Moscow: Honorary Representative Telo Tulku Rinpoche is on a visit to Mongolia from 13th to 23rd December. The last visit to Mongolia was in the fall of 2019. Since then, there have been many changes in Mongolia in various sectors of Mongolian Life.

In 2020, Mongolia held parliament elections, and also a new President was elected in 2021 also the head of the Buddhist of Mongolia Khambo Lama Cho Gyamtso was conferred with the title of “Nomin Khambo Lama” of Mongolia. Honorary representative Telo Tulku Rinpoche was received by The Head of the Buddhist of Mongolia, Nomin Khambo lama at his cabinet. “On behalf of H.H. the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration, It is my honor to congratulate you on your new title which I am confident will bring immense benefit for the future development of your spiritual activities across Mongolia. There is no denial of the historical facts between Mongolia and Tibet. Even through difficult periods, we have stood by each other in spirit and have never forgotten the bond between the two people” Said Honorary Representative Telo Tulku Rinpoche.

In the latter part of the day, Telo Tulku Rinpoche was received by the Indian Ambassador to Mongolia, Mr. MP Singh, and Telo Tulku Rinpoche gave a briefing on Mongolia-Tibet relations and discussed future projects to be implemented and discussed. Currently, there are about 30 Tibetan living in Mongolia which consists of mostly monks from various Monasteries and traditions. A meeting was held to discuss establishing Tibetan Association. Honorary Telo Tulku Rinpoche said “The future establishment of the Tibetan Association is to sustain the unity among Tibetans living abroad as well as finding ways of how to represent the Tibet issues on a larger scale and how to proceed with the various activities as a registered entity rather than an unrecognized or unregistered organization. We all have a moral responsibility to never forget our movement for justice as well as protection of our Rights as Tibetan no matter where we live today”. Said Telo Tulku Rinpoche. Telo Tulku Rinpoche gave a briefing to the Tibetan Community about the CTA activities since the newly elected Sikyong Penpa Tsering and MP’s. The meeting was followed by a dinner hosted by the Tibetan Community.

In the coming days, Telo Tulku Rinpoche will engage in meeting with local Buddhist communities, NGO’s and various members in the academic as well members in the government.

– Report filed by OOT Moscow

The project is situated around 20 km from the Chinese-Mongolian border and close to the northern China gas transmission and distribution network.

Sydney-listed Tamaska Oil and Gas has signed an agreement to acquire Telmen Energy, which holds a 100% interest in the Gurvantes XXXV coalbed methane (CBM) project in Mongolia, it said on December 16.

The project covers an area of 8,400 km2 and is situated around 20 km from the Chinese-Mongolian border and close to the northern China gas transmission and distribution network.

Telmen is an unlisted Australian company that owns 100% of Telmen Resource, a Mongolian incorporated entity, which in turn holds a 100% interest in the Gurvantes project.

Telmen expects to start a high-impact drilling programme at the Gurvantes project in Q1 2022, Tamaska said. The first phase of the exploration programme will include the drilling of at least four fully tested cored holes where data will be gathered to confirm coal thickness, gas contents, gas composition and permeability.

The exploration programme is majority funded via a farmout agreement between Telmen and Talon Energy, another Sydney-listed company. The agreement requires Talon to spend $4.65mn to earn a 33% working interest in the production sharing contract. Telmen will remain as the operator under the terms of the farmout agreement.

A maiden independent prospective resource assessment was completed in August this year by NSAI and delivered a risked best case resource of 5.96 trillion ft3, Tamaska said.

In the first 11 months of 2021, Mongolia traded with 156 countries from all over the world, and the total trade turnover reached USD 15.0 billion, of which USD 8.8 billion were exports and USD 6.2 billion were imports. The total foreign trade turnover increased by USD 3.3 billion (27.9 percent), where exports increased by USD 2.0 billion (28.8 percent) and imports increased by USD 1.3 billion (26.6 percent) compared to the same period of the previous year.

