At its meeting, the Cabinet made a decision on spending of MNT 8.6 billion from the Government’s reserve fund.

From this, MNT 5.6 billion will be spent on the preventive measures to be carried out against the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The risk of the Omicron coronavirus variant spread is more than 2.5 times higher compared to the other variants. The Omicron variant, first detected by South African scientists, has spread to over 100 countries globally so far.

Moreover, MNT 3 billion will be allocated on the containerized shipping to be carried out from the container exchange area on the Mongolian-Chinese border to the Zamyn-Uud Customs Control Area.

It’s December 10, 1989. A Mongolian band sings “The Sound of a Bell” at Sukhbaatar Square — symbolically waking up the Mongolian populace and welcoming democracy. Around this time, the Soviet Union is on the edge of disintegration. Although Mongolia was never a Soviet republic, the decades-old strong relationship, planned economy, and heavy financial aid have abruptly shifted — leaving Ulaanbaatar to find its own democratic ways to develop, grow, and prosper.

The collapse of the Soviet Union was indeed a purview of Mongolia’s political, economic, and social transformation. Mongolia’s leadership, too, had to transform. For many decades, Mongolian intellectuals were educated in Marxist-Leninist ideology and policymaking. Between the 1970 and 1980s, students who would later become Mongolia’s leaders studied abroad in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Irkutsk, and Ulan-Ude. The ideological and practical transformation had to begin from the top.

Faced with the rise of popular protest and hunger strikes, the leaders of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) refused to use force and were open to dialogue and negotiation. In an interview, the last leader of socialist Mongolia, J. Batmunkh stated “the demonstrations and the protests were something new to us. I gave them instructions that they should not use force under any circumstance. Any force shall not be used. There is no need to utilize the police or involve the military. The organizers of these movements and demonstrations should be responsible for social order. Actually, these demonstrators, participants, and protestors are our children.”

The resignation of J. Batmunkh’s government ended one-party rule in Mongolia. The emergence of Mongolia’s Social Democratic Party and the Mongolian National Democratic Party, together forming the Democratic Union Coalition, ushered Mongolia into a new era of a semi-parliamentary system. Mongolia’s first political change came in the 1993 presidential election. Mongolia’s first democratically elected president, Ochirbat Punsalmaa, wrote in his memoir “Time of Heaven,” that the June 10 edition of the French newspaper, Le Monde, said “Ochirbat has dramatically defeated his opponent, who had been nominated from the Communist Party.”

The singularity of the Mongolian revolutionary process deserves to be underlined. Nothing predestined the country to experience such a development at a time when the Soviet Union had not yet collapsed and so soon after China, a few months earlier, had crushed the revolt of its youth on Tiananmen Square.

The relative ease of the revolution was the result of a convergence between the reformers of the democratic movement and those within the dominant party. At the time, many agreed that change had to be profound to pull the country out of the doldrums of the 1980s, a decade of stagnation. Above all, many saw in the unfolding of events a historic opportunity to break with Soviet tutelage and to regain full independence and sovereignty. The events of the winter of 1989-1990, therefore, constituted a national revolution. It allowed Mongolia to fully assert its independence and sovereignty.

To fulfill the promises of the revolution, Mongolians progressively designed their own political and economic system. Mongolia’s democratization required a new constitution, replete with legislative and executive branches to support the country’s emerging outward-led economic policies.

Since adopting a new constitution — after two years of debate — Mongolian constituents agreed that the power should be distributed among the three branches of the state: the speaker of Parliament, the prime minister, and the president. Initially thought of as a semi-presidential system, the Mongolian political regime gradually evolved into a full parliamentary regime following two constitutional amendments adopted in 2000 and 2019. The choice of a parliamentary system was presented at the time as a tool to limit foreign influence on the Mongolian decision process.

The collapse of the Soviet Union hindered Mongolia’s economy, foreign investment, and joint projects at large. The abrupt change resulted in sudden privatization, liberalization of prices, and selling of all livestock. In addition, Mongolia was already facing a large sum of foreign debt with the Soviet Union.

Former Prime Minister P. Jasrai wrote, “Given Mongolia’s historical turning points, Mongolia became a member of COMECON [from the 1960s to the 1990s]. Because Mongolia was one of the weaker members of the economic group—in order to engage with others economically—it sought to attract foreign investment by receiving grants, soft loans, and establishing joint ventures. Although the construction project was not insignificant, in the end, the amount of foreign debt increased enormously.”

