At the regular Cabinet meeting on November 10, the Ministry of Finance and the Government Agency for Policy Coordination on State Property put forth a suggestion to improve the governance of wholly or partially state-owned enterprises and make structural changes.

Minister of Finance B.Javkhlan said during a press conference, “Discussions are taking place on making structural changes to wholly or partially state-owned enterprises in three ways. Studies are being carried out on making structural changes to strategically important enterprises that are required to be owned by the state, enhancing the governance for certain companies by having them become joint stock companies, and a category for unprofitable state-owned enterprises that are not necessary to be operated by the state. At today’s Cabinet meeting, a presentation was done on strategically important entities that are required to be owned by the state as well as providing them with a stable policy. As this issue will soon be finalized, it is currently planned to announce further structural changes for the enterprises by the end of this year.”

The list of strategically important enterprises that are required to be owned by the state include over 30 companies, such as Erdenet Mining Corporation, Mongolrostsvetmet, ‘Erdenes Tavantolgoi’, ‘Mongol Refinery’, the airport at Khushig Valley, thermal power plants located in the capital city and aimags, and entities in charge of transmitting electricity.

At the regular Cabinet meeting that took place today on November 10, a presentation was done on the construction project for the natural gas pipeline connecting Russia and China through the territory of Mongolia, reported Deputy Prime Minister S.Amarsaikhan.

The Prime Minister of Mongolia signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the gas pipeline during his visit to the Russian Federation in December 2019. Following the establishment of a memorandum between the two sides later in August 2020, works were launched to carry out a feasibility study.

As of today, the progress of the feasibility study is at 70 percent. During a telephone conversation between the two countries’ Prime Ministers yesterday on November 9, they exchanged information on mutually profitable, large-scale projects to be implemented on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and Russia, and gave orders to corresponding ministers, noted the Deputy PM.

On March 12, board members of Gazprom company of Russia worked in Mongolia to hold meetings with authorities led by the Deputy Prime Minister, approving an action plan. As of currently, the route for the 960.5-km gas pipeline has been defined. Following the completion of the feasibility study by the end of this year, engineers and technicians will begin to work on the project to ensure preparations within the next two years.

The project’s construction work will officially start in 2024.

Once the feasibility study is completed, an agreement will be established between the three countries’ governments on the tariff and fee regulations. Furthermore, bills are required to be drafted for natural gas pipelines in Mongolia.

Currently, discussions are being held with executives of Gazprom company about the matter regarding Mongolia being a consumer country alongside having the natural gas pipeline pass through its territory. Corresponding decisions are planned to be made by the National Security Council after detailed studies are carried out on domestic demands for natural gas.

Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia registered 950 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 370,491, the country's health ministry said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, 11 more COVID-19 patients, including a child, died in the past day, taking the death toll to 1,767, according to the ministry.

So far, 65.9 percent of Mongolia's total population of around 3.4 million has received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, with over 465,200 Mongolians aged over 18 having received a booster shot.

A Mongolian businessman has accused Boris Johnson’s half-brother of pursuing a spurious fraud complaint against him in order to wrest control of a mining project.

Max Johnson, the youngest son of the UK prime minister’s father Stanley, is seeking to recover a $19m investment in the Zasag Chandmani mines on behalf of Simon Murray, the former chair of Glencore.

After allegations from Johnson, the Mongolian police have investigated ZCM’s owner Buyantogtokh Dashdeleg on suspicion of embezzlement and money laundering and sent a report to the general prosecutor.

Buyantogtokh, who is seeking asylum in the US, fiercely denies the allegations and in his first public comments on the matter said Johnson put “huge pressure” on the Mongolian government to start criminal proceedings. Although a trial has been ordered, a case has yet to be called to court.

“I cannot afford to remain silent any more,” Buyantogtokh told the Financial Times. “The Mongolian government is trying very hard to attract foreign investment . . . and it is extremely challenging for them to push back against someone like Max Johnson.”

The dispute between Johnson and Buyantogtokh comes at a sensitive time for Mongolia, which needs more foreign capital to develop its natural resources but is locked in a bitter row with Rio Tinto over a late-running $6.8bn underground copper project.

Buyantogtokh insisted he could prove the money invested by Murray’s investment vehicle GRF Paragon was appropriately spent. “There are videos of the construction progress which I can share with anyone interested to verify this,” he said, adding that if the evidence against him was so overwhelming, “one would reasonably ask why this case is still ongoing two years later?”

“This matter is 100 per cent a civil matter and I’ve tried on many occasions to resolve it with Max. I have never said that I don’t owe GRF money and I have tried to reach an amicable settlement many times with Max,” he said. Buyantogtokh fears he could be stripped of the project if he is found guilty of fraud.