In November 2021, exports reached USD 1.3 billion, increased by USD 182.2 million (16.2 percent) and imports reached USD 542.8 million, increased by USD 24.2 million (4.7 percent) compared to the previous month.

The foreign trade balance was in surplus of USD 2.6 billion in the first 11 months of 2021, increased by USD 673.3 million (34.2 percent) compared to the previous year. In November 2021, the trade balance surplus reached USD 763.5 million, increased by USD 158.0 million (26.1 percent) from previous month. The trade with China reached USD 9.7 billion in the first 11 months of 2021, which is 64.6 percent of the total trade turnover.

Bituminous coal and copper concentrates accounted for 31.5 percent and 38.6 percent of total exports to China, respectively, gold accounted for 98.1 percent and 65.7 percent of total export to Switzerland and the Republic of Korea.

In the first 11 months of 2021, USD 2.0 billion increase in exports from the previous year was resulted from USD 1.3 billion increase in copper concentrates and USD 608.3 million increase in coal exports.

Also, increase in export was due to rising world prices for mining products. For example, the export of copper concentrate volume is same as compared to the previous year, however the value increased by 85.5 percent compared to the previous year. In November of 2021, USD 182.2 million increase in exports from the previous month was mainly due to USD 155.6 million increase in coal exports.

In the first 11 months of 2021, 37.9 percent of the total imports were from China, 27.7 percent -- from Russia, 6.6 percent -- from Japan, 4.3 percent -- from the Republic of Korea, 3.3 percent -- from Germany and 3.1 percent -- from USA, which are accounting for 83.1 percent of the total imports.

In the first 11 months 2021, 50.8 percent of the total imports from Russia were petroleum products, 70.5 percent of the total imports from Japan -- cars, and 5.0 percent of the total imports from China -- electricity, 11.9 percent -- trucks and 83.1 percent -- imports of other products. The USD 1.3 billion increase in imports from the previous year was mainly due to USD 37.3 million increase in wheat, USD 112.5 million increase in trucks, USD 83.8 million increase in cars and USD 126.9 million increase in diesel.

Exports of mineral products, natural or cultured stones, precious metal, jewelry and textile articles products made up 96.4 percent of the total export. On the other hand, 64.3 percent of the total imports were mineral products, machinery, equipment, electric appliances, transport vehicle and its spare parts and food products.

Source: National Statistics Office

A leather processing factory with an annual capacity of one million animal skins and hides launched its operation on December 15 in Uvurkhangai aimag.

‘Skin future’ LLC, ‘Wool future’ LLC and the Mongolian Association of Leather Industry (MALI) jointly established the factory with an investment of MNT 2.7 billion.

The factory has a sewage treatment facility with a capacity of 700 cubic meters/day .

Governor of Uvurkhangai aimag A.Ishdorj said, “I am delighted that the establishment of the factory creates more than 100 jobs and gives the opportunity of increasing income to herder households while turning the devalued animal skins and hides into the value-added products and supplying it to the market.”

Global crude production is expected to drop 30% by the end of the current decade due to underinvestment in oil and gas, according to Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.

“We’re heading toward a phase that could be dangerous if there’s not enough spending on energy,” Abdulaziz bin Salman said, as quoted by Bloomberg.

He warned that falling investment in fossil fuels could result in an “energy crisis.”

According to the official, oil output may decline by as much as 30 million barrels per day by 2030.

He urged energy corporations and investors to ignore “scary messages” about oil and gas. A similar warning was voiced by Saudi finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is currently trying to raise its production capacity to 13 million barrels a day from 12 million by 2027. The push is out of tune with the latest call from the International Energy Agency for the cessation of new investment in fossil fuel, that comes as part of the plan to neutralize carbon emissions by 2050.

According to data tracked by the International Energy Forum, a Riyadh-based think tank, global spending on energy projects plummeted by 30% to $309 billion during pandemic-hit 2020, recovering just slightly this year.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has pledged to attend the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, making him the first major western leader to indicate his attendance.

His remarks came in a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who said he looked forward to a "get-together".

It comes as a growing number of countries have joined a diplomatic boycott of the Games.

