July 26 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia is planning to inoculate its citizens with a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Health Minister Sereejav Enkhbold said Monday.

Enkhbold made the remarks during a meeting of the national disaster risk reduction council.

"We are preparing to introduce the third doses of COVID-19 vaccine starting late August as part of further measures to combat the pandemic," he said.

The Asian country began a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in late February, aiming to cover at least 60 percent of its 3.3-million population.

Close to 66 percent of the country's population has received a first dose of vaccine and over 59 percent received two jabs. Enditem

The visit of Prime Minister of Mongolia L.Oyun-Erdene to Japan which took place between July 21 and 25 wrapped up today. On his way back to Mongolia, the PM is scheduled to make a stop in the Republic of Korea to meet Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum.

At the meeting, the PMs of the two countries will exchange views on the management of the pandemic response, as well as bilateral relations, cooperation and ongoing projects and programs.

During his visit to Japan, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene has paid a courtesy call on His Majesty the Emperor Naruhito and held a meeting with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Moreover, the PM attended the opening ceremony of the Tokyo-2020 Summer Olympics and held meetings with Nishimura Yasutoshi, Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, COVID-19 disease control, and Social Security Reform, and Takaji Wakita, Director of Japanese National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Toshihiro Nikai, Secretary-General of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Motoo Hayashi, Chairman of Japan-Mongolia Parliamentary Friendship League and league member Kobayashi to discuss about Mongolia-Japan bilateral ties and cooperation as well as timely issues.

Ulaanbaatar city-owned Ulaanbaatar Investment and Management company has previously reported that the ‘Morning Ulaanbaatar’ project will launch within July 2021.

Within the framework of the project, morning streets will be built at three different locations of Ulaanbaatar city and will remain open to public in certain schedules. The open-air public streets will have a public service facility, and will be dedicated to economic, cultural and social activities, leisure strolling, shopping and eating, etc. The streets’ neighborhood will also offer free Wi-Fi to the public to use for gain access to public services.

The streets will be established at the Juulchin Street, Jamiyan-Gun Street and Prime Minister A.Amar’s Street in the capital city. As of today, the Juulchin Street or publicly known as ‘Gutliin - 22’ went under landscaping and a car-free morning street at the location has opened.

At the three locations, the morning streets will be open in a limited time, in particular, the Juulchin Street – the morning street will stay open to public between 6 AM and 9 PM on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Jamiyan-Gun Street during the weekends, and the Prime Minister A.Amar’s Street – a public leisure street will open at 8 AM-12 AM on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

July 26 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 cases in Mongolia rose by 1,249 over the past 24 hours to 157,974, the country's health ministry said on Monday.

A total of 6,151 samples were tested in the past day, and the latest confirmed cases were local infections, the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, eight more deaths were recorded in the past day, pushing the total deaths to 809, said the ministry.

The Asian country began a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in late February, aiming to cover at least 60 percent of its population.

So far, 59.3 percent of the country's population have been vaccinated, according to the ministry. Enditem

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Ned Price:

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met Speaker of the Mongolian Parliament Zandanshatar, Foreign Minister Battsetseg, and Deputy Foreign Minister Munkhjin during her visit to Ulaanbaatar from July 23 to July 25. During her meetings, the Deputy Secretary highlighted the importance of the U.S.-Mongolia Strategic Partnership and discussed ways to strengthen Mongolia’s democratic institutions, enhance its sovereignty, and diversify its economy. The Deputy Secretary met with members of the Mongolian Armed Forces to express appreciation for Mongolia’s sustained commitment to peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan. The Deputy Secretary also visited the Choijin Lama Temple Museum and learned about the preservation of Mongolian culture, from religious sites to traditional Mongolian script. She also met with staff at Mongolia’s LGBT Center to learn about their work in promoting human rights for all people.

On July 24, Mongolian judoka M.Urantsetseg faced off against Portuguese judoka Catarina Costa in the bronze medal match for the women’s 48 kg weight class, coming out victorious with 10-0 by applying the kansetsu-waza (joint lock) technique.

With this, State Honored Athlete M.Urantsetseg has won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, winning the first medal for the National Olympic Team. In 2020, she achieved the Guinness World Record for the most medals won on the IJF World Tour.

The gold medal match took place between Funa Tonaki of Japan and Distria Krasniqi of Kosovo, with the Kosovar judoka defeating her opponent by scoring a wazari.

Dalian iron ore was set on Friday for its steepest weekly drop in 17 months, as China’s intensified drive to lower steel output prompts mills to start cutting production to avoid sanctions.

