1 MONGOLIA MARKS CENTENNIAL WITH A NEW COURSE FOR CHANGE WWW.EASTASIAFORUM.ORG PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      2 E-MART OPENS FIFTH STORE IN ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, TARGETING K-FOOD CRAZE WWW.BIZ.CHOSUN.COM PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      3 JAPAN AND MONGOLIA FORGE HISTORIC DEFENSE PACT UNDER THIRD NEIGHBOR STRATEGY WWW.ARMYRECOGNITION.COM  PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      4 CENTRAL BANK LOWERS ECONOMIC GROWTH FORECAST TO 5.2% WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      5 L. OYUN-ERDENE: EVERY CITIZEN WILL RECEIVE 350,000 MNT IN DIVIDENDS WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      6 THE BILL TO ELIMINATE THE QUOTA FOR FOREIGN WORKERS IN MONGOLIA HAS BEEN SUBMITTED WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      7 THE SECOND NATIONAL ONCOLOGY CENTER TO BE CONSTRUCTED IN ULAANBAATAR WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      8 GREEN BOND ISSUED FOR WASTE RECYCLING WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      9 BAGANUUR 50 MW BATTERY STORAGE POWER STATION SUPPLIES ENERGY TO CENTRAL SYSTEM WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      10 THE PENSION AMOUNT INCREASED BY SIX PERCENT WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      КОКС ХИМИЙН ҮЙЛДВЭРИЙН БҮТЭЭН БАЙГУУЛАЛТЫГ ИРЭХ ОНЫ ХОЁРДУГААР УЛИРАЛД ЭХЛҮҮЛНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     "ЭРДЭНЭС ТАВАНТОЛГОЙ” ХК-ИЙН ХУВЬЦАА ЭЗЭМШИГЧ ИРГЭН БҮРД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГ ӨНӨӨДӨР ОЛГОНО WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГИЙН ОРЛОГО 2040 ОНД 38 ИХ НАЯДАД ХҮРЭХ ТӨСӨӨЛӨЛ ГАРСАН WWW.NEWS.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ЭРДЭНЭС ОЮУ ТОЛГОЙ” ХХК-ИАС ХЭРЛЭН ТООНО ТӨСЛИЙГ ӨМНӨГОВЬ АЙМАГТ ТАНИЛЦУУЛЛАА WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     Л.ОЮУН-ЭРДЭНЭ: ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГААС НЭГ ИРГЭНД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГИЙН ХАДГАЛАМЖ ҮҮСЛЭЭ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ENTRÉE RESOURCES” 2 ЖИЛ ГАРУЙ ҮРГЭЛЖИЛСЭН АРБИТРЫН МАРГААНД ЯЛАЛТ БАЙГУУЛАВ WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ORANO MINING”-ИЙН ГЭРЭЭ БОЛОН ГАШУУНСУХАЙТ-ГАНЦМОД БООМТЫН ТӨСЛИЙН АСУУДЛААР ЗАСГИЙН ГАЗАР ХУРАЛДАЖ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     АЖИЛЧДЫН САРЫН ГОЛЧ ЦАЛИН III УЛИРЛЫН БАЙДЛААР ₮2 САЯ ОРЧИМ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     PROGRESSIVE EQUITY RESEARCH: 2025 ОН “PETRO MATAD” КОМПАНИД ЭЭЛТЭЙ БАЙХААР БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     2026 ОНЫГ ДУУСТАЛ ГАДААД АЖИЛТНЫ ТОО, ХУВЬ ХЭМЖЭЭГ ХЯЗГААРЛАХГҮЙ БАЙХ ХУУЛИЙН ТӨСӨЛ ӨРГӨН МЭДҮҮЛЭВ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19    

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Events

Events

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MBCC “Doing Business with Mongolia seminar and Christmas Receptiom” Dec 10. 2024 London UK MBCCI London UK Goodman LLC

NEWS

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Mongolia logs 927 new COVID-19 cases, total at 58,439 www.xinhuanet.com