This is due to alleged human rights abuses in China, which Beijing denies.

"I would like to point out that we always support each other when it comes to international sports cooperation, including our position against attempts to politicise sports and the Olympic Movement," said Mr Putin in comments carried by state-owned media outlet The Global Times.

China has been accused of genocide in its repression of the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang - an allegation it has repeatedly rejected.

China's suppression of political freedoms in Hong Kong and concerns for Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, who was not seen in public for weeks after she accused a top government official of sexual assault in November are also among the diplomatic issues that have arisen.

The US, UK and Australia and Canada have said their high-level officials will not be attending the winter Games, which will take place in February, as a result.

However, athletes from these countries will still be in attendance.

China has taken aim at countries joining the diplomatic boycott, saying they would "pay the price for their mistaken acts".

"The United States, Britain and Australia have used the Olympics platform for political manipulation," Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson at the Chinese foreign ministry, said.

On Thursday, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also added that he had no plans to attend the Games at the moment.

Russia under Mr Putin has forged extensive economic, military and scientific ties with China.

Kyrgyzstan is suing Canada’s Centerra Gold (TSX: CG) over alleged cyber-security and employee rights violations at its formerly owned Kumtor gold mine, in the latest chapter of an ongoing dispute between the parties over the expropriated asset.

The legal challenge claims that Centerra has blocked user and administrator access to Kumtor’s computers since May 2021, shortly before the government appointed a temporary external manager at the mine.

The Toronto-based miner and the Kyrgyz government have clashed over financial and environmental issues related to the mine for years. Their standoff took a turn for the worse in May, when the nation took control of the mine, alleging that Centerra was running it in a dangerous way for both the environment and nearby communities.

“Once again, it appears that the Kyrgyz government is trying to divert attention from the fact that it sent secret police to seize the Kumtor gold mine,” a spokesperson for Centerra Gold said in an emailed statement.

“As we have said previously, when government authorities confiscated computers and passwords of individual Kumtor employees, Centerra’s global IT systems restricted user access to preserve the integrity of the organization’s global IT infrastructure and its confidential information. The mine’s safety systems were not impacted,” he noted.

The company responded by suing former director Tengiz Bolturuk, a dual Canadian and Kyrgyz citizen. Centerra says the former board member secretly co-operated with Canadian and US lawyers, as well as with the government of Kyrgyzstan to stage the mine expropriation.

In late August, the miner said it had obtained photographic evidence that there are at least 40 meters of water at the bottom of the Kumtor gold mine and “abnormally” large amounts running down the pit walls, which it said could lead to catastrophic events.

Kumtor was the largest of Centerra’s gold mines, contributing with more than 50% of the company’s total output.

The operation is also crucial to Kyrgyzstan. The mine accounts for a fifth of the ex-Soviet country’s total industrial output and has produced more than 13.2 million ounces of gold between 1997 and the end of 2020. Last year’s output was slightly over 556,000 ounces.

Former President interrogated

The country is also in the midst of an investigation into alleged bribes paid by Centerra Gold to top Kyrgyz officials to obtain permits for Kumtor.

Local media reported on Wednesday that ousted first president of independent Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akaev, was brought to capital city Bishkek for the second time since August for questioning in connection with the probe into possible corruption around the mine.

The country’s Committee for National Security (UKMK) believes that Centerra paid bribes to top Kyrgyz officials, including Akaev, and two other former presidents.

The company denies the accusations and has branded the expropriation of Kumtor “wrongful and illegal.”

It has also expressed concerns about the lack of transparency of the operations at the mine since the government took control of it.

Centerra says Kumtor has underperformed the 2021 mine plan for June through September by 24%. That means the operation’s current management poured about KGS 6.2 billion ($73.5 million) less gold, based on the average gold price for the period.

At a parliamentary session on Monday, Kyrgyz Finance Minister Almaz Baketaev was unable to answer a lawmaker’s question on the amount of gold produced at Kumtor while under government control, as well as to where and for what price that gold has been sold, Radio Free Europe reported.