The most active September contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange has fallen roughly 10% from last week, its biggest weekly drop since February 2020, and is now off 17% from a record peak touched in May.

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Iron ore’s most-traded August contract on the Singapore Exchange dipped 0.2% to $197.25 a tonne.

According to Fastmarkets MB, benchmark 62% Fe fines imported into Northern China were changing hands for $201.33 a tonne on Friday, down 0.5% from Thursday’s closing.

China has stepped up efforts to reduce output of the construction and manufacturing material in line with its carbon emission reduction goal.

Authorities have asked steel mills to ensure their output this year will be no more than 2020 volumes, after first-half production rose roughly 12% from the same period last year.

In China’s top steelmaking city of Tangshan, “authorities have vowed to punish violations of production restrictions”, ANZ commodity strategists said in a note.

“Some independent rolled steel firms halted production in early July, with more closures expected in coming months,” they said.

Benchmark 62%-grade iron ore’s spot price in China hit a six-week low of $209.50 a tonne on Thursday, SteelHome consultancy data showed.

Global production

Global steel production gained 11.6% year-on-year in June, and crude steel output rose to 167.9 million tonnes during the month, World Steel Association data showed on Friday

Compared to the previous month, average daily steel production worldwide fell by 0.5% in June, while Chinese production declined by 2.5%, Kieran Clancy, assistant commodities economist at Capital Economics said in a note.

“Government-imposed environmental controls in China weighed heavily on steel production there, and renewed efforts to clamp down on excess steelmaking capacity in recent weeks suggest it will fall further in the months ahead,” Clancy said.

Enterprises accounting for 61% of China’s steel output have completed or are implementing ultra-low emission reforms, an industry group said earlier this month.

Outside China, however, steel production was stronger in June, probably because of robust regional steel prices, Clancy added.

Year on year, Indian steel output surged by 21%, while production in both Japan and the United States jumped by 44%, data showed.

(With files from Reuters)

Prime Minister of Mongolia L.Oyun-Erdene is paying a working visit to Japan between July 21 and 25. During the visit, the Mongolian PM held official talks with Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga on July 22.

The event marks the first meeting between the two countries to be held at Prime Minister-level in the past two years. The meeting took place in a friendly atmosphere and touched on the current state and future of Mongolia-Japan relations and a broad range of issues at international and regional levels.

At the meeting, the PM Oyun-Erdene confirmed Mongolia’s willingness to develop the strategic partnership and cooperation with Japan, a third neighbor of Mongolia, in every possible area. Congratulating the government of Japan for successfully hosting the Olympic Games amid the challenging circumstances posed by the pandemic, PM Oyun-Erdene noted that the Olympics 2021 would serve as a historical symbol of the world overcoming the coronavirus pandemic.

He further thanked for the government of Japan for its consistent support for Mongolia’s democracy, reform and sustainable development even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government of Japan’s assistance in vaccinating Mongolia’s youth against the coronavirus was highlighted at the meeting.

For his part, the Japanese PM expressed gratitude for the Mongolian Premier for arriving in Japan during the time when the country is facing historic challenges of organizing the Games and for kicking off his foreign travels with Japan.

The sides agreed on the necessity to elevate the economic, trade and investment cooperation to the next level on the basis of a solid foundation of bilateral political relations of Mongolia and Japan and to strengthen the public private partnership.

The meeting covered issues concerning ongoing or proposed economic cooperation projects, including Mongolia’s new International Ulaanbaatar Airport recently opened at the Khushigt valley near Ulaanbaatar city, development of the region as a complex economic, information technology and tourism region, a highway development surrounding the capital city aimed at reducing traffic congestion of the city, Bogdkhan railway development, intensifying the public-private partnership in information technology, training of engineers and cooperation in development of a feasibility study for a hydropower plant at coal deposits.

The two Premiers agreed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and Japan, which is to be marked in 2022. Japanese Emperor Naruhito was invited to visit Mongolia for the upcoming historic event of bilateral relations. The Mongolian side also accepted with gratitude the Japanese PM’s proposal to declare 2022 as ‘The year of friendship and exchanges between Mongolian and Japanese children and youth’.

Two sides remarked the successful completion of the Mongolia-Japan Mid-term Action Plan for a Strategic Partnership 2017-2021 and set to agree on the contents of the next mid term action plan for 2021-2025. The sides also mentioned about Mongolia-Japan successful cooperation on international and regional fora and pledged for active cooperation further within the framework of the United Nations and other multilateral organizations.

At the end of the meeting, Japan’s PM Yoshihide Suga congratulated for a Mongolian sumo wrestler becoming Japanese sumo’s new Yokozuna, the sport’s highest rank.