In order for Mongolia to rejuvenate its economy along the capitalistic school of thought, policymakers abandoned the planned economy. Moreover, to promote a new era of economic growth, Mongolian authorities chose a radical transition process based on the “shock theory.”

A gradual transition was difficult to envisage due to the structural dependency on the Soviet economy and the USSR’s Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON). The transition resulted in a violent economic crisis.

Mongolia’s GDP reached its 1989 level only in 2003, while the amount of foreign trade recovered its 1989 level in 2004. Unemployment and hyperinflation created social difficulties climaxing with the implementation of ration tickets in the early 1990s. Due to the importance of the crisis, the years after 1990 are considered a “lost decade” for Mongolia. Decision-makers had to capitalize on Mongolia’s comparative advantages, mainly the country’s natural resources, coal, and copper.

Moreover, at the end of the Batmunkh era, most COMECON countries faced similar economic challenges. This also meant competition for financial and economic resources. Mongolia sought to strengthen its already established diplomatic relations, mainly focusing on economic issues and seeking donor aid beyond Russia and China. Mongolia looked toward the four “Asian Tiger” economies — South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan — as examples of successful development models. Former Prime Minister Jasrai Puntsag wrote in his memoir, “If you were to say that Batmunkh only understood this in 1989, that will be a big misconception. Back in 1985, there was a new direction in Mongolia’s foreign policy. These years we initiated to strengthen Mongolia’s relations with Japan, China, and to establish bilateral relations with South Korea. We aimed to strengthen in economy and trade, science and technology, and development in humanities sector.”

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the abrupt democratic revolution deprived Mongolia of the security guarantees afforded it by the Soviet Union and forced it to ensure its own independence and the protection of its sovereignty. This situation led the authorities to formalize an innovative and original strategic response which plays on the democratic specificity claimed by Mongolia. This strategic approach is built around three priorities. First and foremost, Mongolian diplomatic endeavors aim to develop friendly relations with its two geographical neighbors, Russia and China. Mongolian diplomacy then focused on developing and strengthening privileged relations with democratic and developed countries, its “third neighbors.” In this pursuit, Mongolia has successfully secured strategic partnerships with Russia and China, and third-neighbor countries around the world in addition to its international peace-keeping operations.

As Mongolia recently celebrated the 110th anniversary of the establishment of Mongol diplomacy, the country is moving forward with a robust foreign policy that engages the country in both regional and global affairs. The collapse of the Soviet Union transformed Mongolia, but Mongolia’s peaceful democratic revolution remains the keystone of Mongolia’s multi-pillared foreign policy approach that secures Mongolia’s national interests.

AUTHORS

Bolor Lkhaajav

Bolor Lkhaajav is a researcher specializing in Mongolia, China, Russia, Japan, East Asia, and the Americas. She holds an M.A. in Asia-Pacific Studies from the University of San Francisco.

Antoine Maire

Antoine Maire is a researcher at the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique. He is an author of La Mongolie Contemporaine.

The delivery of about 2.35 million doses of Pfizer vaccines to Mongolia with the funding from the Government of Japan is successfully completed. The last batch of the vaccines arrived yesterday.

The Government of Japan has provided a total of US$ 21.6 million grant to Mongolia through the UNICEF to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. With this funding, UNICEF has been providing technical, logistical and financial support to the Government of Mongolia in COVID-19 vaccination campaign, procurement of the cold chain equipment, expanding the vaccine storage facility, and vaccine stocks.

“UNICEF highly appreciates the generous financial support from Japan to support Mongolia in its effort to fight the pandemic. I congratulate the Government of Mongolia with the remarkable progress in vaccinating its people against COVID-19, in a timely manner. The Pfizer vaccines delivered through our collaboration helped the country immensely filling the gaps in vaccination” said Evariste Kouassi-Komlan, UNICEF Mongolia Representative.

“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to UNICEF and its staff for their hard efforts for implementing the projects. At the same time, I would like to praise health care workers and the Government of Mongolia for the relentless efforts to respond to the pandemic. I hope that the vaccines procured with Japan’s financial support will help bring COVID-19 pandemic under control, protect health of the Mongolian people and restore the social and economic situation in this country“ said Ambassador of Japan to Mongolia Hiroyuki Kobayashi.