A former child actor, Johnson was educated at Eton and Oxford university, where he studied Russian. He first visited Mongolia in 2006 during the Naadam festival of traditional sport. He “fell in love with the country” and made a promise “to find some career choices that would bring me back here”, Johnson told Eagle News during a visit to Mongolia in September.

“In 2016 when Murray invested in Mongolia I was obviously aware,” said Johnson, who knew Murray from his days as a metal trader in Hong Kong. “He asked me to join the project in 2018, which I did.”

Murray’s private investment group GEMS set up GRF in 2015 to invest in ZCM, owner of a high-grade copper, gold and iron project.

Between 2016 and 2018, the fund invested $19m in ZCM in return for convertible loan notes — its only asset — that it could eventually exchange for a stake in the company.

Six months after the final tranche of cash was transferred, Johnson joined the project.

In Johnson’s telling of the story it became clear to him that the $19m invested by GRF had not been spent on developing the mine. In 2019 he reported his concerns to the Mongolian police, who launched an investigation, at which point work on the mine stopped.

“We would very much like the case to be heard in court,” Johnson told Eagle News. “Obviously we will respect the decision of the Mongolian judicial system — it is an independent, impartial authority.”

Buyantogtokh says these allegations are false. Independent analysis of ZCM’s financial statements between 2015 and 2018, prepared by accountants BDO and seen by the FT, found “no evidence proving cases of abuse of power and embezzlement and/or misappropriation of funds” by Buyantogtokh.

According to Buyantogtokh, a GRF team was actively involved with the project. “Not once did they raise an issue,” he said. “They visited the mine site every few months, visited Mongolia monthly for board meetings and received detailed monthly financial and operational reports from a team of expatriates working on this project.”

He added that Johnson resorted to legal proceedings only after Buyantogtokh acquired senior secured debt in ZCM from Noble Group, the commodity trader, in 2018.

“This put GRF in a very weak position as their debt was second ranking secured. I believe confronted with this reality, Max decided to pursue criminal proceedings as he had little civil recourse.”

Johnson said: “We cannot comment at this time due to the ongoing legal process but as soon as we can, we would be happy to do so.”

However, he told the Sunday Times in September that he was facing a personal loss of £1.5m in Mongolia and was “acutely aware” of the risks of any trading on the Johnson name.

Murray did not respond to requests for comment.

Asked why he had left Mongolia in 2019, Buyantogtokh said it was for a medical procedure. He decided not to return after learning that the authorities were investigating his wife, he added.

“Confronted with powerful adversaries, I felt my only chances of fairly resolving this entire matter was to go to the US and take my family with me,” he said.

On November 9, Prime Minister of Mongolia L.Oyun-Erdene held a telephone conservation with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin.

The two Prime Ministers expressed their pleasure for that the two countries are marking the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and the Russian Federation throughout the whole year. The two sides noted that during the historical period of time, the two countries have overcome biggest challenges with joint efforts and made great achievements in the development.

Furthermore, discussions were held on intensifying preparations to make the upcoming visit of the President of Mongolia to Russia more effective.

Mentioning that the issue related to the establishment of a company jointly with Rosneft company that would supply fuel for the new Chinggis Khaan International Airport was resolved, PM L.Oyun-Erdene noted the importance of consistent supply of fuel to Mongolia in accordance with the schedule. Russian side undertook to put emphasis on the issue.

He also emphasized the possibility of Russian entities’ participation in railway and energy projects to be implemented in Mongolia.

The parties agreed to hold a regular meeting of the Mongolia-Russia Intergovernmental Commission within this year to discuss and resolve the issues, touched by the Prime Ministers of the two countries. The Prime Ministers also agreed to continue to work closely and to meet in person at mutually convenient time.

Increased cooperation between Russia and Mongolia will boost peace, security and stability in the Eurasian continent, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a message of greetings to Mongolian President U.Khurelsukh on the occasion of the centennial of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Putin’s message was read out at a reception held at the five-star Shangri-La Hotel in Ulaanbaatar on Friday.

“Please accept my sincere congratulations on the momentous anniversary – the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries. I am confident that further enhancement of the constructive and multifaceted Russian-Mongolian cooperation fully meets the interests of our friendly nations and goes in line with the consolidation of peace, security and stability in the Eurasian continent,” it says.

Putin recalled that the agreement inked in Moscow on November 5, 1921 was the first act of international recognition of the modern Mongolian statehood and created conditions for building truly friendly, good-neighborly bilateral relations. The Russian president emphasized that the two countries’ relations are developing as a comprehensive strategic partnership.

