports Mongolian herders, and cancer charity Sock it to Sarcoma.

"One of our friends who used to ride with us at pony club died from one of the rarest forms of sarcoma in 2017," she said.

"If she was still here (the Mongol Derby is) definitely something she would be keen on doing as well."

Ms Bell added while she joined the challenge to test and push herself to see how 'tough and resilient can I be when I really needed to dig deep', it was the memory of her late friend that encouraged her to enter the race.

"It is a chance for me and Jess to keep Stevie's memory alive, to pay tribute to her fight and how brave she was though her fight, and her zest and passion for life to be everything you make it," she said.

"We will be riding in recognition of our Stevie girl, who fought a battle tougher than any steppe, and who would've been our third musketeer on this adventure."

The two Territorians started their training days in the Mongolian Steppe yesterday, with the actual race starting on Wednesday. Those interested can follow their adventure here.

In 2017, Katherine's Jodie Ward finished in equal sixth place in the Mongol Derby.

BY: Annie Hesse Northern Territory Correspondent

I am an award-winning media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcast, as well as photography and videography. I am the NT Correspondent at Australian Community Media and I write for my hometown newspaper, the Katherine Times. I love telling people's stories, and I am passionate about giving those a voice who may otherwise remain unheard. When I am not busy putting pen to paper, I spend time in my garden, go bushwalking or travel across the Northern Territory, Australia or the world. In my spare time I write, illustrate and publish books.

This beautiful Gold coin is dedicated to the Angel of Mercy, a woman who helped many poor people: Mother Teresa. The coin comes in a capsule, along with a Certificate of Authenticity. Limited mintage of 5.000 pieces worldwide.

79.95 €

“For the small nations,” reminded Czech-born writer Milan Kundera, “existence is not a self-evident certainty but always a question, a wager, a risk.” Nothing in recent memory reminded Mongolia of this vulnerability more than the war in Ukraine.

Surrounded by Russia and China, with a population of only 3.5 million, Mongolia is deriving many hard lessons from watching Ukraine. Such lessons learned by smaller countries will shape global affairs in the years to come.

Mongolia’s extreme geographic constraints mean that when it comes to foreign policy matters Ulaanbaatar usually has to first consider its two neighbors’ positions. But this approach inevitably delays Mongolia’s foreign policy formulation. In the age of social media, losing time means losing the narrative. Mongolia’s government has to learn to be proactive in its communication and stay ahead of the narrative. Otherwise, there is a risk of public opinion not accurately reflecting Mongolia’s foreign policy.

In the case of the war in Ukraine, Mongolian Minister of Foreign Affairs Battsetseg Batmunkh didn’t publicly communicate Mongolia’s call for a peaceful resolution of the conflict until March 2 – almost a week after the invasion. Even then, the message was not replicated in English.

Globally connected and socially conscious, Mongolian youth didn’t take the delay lightly. Mongolian social media is awash with criticisms of the government’s perceived inaction in advocating for Ukraine.

On the other hand, Mongolia had sent humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and did abstain from voting on a U.N. resolution demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops (rather than voting against the resolution). Although these measures are not enough by any means, they are significant considering the fact that Russia has almost total control of Mongolia’s energy supply and has been relentlessly pressuring Mongolia to support its war.

The communications shortcomings of the Mongolian foreign policy establishment are compounded by near absence of respected Mongolian voices in the international media. Except for one op-ed by then-prime minister in 2005 in The Washington Post, almost no Mongolian has published an op-ed in a major opinion-shaping publication, such as The New York Times or the Financial Times.

This is a serious gap that one can even argue has national security implications. Ukrainians are expertly deploying international media to inform the world about their plight. Mongolians are only now starting to realize the importance of being able to effectively make their case to an international audience.

Dwarfed by outsized military powers, Russia and China, for the past 30 years, Mongolia saw little need to spend much taxpayer money on its military. But the war in Ukraine is teaching Mongolians a different lesson: No one can predict the future, and Mongolia should be ready for any situation.

On July 10, State Flag Day, Mongolia’s government held probably the biggest annual military parade in 30 years. Judging by the enthusiasm and fanfare of the Mongolian public, there seems to be little resistance to this increased focus on military.

As noted by many international experts, a lot of Ukraine’s success can be attributed to their highly skilled and decentralized forces. Just like the Ukrainian military of 2014, Mongolia’s military still operates in the same old Soviet top-down culture.