In 2021, UNICEF has provided 46% of the total COVID 19 vaccines supply in Mongolia in partnership with the Government of Mongolia, Government of Japan and COVAX Facility.

Mongolia recorded 116 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, raising the national tally to 390,191, the country's health ministry said on Thursday.

Among the latest confirmed cases, 11 were imported from abroad, said the ministry.

In addition, the country's COVID-19 death toll rose to 1,985 after one more patient died in the past day, it said.

Currently, a total of 1,799 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized across the country, while 3,180 asymptomatic or mild cases are receiving home-based care, said the ministry.

So far, 66.5 percent of Mongolia's population of 3.4 million have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, while 909,738 people have received a booster.

At the plenary meeting of the State Great Khural (Parliament) today, December 30, the resolution on Measures to be taken to ensure the benefits to Mongolia from Oyu Tolgoi gold-copper mine has been approved.

Following measures reflected in the resolution:

- To write off Mongolia's USD 2.3 billion-debt for its share (34 percent) in the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project.

- To terminate the Oyu Tolgoi Underground Mine Development and Financing Plan, known as ‘Dubai Agreement’ and conduct an independent audit into the financing of the project's underground expansion;

- The costs required until the first half of 2023, when the underground mine is commissioned, shall be covered by the investors, not incurring additional debts to Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi LLC;

- To supply electricity for Oyu Tolgoi project from the energy grid of Mongolia

- To ensure the implementation of tax acts

The majority of MPs who attended the plenary session have supported two proposals: to not incur additional debts to Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi LLC, and not receive additional loan from shareholders of Oyu Tolgoi LLC and third parties. The Temporary committee in charge of taking control on the implementation of the parliamentary resolution No.92 dated November 21, 2019, on ‘Ensuring the interests of Mongolia in the exploitation of the Oyu Tolgoi gold-copper mine’, has submitted the two proposals.

The draft resolution has been approved with the support of 74.1 percent of the attended MPs.

Coming off a record-setting 2020, gold’s performance has underwhelmed for much of this calendar year.

A big reason is a more hawkish-than-expected stance from the US Federal Reserve, which created a high interest rate environment and reduced the appeal of the non-yielding bullion.

The promise of higher returns on other assets also coincided with the arrival of covid vaccines, a signal for economic recovery, thus tilting the market towards riskier investments.

As a result, gold prices are trading 4.9% lower year-to-date (as of December 27, 2021), paving the way for its first annual loss in three years.

Still, despite a lackluster year for the yellow metal, 2021 is rife with plenty of gold-related news for investors to digest heading into the new year.

#1 Billion-dollar M&As

Back in January, analysts at Bank of America already predicted that the need to replace gold reserves would be a driver for more mergers and acquisitions this year. Indeed, the gold sector delivered a slew of deals, some involving the big players.

Agnico Eagle and Kirkland Lake Gold’s C$13.5 billion merger to create a new gold giant with a $24 billion market capitalization and 48 million ounces in reserves grabbed headlines.

During a recent symposium held by the Canadian Mining Journal, Kirkland Lake CEO Tony Makuch said that this is “one of the Canadian gold sector’s most important mergers in recent memory.”

However, the Agnico-Kirkland Lake merger announced in September is likely to be “the last blockbuster M&A deal by a major in the Canadian mining sector,” according to Haywood Securities mining analyst Kerry Smith.

Another merger of note is Newcrest’s acquisition of Pretium Resources in early November. The prize of this $2.8 billion deal is the Brucejack property, about 140 km from the Australian miner’s majority-owned and operated Red Chris mine located within British Columbia’s Golden Triangle.

A month later, Kinross also looked to expand its footprint within another famed gold mining region in Canada — the Red Lake district of Ontario — with its $1.4 billion acquisition of Great Bear Resources and its flagship Dixie project.

Barring any significant developments in the final week of 2021, this would be the last significant gold M&A deal of the year.

#2 Earlier deals

While no billion-dollar deal was announced during the first eight months, the impact that some of the earlier M&As may have on the industry cannot be overlooked.