May 31 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 927 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, bringing the total cases in the country to 58,439, the country's health ministry said Monday.
The ministry said that the latest cases were local infections, and that 6,026 samples were tested in the past day across the country.
The daily test positivity rate of COVID-19 has been increasing significantly in recent days, the ministry said, urging the public to follow health guidelines and always wear masks in crowded areas.
A total of 50,436 recoveries and 290 deaths have been registered since the outbreak was declared in the Asian country in mid-March 2020, according to the ministry.
The country launched a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in late February, aiming to cover at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million people.
Over 1,854,600 Mongolians have so far received their first dose, and over 1,229,200 Mongolians have been fully vaccinated.
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Putin is betting coal still has a future www.mining.com

European governments are drawing up plans to phase out coal, U.S. coal-fired power plants are being shuttered as prices of clean energy plummet, and new Asian projects are being scrapped as lenders back away from the dirtiest fossil fuel.
And Russia? President Vladimir Putin’s government is spending more than $10 billion on railroad upgrades that will help boost exports of the commodity. Authorities will use prisoners to help speed the work, reviving a reviled Soviet-era tradition.
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The project to modernize and expand railroads that run to Russia’s Far Eastern ports is part of a broader push to make the nation among the last standing in fossil fuel exports as other countries switch to greener alternatives. The government is betting that coal consumption will continue to rise in big Asian markets like China even as it dries up elsewhere.
“It’s realistic to expect Asian demand for imported coal to increase if conditions are right,” said Evgeniy Bragin, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at UMMC Holding, which owns a coal company in western Siberia’s Kuzbass region. “We need to keep developing and expanding the rail infrastructure so that we have the opportunity to export coal.’’
The latest 720 billion ruble ($9.8 billion) project to expand Russia’s two longest railroads — the Tsarist-era Trans-Siberian and Soviet Baikal-Amur Mainline that link western Russia with the Pacific Ocean— will aim to boost cargo capacity for coal and other goods to 182 million tons a year by 2024. Capacity already more than doubled to 144 million tons under a 520 billion ruble modernization plan that began in 2013. Putin urged faster progress on the next leg at a meeting with coal miners in March.
“Russia is trying to monetize its coal reserves fast enough that coal will contribute to GDP rather than being stuck in the ground,” said Madina Khrustaleva, an analyst who specializes in the region for TS Lombard in London.
Putin is betting that his country’s land border with China and good relations with President Xi Jinping make it a natural candidate to dominate exports to the nation that consumes more than half of the world’s coal. His case is helped by the fact that Australia, currently the number one coal exporter, is facing trade restrictions from China amid a diplomatic dispute over the origins of the coronavirus.
But the plan is fraught with risk, both for Russia’s economy and the planet. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends immediate phasing out of coal to avoid catastrophic global warming and the effects of climate change are expected to cost Russia billions in coming decades.
Earlier this month the International Energy Agency went one step further and said no new fossil-fuel infrastructure should be built if the world wants to keep global warming well below 1.5 degrees Celsius. With all but one of the top 10 economies committed to reaching net-zero emissions within decades, the IEA’s Net-Zero by 2050 Roadmap calls for phasing out all coal power plants without carbon capture as soon as 2040.
It’s also not a given that Asian coal demand will keep growing. Coal consumption in China is poised to reach a record this year and the country continues to build coal-fired power plants, but it also plans to start reducing consumption starting in 2026. At the same time, it’s increasing output from domestic mines, leaving less room for foreign supplies. Even in the IEA’s least climate-friendly scenarios, global coal demand is expected to stay flat in 2040 compared to 2019.
A coal strategy approved by the Russian government last year envisages a 10% increase in coal output from pre-pandemic levels by 2035 under the most conservative scenario, based on rising demand not just from China, but also India, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and possibly Indonesia.
The relatively low sulphur content of Russian coal might give it an edge in Korea, which has tightened pollution laws in recent years, but other Asian countries have struggled to secure funding for proposed plants and Indonesia said this week it won’t approve any new coal-fired power plants. At a Group of Seven nations meeting, environment ministers agreed to phase out support for building coal power plants without carbon capture before the end of this year.
For Putin there is more at stake than just money. At a video conference in March, he reminded government officials that the coal industry drives the local economies of several Russian regions that are home to about 11 million people. Unrest among coal miners helped put pressure on the government before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, though the sector is now a much smaller and less influential part of the economy.
“We need to carefully assess all possible scenarios in order to guarantee that our coal mining regions are developed even if global demand decreases,” Putin said.
The country’s biggest coal producers are privately run, meaning they aren’t facing the kind of financing problems currently being encountered by listed companies elsewhere as banks pull back funding for dirty energy. Suek Plc, owned by billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, and Kuzbassrazrezugol OJSC, controlled by Iskander Makhmudov, are both planning to increase output.
Russia also plans to boost coal production for steel making. A-Property, owned by Russian businessman Albert Avdolyan, bought the Elga coal mine in Russia’s Far Eastern region of Yakutia last year and plans to invest 130 billion rubles to expand output to 45 million tons of coal from the current 5 million tons by 2023. A third stage of Russia’s railroad expansion project will focus on boosting infrastructure for shipping coal out of Yakutia, a Russian Railways official said last month.
“In 2021, many Asia Pacific states have seen their economies recover from the pandemic,” said Oleg Korzhov, the CEO of Mechel PJSC, one of Russia’s biggest coal companies. “We expect that demand for metallurgical coal in Asia Pacific will remain high in the next five years.”
(By Yuliya Fedorinova and Aine Quinn, with assistance from Dan Murtaugh, Akshat Rathi and Ilya Arkhipov)
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Minister of Foreign Affairs B.Battsetseg begins her working visit to Russia www.montsame.mn