Local media also reported on Wednesday that, based on data provided by the country’s Ministry of Finance, revenues from the mine have decreased by KGS 2,620 billion (almost $31m), or by 27.2% so far this year, compared to 2020.

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov told reporters that he has visited the mine every month since May and that “everything is going according to plan.”

(With files from Reuters)

The Ministry of Health reported today, December 16 that 285 СOVID-19 infections and two deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours. In detail, 194 cases were reported in Ulaanbaatar city, with 86 cases in 21 provinces and 5 imported cases.

Today, the cumulative infection tally in Mongolia has increased to 387,446, with the death toll to 1,968. Currently, 2,770 people are receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19 whilst 4,601 people with mild symptoms are being treated at home.

The coverage of 1st dose has reached 69.6 percent (2,264,125), 2nd dose – 66.4 percent (2,159,483) and 3rd dose or a booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines – 26.0 percent (833,158) of the total population.

On December 14, B. Munkhjin, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, reported that the operation to import goods and products from Erlian border checkpoint of China is being caried out in phases.

From December 10, 150 vehicles that had been stuck at the Erlian checkpoint for 60 days have begun to be moved to the middle zone at the borders between the two countries. Although more than 50 vehicles crossed the border last Saturday and Sunday, the movement stopped on Sunday. The Erlian side started to conduct assessment on how to improve the condition of isolation facilities for drivers entering the middle zone, what works should be done in the parking space.

“The assessment is the part of the process for import of goods and products from Erlian border checkpoint and it does not mean that the Erlian border checkpoint has closed again. Once the assessment is completed, the import operation will continue,” highlighted B.Munkhjin.

The new coronavirus variant Omicron is spreading across the globe at an unprecedented rate, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned

Cases of the heavily mutated variant have been confirmed in 77 countries.

But at a press conference, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was probably in many others that had yet to detect it.

Dr Tedros said he was concerned that not enough was being done to tackle the variant.

"Surely, we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus at our peril. Even if Omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems," he said.

The Omicron variant was first identified in South Africa in November, and the country has since seen a surge in infections. President Cyril Ramaphosa has tested positive for Covid-19, and is currently isolating with mild symptoms.

A number of countries have introduced travel bans affecting South Africa and its neighbours following the emergence of Omicron, but this has failed to stop it from spreading around the world.

In other developments

More than 800,000 Americans have now died from the coronavirus - the highest recorded national death toll from the global pandemic

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson won backing for Covid passes in England, despite the biggest revolt by members of his party since he became PM

The UK government also announced on Tuesday that all 11 countries on its travel red list would be taken off, with Health Secretary Sajid Javid saying the Omicron variant had spread so widely the rules no longer had much purpose.

Italy has extended a state of emergency until 31 March 2022, citing concerns over Omicron. The measures, which were due to expire at the end of December, give the government more power to limit travel and public gatherings

The Netherlands says it will close primary schools a week before the Christmas holidays are due to start, in a pre-emptive bid to tackle infections

Norway has announced a ban on serving alcohol in bars and restaurants, among other measures

In the press conference on Tuesday, Dr Tedros reiterated concerns about vaccine inequity, as some countries accelerate rollouts of a booster shot in response to Omicron.

Recent studies of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine showed it produced far fewer neutralising antibodies against Omicron than against the original strain, but that this deficit could be reversed by a third, booster, jab.

Media caption,

What we know about Omicron and its impact on Africa

Dr Tedros said boosters "could play an important role" in curbing the spread of Covid-19, but that it was "a question of prioritisation".

"The order matters. Giving boosters to groups at low risk of severe disease or death simply endangers the lives of those at high risk who are still waiting for their primary doses because of supply constraints," he said.

Supplies to the global vaccine-sharing programme Covax have increased in recent months.

However, world health officials fear a shortfall of tens of millions of doses - like the one which occurred in the middle of this year when India suspended its vaccine exports - could happen again.

In poorer countries, some vulnerable people are yet to receive a single dose.