Agnico already had a head start in January by snapping up TMAC Resources after the Canadian government rejected a bid from China’s Shandong Gold for the Nunavut miner. In the same month, Eldorado Gold acquired QMX Gold in a friendly merger, thus significantly expanding its landholding in Quebec.

In March, Newmont made its move by acquiring the remaining stake in GT Gold in a C$393 million all-cash deal. This would give the world’s biggest gold miner full control over the Tatogga project, also located near the Red Chris mine in BC. Also in March, Australia’s Evolution Mining grabbed Battle North Gold, whose operations are based in Ontario’s Red Lake, for C$343 million.

In April, Fortuna Silver Mines announced that it would acquire the West Africa-focused Roxgold for $884 million, thus taking its operations beyond Latin America.

Also not missing out on the action is AngloGold Ashanti, which offered in July to buy the rest of Corvus Gold for $370 million to consolidate its landholdings in Nevada.

#3 Future mines

2021 also marks a milestone year for some of the world’s soon-to-be gold mines.

In October, Equinox Gold began construction at its $1.23 billion Greenstone project in Ontario, which is slated to become one of Canada’s largest gold mines, producing more than 400,000 ounces annually for the first five years.

Ascot Resources, which is developing the Premier gold project in BC’s Golden Triangle, was recently given the go-ahead to begin construction, with first production expected in Q1 2023.

Some mines have also achieved commercial production this year, highlighted by the Segilola mine in Nigeria, the first ever gold operation in the country.

#4 Overseas conflicts

Political factors remain a driving force behind a miner’s decision over some gold operations.

In the Dominican Republic, Barrick and Newmont could be forced to end their Pueblo Viejo joint venture without approval of a new tailings storage facility.

B2Gold is also at impasse with the Malian government over an exploration project near the company’s flagship Fekola gold mine.

A new law passed in Kyrgyzstan also saw Canada’s Centerra Gold lose control over its Kumtor mine, which is now a subject of international arbitration proceedings.

#5 Other trends

In the first half of 2021, the world’s top gold miners reported a 1.1% decline in production compared to last year, due to lower ore grades and mill throughput, according to analytics firm GlobalData, though it expects output to recover in the second half to keep production flat for the year.

Gold production was also exacerbated by the covid pandemic, which interrupted many operations. What the lockdowns did not affect was emissions caused by gold mining operations, as shown by a study published by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

On the demand side, the World Gold Council believes there is a noticeable trend among investors to seek out assets that have previously helped their portfolios but are less liquid. The shift towards riskier alternatives would pave the way for gold, according to the Council, given that the metal provides capital and liquidity needed during a market sell-off.

What’s in store for 2022

Still, with inflation pressures mounting and the possibility of multiple rate hikes, 2022 could manifest a year of recovery for the yellow-colored metal.

Analysts, including those at TD Securities remain optimistic about a potential gold rally in H1 2022.

The outlook for gold in the first quarter of 2022 is upbeat, with the main driver being inflation, which is keeping a floor under prices, said Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals, in the latest Reuters report.

(With files from Reuters)

The volume of trade between Russia and China from January to November this year has already exceeded $130 billion and is set to hit a new historic high by the end of 2021.

“Despite the objective anti-epidemic restrictions, practical cooperation is actively developing. Mutual trade turnover in 11 months has already exceeded $130 billion, continues to grow and, undoubtedly, a new record will be set at the end of the year,” Russia’s Ambassador in China Andrey Denisov said on Tuesday.

The official added that both countries are working closely to reach $200 billion in annual trade turnover in the nearest future.

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held video talks amid escalating tensions between the two nations and the West. Following the discussions, the Kremlin revealed that the two leaders had agreed to develop a shared financial system to reduce reliance on US-dominated platforms.

Speaking to journalists at his annual end-of-year press conference on Thursday, Putin called China Russia’s number-one partner, adding that “we have very trusting relations and it helps us build good business ties as well.” He also praised China’s economy and forecast that “by 2035-2050, it will have surpassed [the US] and will become the leading economy in the world, according to all metrics.”

China has been the main importer from Russia of non-primary non-energy goods since 2016. According to the Russian Export Center (REC), deliveries of these goods have been growing for seven consecutive years, and that trend has continued through 2021. Products that showed the largest growth are copper, aluminum, direct reduced iron, copper wire, fertilizers, lumber, oilseeds, crustaceans, paper and cardboard.