Starting from May 30, Minister of Foreign Affairs B.Battsetseg is currently on a working visit to the Russian Federation at the invitation of Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs S.V.Lavrov.
Upon entering the country’s border through the Altanbulag-Khiagt border checkpoint, the delegation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs B.Battsetseg was received by Minister of Culture of the Republic of Buryatia of the Russian Federation S.B.Dagaeva and Minister in charge of cooperation with Mongolia D.Sh.Chiripov.
After getting acquainted with the renovation works being carried out at the Khiagt border checkpoint, the Minister also became acquainted with the ‘Mongolia-Russia Friendship Museum’ and the Damdin Sukhbaatar House Museum, paying respect by laying flower wraiths at his statue.
First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Buryatia V.V.Mukhin received the delegation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs B.Battsetseg in the city of Ulan-Ude, discussing bilateral cooperation.
In the framework of the visit, the Foreign Minister will hold talks with her Russian counterpart S.V. Lavrov and exchange views on a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation. Furthermore, she will participate in some events to be organized in Moscow and Saint Petersburg on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and Russia.
Following the visit, Minister B.Battsetseg will also take part in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, where she will have several meetings with Russian officials.
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“USD 43 million recovered through efforts of government organizations” www.montsame.mn

The Investigation Division of the Independent Authority Against Corruption of Mongolia (IAAC) has recovered a total of 123.5 billion tugriks (US$43 million) as a result of investigating corruption case.
According to the press release posted by the IAAC, “Several high-level political officials have abused their power and made an illegal decision to sell 49 percent of the common stock of Mongolian-Russian joint venture Erdenet Mining Corporation and Mongolrostsvetmet LLC to the Trade and Development Bank-controlled Mongolian Copper Corporation LLC for US$400.2 million. A joint working group of the IAAC and the Economic Crimes Department of the Criminal Police have investigated the alleged criminal case of corruption.”
“An investigation has found that QSC LLC misappropriated 100 billion tugriks (US$35 million) transferred from Mongol Bank (Central Bank of Mongolia) under the “Debt Transfer Agreement” signed on April 06, 2016, as part of the measures to reduce the risk of insolvency.”
“Investigator’s statement No. 10 dated June 19, 2018, was sent to the Mongol Bank by the working group to eliminate the causes and circumstances that contributed to the crime, demanding the compensation of 100 billion tugriks (US$35 million) in damages to the state by exercising its right to unilaterally withdraw from the “Debt Transfer Agreement” that was misappropriated.”
“In accordance with the investigator’s statement, Mongol Bank terminated the agreement and started to compensate the government by recovering the said amount from QSC LLC. As a result of cooperation between the government organizations, the company has transferred the last payment of 61.8 billion tugriks (US$21.6 million) on May 6, 2021, and the total loss of 123.5 billion tugriks (43 million) was fully recovered.”
Source: Independent Authority Against Corruption
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China allows couples to have three children www.bbc.com