The reception was attended by Russian Federation Council Vice Speaker Konstantin Kosachev, Russian Ambassador to Mongolia Iskander Azizov, Mongolian Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene.

On 1 September, Mongolian children have returned to the classroom after along a Covid-19 shutout. Still, masked students in blazers filed into a primary school in the capital Ulanbaatar, where classrooms were kitted out with temperature monitors, hand sanitiser and social distancing stickers.

Mongolia has taken some of the world’s toughest and most enduring measures against the Covid-19 pandemic, shutting schools and kindergartens since January 2020 and plunging children into a purgatory of remote learning with patchy access to technology. Over the past two years, Mongolian educational institutions conducted more than 30 percent of their classes in classrooms due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A study published Friday examined how children in schools can be physically present in the classroom while maintaining proper safety protocols. Since academic learning has altered dramatically since the start of the pandemic, the study, published by Science, analyzed the influence of COVID-19 on children and how it has affected classrooms.

“Children have a very low risk of severe or fatal COVID-19,” the researchers said, “but, early in the pandemic, uncertainties about their role in virus transmission led most countries to close educational settings as part of national lockdowns to control the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)”.

Furthermore, the researchers concluded that children had similar chances of infection as adults, yet they were not as likely to transmit. Further studies of schools that were able to reopen with alleviation procedures such as social distancing and masks discovered that outbreaks were minimal within their communities.

The study also states that while the shutdown of schools does reduce transmission, they would be inadequate in preventing community transmission and, “consequently, the benefits of in-person schooling outweigh the risks.”

As vaccines have now been approved for children as young as 5, and further evidence has been presented that spread can be contained, researchers are looking for ways to keep students in classrooms.

Archaeologists have mapped Karakorum, the capital of the Mongolian Empire using advanced geophysical methods.

Karakorum, also called Kharkhorin was founded around AD 1218–20, when Genghis Khan established a town of yurts at Karakorum to rally his troops during his campaigns against the Khwarezm Empire.

Karakorum developed into a city during the reign of Ugudei Khan (the third son of Genghis Khan and second Great Khan of the Mongol Empire). Under Ugudei and his successors, Karakorum became the traditional capital of the Mongols and an important centre of diverse religious microcosm and mercantile trade along the Silk Road.

In a new study published in the journal Antiquity by an international team of researchers, archaeologists applied advanced geophysics methods to reveal the layout of Karakorum’s roads, districts, and internal structures.

The team surveyed an area of 465ha over 52 days with a ‘SQUID’ (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device), that measures the topography of the surface and magnetic fields of the ground beneath.

By combining this data with previous surveys, aerial photography, and historical records, the team was able to create a detailed map of Karakorum that shows the inner layout, and the extent of the city beyond the actual walled area, as well as the social organisation of the city’s population.

The team also mapped the city walls, revealing three of the four main gates documented in the historic record. Outside of these walls, they found the city extended over 3km along some of the approaching roads – far greater than other research and historical records indicated.

Further, the study found that the centre of the city had much denser deposits, suggesting these were the areas of the city occupied for the longest period. However, the team ultimately found the biggest single feature of Karakorum was nothing. 40% of the area within the wall appears to have been left empty.

“The most exciting facet of our work for me was to see the progress of data acquisition during the field season.” said said Professor Bemmann, lead author of the study, “It was astonishing to witness the growing extent of the map day by day, and with that the digital reconstruction of Karakorum”.

On November 4, a meeting took place at the Civil Aviation Authority of Mongolia (MCAA) to exchange information in the framework of the preparations being carried out to launch direct flights between Mongolia and the United States.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Mongolia is currently carrying out preparatory works to establish the corresponding agreement for creating the necessary regulations for flights between Mongolia and the U.S., and to be involved in the IASA (International Aviation Safety Assessment) audit inspection to be conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Furthermore, MIAT Mongolian Airlines is ensuring preparations to conduct direct flights to the U.S.

During the meeting, MIAT representatives introduced the progress and implementation of the works being carried out by the company, a comparative study on using the Boeing 787 aircraft for long distance flights, profits, and the latest updates on other operations. The MCAA Aviation Safety Oversight and Regulation Department also introduced the works being implemented to meet the requirements for the IASA program, and noted the necessity to make changes to some of the corresponding legislation and regulations in Mongolia.

As certain matters such as organizational structure, finances, capacity of personnel are considered crucial in the inspection, authorities of the two organizations also exchanged views on ways to cooperate in the future.