Indonesia has lifted a ban on the Boeing 737 Max, more than three years after the Lion Air disaster that saw the loss of all 189 people on board.

The plane maker saw its best-selling aircraft grounded globally after a deadly crash in March 2019 involving an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max.

On Monday, Ethiopian Airlines said it will resume such flights in February.

The announcements come months after the aircraft returned to service in the US and Europe.

More than 180 countries now allow the use of the 737 Max, with Australia, Japan, India, Malaysia and Singapore lifting their bans this year.

Indonesia's transport ministry said in a statement that the lifting of the ban would be effective immediately, and that it follows regulators' checks of changes made to the aircraft's systems.

The ministry also said that airlines must follow airworthiness directives and inspect their planes before they can fly the 737 Max again, adding that government officials would also inspect the planes.

Lion Air, which operated 10 such planes before the ban, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

Indonesia's national flag carrier Garuda said it had no plans to reintroduce the plane to its fleet as it focuses on debt restructuring.

The state-controlled firm, which operated just one 737 Max before the plane was grounded, has said it aims to cut its fleet of aircraft from 142 to 66 as part of its turnaround plan.

On 29 October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, killing all 189 passengers and crew.

Less than five months later, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 Max on its way to Kenya, crashed six minutes after leaving Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board.

"We have taken enough time to monitor the design modification work and the more than 20 months of rigorous rectification process... our pilots, engineers, aircraft technicians, cabin crew are confident on the safety of the fleet," Ethiopian Airlines' chief executive Tewolde Gebremariam said in a statement about resuming 737 Max flights.

A group of researchers in Japan says its animal experiments have suggested that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus may be less pathogenic than Delta.

The group is led by Associate Professor Sato Kei of the University of Tokyo's Institute of Medical Science and Professor Fukuhara Takasuke of Hokkaido University's Graduate School of Medicine.

The research results have been released online.

The group's studies compared Omicron with the Delta variant and an early pandemic coronavirus.

The group says Delta and the early strain in cell cultures broke up infected cells and induced cell-cell fusions, but Omicron did not show such fusions.

The group also infected hamsters with each of the three viruses.

The researchers say those infected with Delta or the early strain showed weight loss, exacerbation of pneumonia or bleeding in the lung.

By contrast, they say hamsters infected with Omicron did not show such weight change, and their pneumonia did not become serious.

The researchers say the findings about Omicron in their study are just those in an experimental animal model. But they say the results suggest that symptoms of the variant may be milder than Delta and others.

Fukuhara warns people to remain on alert for Omicron as well because it can cause pneumonia and the number of people in serious condition may increase if it spreads.

According to the preliminary result of the annual livestock census of 2021, a total of 67.3 million head of livestock, 268.4 thousand or 0.4 percent more than in 2020, have been counted nationwide. Specifically, 4.3 million horses, 5 million cattle, 453.8 thousand camels, 31.1 million sheep, and 26.5 million goats have been counted this year.

Sheep account for 46.2 percent of the total number of livestock, goats 39.3 percent, horses 6.4 percent, cattle 7.5 percent, and camels 0.7 percent. Compared to the previous year, the number of sheep decreased by 1 million or 3.4 percent, cattle by 288.8 thousand or 6.1 percent, and horses by 230.1 thousand or 5.6 percent. There was an increase of 1.3 million or 4.6 percent in the goat population and 19.1 thousand or 4 percent increase in camels.

The largest number of livestock or 5.9 million head of livestock were counted in Khuvsgul aimag, followed by Arkhangai aimag with 5.6 million head of livestock, Khentii aimag - 5 million, Tuv aimag – 4.7 million, and Sukhbaatar aimag – 4.2 million.

Compared to the previous year, livestock increased by 17.4-440 thousand in Orkhon, Selenge, Zavkhan, Bayan-Ulgii, Dornogobi, Arkhangai, Bulgan, Khentii, Dornod, Sukhbaatar, Khovd, Uvs and Khuvsgul aimags, while the numbers dropped by 5.2-712.8 thousand in Ulaanbaatar city and Darkhan-Uul, Gobisumber, Tuv, Gobi-Altai, Umnugobi, Uvurkhangai, Dundgobi, and Bayankhongor aimags.