China has announced that it will allow couples to have up to three children, after census data showed a steep decline in birth rates.
China scrapped its decades-old one-child policy in 2016, replacing it with a two-child limit which has failed to lead to a sustained upsurge in births.
The cost of raising children in cities has deterred many Chinese couples.
The latest move was approved by President Xi Jinping in a politburo meeting, state media say.
It will come with "supportive measures, which will be conducive to improving our country's population structure, fulfilling the country's strategy of actively coping with an ageing population and maintaining the advantage, endowment of human resources", according to Xinhua news agency.
"If relaxing the birth policy was effective, the current two-child policy should have proven to be effective too," Hao Zhou, a senior economist at Commerzbank, told Reuters news agency.
"But who wants to have three kids? Young people could have two kids at most. The fundamental issue is living costs are too high and life pressures are too huge."
line
Analysis box by Stephen McDonell, China correspondent
On a rainy, bleak day in Beijing I was out buying a coffee when the news broke.
People started looking down at their phones as they beeped and whirred with the headline flashing across their screens - China to allow couples to have three children.
This is big news in a country which didn't start suddenly producing more babies when the one-child policy eased off to two.
In fact, many are asking how a three-child policy might mean more children when the two-child version didn't and why birth restrictions have remained here at all given the demographic trend.
Very good questions.
One thought is that, amongst those prepared to have two children, at least some parents will have three.
However, I have interviewed many young Chinese couples about this subject and it is hard to find those who want bigger families these days.
Generations of Chinese people have lived without siblings and are used to small families - affluence has meant less need for multiple children to become family-supporting workers, and young professionals say they'd rather give one child more advantages than spread their income amongst several kids.
line
What did the census say?
The census, released earlier this month, showed that around 12 million babies were born last year - a significant decrease from the 18 million in 2016, and the lowest number of births recorded since the 1960s.
The census was conducted in late 2020 where some seven million census takers had gone door to door to collect information from Chinese households.
Graph showing China's falling birth rate
Given the sheer number of people surveyed, it is considered the most comprehensive resource on China's population, which is important for future planning.
It was widely expected after the census data results were released that China would relax its family policy rules.
line
'Too many big pressures'
By Kerry Allen, China Media Analyst
China's leading media are giving a lot of fanfare to the "three-child policy".
Newspaper People's Daily, broadcaster CCTV and news agency Xinhua are all posting happy cartoon images of children today on their social media pages and saying that the new policy has "arrived".
It is already the top talking point on popular social network Sina Weibo - posts mentioning the new policy have already racked up tens of thousands of views, and hundreds of thousands of comments.
More than 180,000 users have commented on Xinhua's upbeat post, and the ones with the most likes do not look upon the policy kindly.
"There are too many big pressures in life at the moment," one user says, "Young people are not willing to have kids."
Many talk about modern day "workplace dilemmas" for people leaving on maternity/paternity leave and there not being even "the most basic reproductive benefits".
And with a shrinking labour market, young Chinese people today accept that they have to work longer hours. Overtime and overwork are endemic.
More women meanwhile are choosing to pursue further education and employment, rather than settle down early to start a family.
line
What were China's previous policies?
The government's move in 2016 to allow couples to have two children failed to reverse the country's falling birth rate despite a two-year increase immediately afterwards.
Yue Su, principal economist from The Economist Intelligence Unit, said: "While the second-child policy had a positive impact on the birth rate, it proved short-term in nature."
China's population trends have over the years been largely shaped by the one-child policy, which was introduced in 1979 to slow population growth.
Families that violated the rules faced fines, loss of employment and sometimes forced abortions.
The one-child policy also led to a severe gender imbalance in the country - in a culture that historically favours boys over girls.
"This poses problems for the marriage market, especially for men with less socioeconomic resources," Dr Mu Zheng, from the National University of Singapore's sociology department, said.
Graphic
White space
Can China lift birth restrictions entirely?
Ahead of China's latest census, experts had speculated that birth restrictions might be lifted entirely - though it appears as though China is treading cautiously.
But others said that such a move could potentially lead to "other problems" - pointing out the huge disparity between city dwellers and rural people.
As much as women living in expensive cities such as Beijing and Shanghai may wish to delay or avoid childbirth, those in the countryside are likely to still follow tradition and want large families, they say.
"If we free up policy, people in the countryside could be more willing to give birth than those in the cities, and there could be other problems," a policy insider had earlier told Reuters, noting that it could lead to poverty and employment pressures among rural families.
Experts had earlier warned that any impact on China's population, such as a decline, could have a vast effect on other parts of the world.
Dr Yi Fuxian, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said: "China's economy has grown very quickly, and many industries in the world rely on China. The scope of the impact of a population decline would be very wide."
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DRC concentrate export ban may tighten global copper, cobalt supply www.mining.com