But during the past eight years, Ukraine managed to empower their NCOs and gave more autonomy to small units. If the Mongolian army is serious about repelling external threats and internal instability, it has to undergo the same revamping of organizational culture. Given its limited size and resources, Mongolia has no choice but to rely on independent smaller units.

For various historical and geostrategic reasons, many Mongolians believe that Russia is the only country that could provide a security guarantee to Mongolia. But the Russian leadership’s recent unfounded claim that Mongolia hosts American bioweapons labs and Russia’s evident military shortcomings in Ukraine are making Mongolians question Russia’s desire and ability to guarantee stability in the region.

Mongolia is in the midst of figuring out its place in the changing world order. This process requires a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, as the only functioning democracy in the entire Eurasian heartland, Mongolians can deeply relate to Ukrainians’ desire to live in a democratic and prosperous society.

On the other hand, Mongolians are also realizing that should anything happen to Mongolia, the country will be on its own. No Western country could provide a security guarantee to Mongolia. Russia and China will not go away from the neighborhood, and one way or the other, Mongolia will have to peacefully coexist with them.

The lessons that smaller countries are deriving from the war in Ukraine are unique to their own circumstances. But the one unifying theme is increased self-reliance. Creatively circumventing constraints and making themselves indispensable to the global community are the key for small states. The war reminded Mongolians that they now have no choice but to prepare for all eventualities.

GUEST AUTHOR

Tuvshinzaya Gantulga

Tuvshinzaya Gantulga is a non-resident fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies of Mongolia. He previously worked as a foreign policy aide to the president of Mongolia and served in Afghanistan as a member of the Mongolian army contingent.

China and Mongolia have reached a wide range of consensuses during the visit of Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Ulan Bator on Sunday and Monday.

When meeting the press together with Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh after holding talks here on Monday, Wang said that he has witnessed encouraging changes in Ulan Bator since his last visit two years ago and felt the vitality of the vast grassland.

As a friendly neighbor, China is truly glad to see the rapid progress made by Mongolia and is full of expectations for its development and revitalization, he added.

Wang expounded on the consensuses reached by two sides during his visit.

Both countries believed that in the face of the current complicated and ever-changing international and regional situation, China and Mongolia are closely connected with a shared future so they should be good neighbors more valuable than gold, good brothers sharing weal and woe and good partners striving for common development.

The two sides are willing to deepen the three alignments between the Belt and Road Initiative and Mongolia's Prairie Road development strategy, the Global Development Initiative and Mongolia's New Revival Policy, and China's "two-stage" strategic plan and Mongolia's long-term development policy, so as to create three engines for further development of bilateral relations.

Both sides reaffirmed respect for each other's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and firm mutual support on issues regarding each other's core interests.

China supports Mongolia in maintaining stability, focusing on development and exploring a development path in line with its national conditions. China appreciates that Mongolia reaffirms its commitment to the one-China principle and opposes interference in China's internal affairs concerning Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong, among others.

The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation at the border, and facilitate the reopening of ports and connection of railways and highways to the largest possible extent so as to keep the industrial and supply chains stable and unimpeded.

The two sides signed a memorandum on cross-border railway transportation at the Gants Mod port, which will play an important role in helping Mongolia expand its opening-up and achieve strong growth.

The two sides agreed to promote cooperation in such fields as economy and trade, investment, mining and energy, science and technology, agriculture and animal husbandry, build major demonstration projects in areas including infrastructure and energy, and strive to achieve coordinated development and common prosperity.

China and Mongolia pledged to push ahead with the construction of the Erdeneburen hydropower plant in a coordinated manner and work faster to address the electricity supply for people in western Mongolia.

The two countries voiced their support for the early implementation of livelihood projects including renovating shanty-town areas, and building sewage treatment and meat processing plants.

The two sides will enhance cooperation in afforestation and desertification control. China appreciates Mongolia's plan to plant one billion trees and China has also proposed planting 70 billion trees in the next 10 years. China hopes that the two countries support each other in greening their homeland and safeguarding the green land and blue sky.

China and Mongolia also agreed to continue the cooperation to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and protect lives. They will increase direct flights between the two countries to facilitate personnel exchanges. China supports Mongolian students in returning to China to resume classes at an early date. They agreed to strengthen youth exchanges and sub-national cooperation to consolidate bilateral friendship.

The two sides agreed to strengthen coordination in international and regional affairs, uphold true multilateralism and open regionalism, push forward the implementation of the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, safeguard the common interests of developing countries, so as to jointly promote the development and prosperity of Asia and build a community with a shared future for mankind.