The Democratic Republic of Congo has reinstated an export ban on copper and cobalt concentrates, but will allow mining companies that hold waivers to continue with shipments.
Congo, the world’s no.1 cobalt producer and Africa’s biggest copper miner, banned exports of concentrates in 2013 to encourage miners to process and refine the ore locally.
Insufficient smelting capacity, however, has driven the Congolese government to repeatedly issue waivers. In August last year, the mining ministry granted an indefinite moratorium for all minerals exports, except copper concentrate, pending discussions with miners.
The ban freeze ended on April 12 and was replaced by a framework allowing the Minister of Mines to grant individual exceptions on a case-by-case basis following an application by an interested party.
Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN), which announced the beginning of copper concentrate production at its Kamoa-Kakula project in the DRC this week, said on Friday the export ban is unlikely to affect the operation.
“The rules recognize that a derogation may be justified for a number of reasons,” president and CFO Marna Cloete said in a statement. “Kamoa Copper has filed the necessary application materials and we have had constructive discussions with the Minister of Mines on obtaining a derogation for Kamoa-Kakula given current limitations on smelting capacity in-country.”
Haut-Katanga Governor Jacques Kyabula Katwe, told Reuters on Friday the country was still dealing with power deficits, which prevents mining companies from building processing facilities.
“It’s better to let them [mining companies] work, but that they show us their plans for increasing smelting capacity,” he said.
Ivanhoe said the company will utilize local smelter capacity as much as possible, and is assessing the construction of its own smelting complex at Kamoa-Kakula to produce blister and anode copper.
Historic moment
Kicking off production at Kakula, the first mine planned at Ivanhoe’s concession, marked a momentous event for the copper market.
Most of the current top producing mines are decades old and, except rare exceptions such as SolGold’s Cascabel in Ecuador and Anglo American’s Quellaveco project in Peru, there haven’t been major new discoveries in years.
While copper projects are in the pipeline, producers are wary of repeating oversupply mistakes of past cycles by speeding up plans at a time when mines are getting a lot trickier and pricier to build — one reason why copper prices have traded near decade highs at above $10,000 a tonne.
Click here for an interactive chart of copper prices
A ban on exports of such metals from the DRC could put more pressure on global copper and cobalt supply. Analysts expects shortages in both markets to become evident next year.
The copper industry needs to spend upwards of $100 billion to close what could be an annual supply deficit of 4.7 million metric tonnes by 2030, according to estimates from CRU Group. The potential shortfall could reach 10 million tonnes if no mines get built, commodities trader Trafigura has said.
Commodity trader and miner Glencore (LON: GLEN) is expected restart operations at its DRC operation in 2022. Mutanda is the world’s biggest cobalt mine and also produces large amounts of copper.
Resumption of operations at the mine could help ease forecast undersupply, potentially capping further price gains.
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Mongolia confirms 891 new COVID-19 cases www.xinhuanet.com

Mongolia's COVID-19 tally rose by 891 to 57,512 in the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said Sunday.
The ministry said that the latest cases were local infections, and that 7,837 samples were tested in the past day across the country.
Meanwhile, Mongolia's total death toll reached 286 with four new fatalities, and 434 more people have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries to 49,754, according to the ministry.
The Asian country launched a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in late February, aiming to cover at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million people.
Over 1,852,500 Mongolians have so far received their first dose, and over 1,174,600 of them have been fully vaccinated.
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Lost in remote Mongolia, I found a serendipitous warm welcome in the steppe www.thestar.com

As soon as the driver of our uazik, a Soviet-era off-roading vehicle, stops in the middle of the steppe for the third time, I know it: We are lost. Together with my guide, Soyolo Baljinnyum, they take out a large paper map with well-worn corners, tracing roads with fingers stiffened in the cold. If the 24-hour flight from Chicago hadn’t already instilled a sense of distance, it sinks in now. I’m far from home.
Earlier in the day, we’d left Ulaanbaatar, an ever-growing metropolis where monasteries coexist with megamalls and residential highrises. Nearly half of Mongolia’s 3.3 million residents live in the capital; more arrive every year, driven away from their nomadic herder lifestyles in part by the changing climate. (Drier pastures in summer make animals more vulnerable to harsher winter conditions, and livestock losses are often irrecoverable for many families.)
But as soon as we exit the city, we’re in a different place. Mongolia has one of the lowest population densities on the planet, and I feel the rush of excitement. I’m finally seeing the terrain I’d dreamed about for so long. We drive across the wind- and snow-swept landscape for hours without encountering another vehicle or human.
An uazik, in the middle of (seemingly) nowhere.
The Land of the Eternal Blue Sky, as the country is often called, stretches on both sides of the road. Herds of horses roam freely and shaman statues laden with cartons of milk and stacks of cookies — offerings to the spirits — punctuate our journey. We stop at several of these ancient signposts and ask the spirits for a safe passage: in order to continue our trip north, we’re about to get into the dangerous off-roads.
I’ve tapped Baljinnyum, owner-operator of Adventure Rider Mongolia, to take me to Lake Khuvsgul, Mongolia’s deepest lake, on the border with Russia, where a festival of ice takes place every spring. To get there, we zigzag across northern Mongolia’s grasslands and steppes, taiga forests and rolling hills, and I relish the opportunity to see this kaleidoscope of landscapes (despite the heavily bumpy drive).
As we stop to let a flock of sheep cross the barely visible dust road, I think of the wild ride Mongolia has been on over the recent decades. The country was transformed in the 1990s when the socialist system gave way to a rapidly growing market economy.
Coal, copper, oil and gold mining fuelled the run, and while it lifted many out of poverty, it introduced challenges: environmental concerns, reliance on volatile global commodity prices, and an overdependence on resources that have a tendency to … run out. The government recently announced plans to diversify away from mining in the new decade, making tour operators like Baljinnyum hopeful.
I step outside the uazik to stretch my legs and watch the last sun rays disappear behind the nearby hill. As soon as they do, the temperature drops sharply and the incessant wind of the steppes picks up. “We are lost,” Baljinnyum tells me, echoing my own instincts. And even though I don’t see another soul around, he continues, “We’ll have to spend the night here.”
The spirits must be looking over us: A few minutes later, a stranger approaches from afar and, after a short exchange with Baljinnyum, gestures to follow him. Our uazik turns the corner and we arrive at a modest family settlement: two solar-powered gers huddled together amid the flat, treeless land.
Before we enter one of the gers, Baljinnyum explains the rules of engagement. “Once inside, step to the left — that’s the area for the guests; the host always sits on the right. Please be polite and accept whatever is offered to you.” In our case, it’s tobacco snuff passed around in a jade green bottle and a cup of suutei tsai, a buttered, salty milk tea that soothes my joints after a daylong tumble of a ride.
Later, I leave the ger for a second and pause in awe. The dusk sky has turned a shade of violet I’ve never seen in my nearly four-decade-long peripatetic life. There’s no light pollution and the early stars are sparkling on the horizon. The silence feels so unfamiliar, I wonder if there’s anyone else left in the world.
At dinner, we’re treated to horse meat dumplings, a rare delicacy from a recent Lunar New Year celebration. A few motorbikes whiz up to the gers outside. As we pass around shots of homemade vodka, more people crowd in to welcome us, the visitors. To me, this is the deeply binding part of travel that’s vanishing from our world: finding oneself at the mercy of strangers and their kindness on the road.
After the morning’s breakfast of tsai and sizzling hot noodle soup, we bid our goodbyes outside. The two generations of Mongolian nomads — mother and father, their son and daughter-in-law — wave until I can no longer see them in my rearview mirror. We keep due north and eventually arrive at Lake Khuvsgul for the festivities, but the unexpected night in the steppe is the singular gift I won’t soon forget.
Mongolia has ambitious plans to receive 1 million visitors a year in the near future, and while this goal has been paused with the pandemic, the country is gearing up for a travel boom when borders can safely reopen. A new airport south of Ulaanbaatar, for example, will triple existing capacity. With the tourism infrastructure set to grow, impromptu encounters in the wild may become far more fleeting. As Mongolia opens up to the rest of the world, I quietly hope its adventurous essence will stay intact.
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Mongolians abroad start voting for presidential election www.montsame.mn

On May 30, Sunday, Mongolian citizen voters residing in foreign countries began casting their ballot for the Mongolian presidential election ahead of the polling day inside the country.
The early voting for the 2021 presidential election is taking place between May 30 and 31 at 45 diplomatic missions of Mongolia in 30 countries around the world. A total of 7,394 are registered to vote for the election at appropriate Mongolian embassies, resident missions and consulates.
Mongolians inside the home country are scheduled to vote on June 9, Wednesday. Three candidates - U. Khurelsukh from the Mongolian People’s Party, S. Erdene from the Democratic Party and D. Enkhbat from the Right Person Electorate Coalition - are vying for the presidency.
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French oil giant Total rebrands in shift to renewables www.bbc.com

Oil and gas giant Total will be rebranded as TotalEnergies as it shifts some of its focus towards renewable energy sources.
Shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the move and approved the firm's environmental goals.
"We want to become a sort of green energy major," said chief executive Patrick Pouyanné.
Big energy firms are coming under increasing pressure to adjust to a lower-carbon world.
On Wednesday, a small hedge fund investor succeeded in ousting two board members at Exxon in the US, in a bid to alter the firm's direction on climate change.
And a court in the Netherlands ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its emissions more quickly than the Anglo-Dutch oil firm had planned.
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Total, the world's fourth-largest privately-owned oil and gas producer, is aiming to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, in part by investing in more solar and wind power projects.
While several small investors opposed the company's plans at the annual general meeting, arguing they did not go far enough, the resolution was passed with more than 90% of the vote.
European energy firms have moved more quickly than their US counterparts to begin the transition away from fossil fuels, said Mike Coffin, senior analyst in oil and gas at financial think tank Carbon Tracker.
"Total we see in the upper tier, ranking alongside BP, but below Eni," he said. "They don't fulfil all our hallmarks of Paris [climate treaty] compliance, but above Shell and certainly above the North American companies."
In February, announcing the planned rebranding, Mr Pouyanné said the new name would symbolise Total's "new commitment to be a leader in a world with more energies and fewer emissions".
He said the company would have to go through "a genuine transformation" to meet its net zero target by 2050.
Climate targets
The International Energy Agency surprised the energy market this month with a report suggesting fossil fuel production needed to slow down much more quickly than firms were planning for.
The IEA said there could be no new investment in fossil fuel projects after this year, if the world wanted to reach net zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century.
Carbon Tracker says global energy firms and state-owned producers have fossil fuel reserves on their books that will have to be left unexploited, if the world is to have any chance of meeting its carbon emissions targets.
Hedge funds, as well as large investors like Blackrock and pension funds, were beginning to recognise that failing to adjust plans in the light of climate targets represented a financial risk to companies they invest in, Mr Coffin said.
"From an environmental perspective, we want these fossil fuels to stay in the ground - they're unburnable carbon," he said.
"From an investment perspective, you don't want to sanction them because you're wasting your capital. You won't see the historic returns we've seen from oil and gas because of the slowdown in demand."
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