The Mongolian PM’s visit to Japan will continue with him paying a courtesy call on the Japanese Emperor and meeting with Toshihiro Nikai, Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and members of Japan-Mongolia parliamentarian friendship group.

TOKYO — Khulan Onolbaatar started playing basketball just four years ago in her native Mongolia, teaching herself how to dribble and shoot after watching countless YouTube videos of her favorite NBA stars.

Get the latest news and results from the Tokyo Olympics

“I’d try to mimic the motions on my school court, all by myself, imagining the opponent,” she said.

On Saturday night, Onolbaatar no longer had to imagine. She was playing the United States in the debut of three-on-three basketball competition at the Olympics. It mattered less that the top-seeded Americans had rolled to a 21-9 win because, four years after she taught herself the game, the 21-year-old and her teammates became the first athletes from their country to compete in a team event at the Olympics.

That’s a reflection of just how popular three-on-three basketball has become in the central Asian country of 3 million, which has a long record of producing Olympians in individual sports such as wrestling, boxing and judo. Onolbaatar represents progress for women in Mongolia who want to thrive in team sports — she was the first female flag bearer in her country’s Olympic history during Friday night’s Opening Ceremonies — and hopes that playing in Tokyo will empower more girls there to play.

“I’m just trying to be a role model for them. Representing the female athletes and the women of Mongolia in general on the biggest stage possible is just mind-blowing,” she said in an interview earlier in the week. “Basketball has exploded in the last five years. . . . Nowadays, three-on-three in our country is just like a national sport. Everyone is playing it. Everyone is watching it on TV. It’s a really big deal for us in Mongolia.”

Making its debut Saturday, three-on-three basketball offered something the Olympics had never seen: a pickup brand of the sport with hip-hop beats thumping in the background. The court is smaller. The play is more physical than five-on-five, with fewer fouls called. That style of play attracts Onolbaatar and so many other Mongolian kids to play the sport, she said.

“We are just naturally made to be more resilient,” she said. “Being physically tough. Because our culture is nomadic, we would be ready to adapt to any situation possible. I think that helps us really well.”

The three-on-three basketball craze in Mongolia can be traced to the early 2000s, when kids began playing in organized events there, according to Myagmarjav Luvsandash, the president of the country’s three-on-three basketball association. The continued interest over the past decade underscores FIBA’s push to popularize the sport in far-flung places. Other coaches have taken notice, including Kara Lawson, who took a U.S. national team to compete in three-on-three competition in Mongolia in 2019.

“We played right in the heart of Genghis Khan Square [in the capital, Ulaanbaatar]. It was sold out every game. It was very loud,” Lawson said. “They are really, really throwing a lot into three-on-three in their country.”

These Olympics didn’t get any less strange when the first medal was won

That push over the past decade helped establish a popular men’s national team, which did not qualify for Tokyo but is considered one of the best in Asia. Roughly 20,000 kids are playing organized three-on-three in Mongolia, according to Luvsandash, who estimated half were girls.

“In the last 30 years, since we’ve become a democratic country, there are not so many sports for the girls to practice and learn and play but, of course, on the street, basketball,” Luvsandash said. “If you go to Mongolia and you’re walking the street, you see hoops everywhere. Kids are playing.”

Onolbaatar took up the sport when she was 18 after being inspired by her brother, men’s national team member Enkhbaatar Onolbaatar, but she had little idea where to start.

She watched YouTube tutorials and tried to pattern her game after her favorite NBA player, Stephen Curry. She joined the three-on-three team at her university and later the national team. She moved in with her teammates. They ran stairs at their apartment building and practiced on outdoor courts in the brutal winter cold. They sometimes trained in the rugged mountains surrounding Ulaanbaatar, convinced the elevation would help their stamina when it came time to play other teams.

There were difficult moments in international play: Mongolia made its World Cup debut in 2019 but lost all four of its games in Amsterdam. The Mongolians had more success at the 2019 Asia Cup, finishing fourth, and qualified for the Olympics through the world rankings list. It was a seminal moment for women’s sports in the country and made the team instant stars.

“Younger kids are growing and playing basketball, and they’re looking at them,” Luvsandash said. “These girls are stars now in Mongolia. [Onolbaatar’s] jersey is selling online in Mongolia. It’s selling very well. Kids are buying it.”

They are Olympians. They are mothers. And they no longer have to choose.

On the court, Mongolia lost its opener in Tokyo in heartbreaking fashion. Against a bigger Italian team, the Mongolians missed a shot in the final seconds and fell, 15-14.

Against the United States, Onolbaatar tried to keep up with Kelsey Plum, a WNBA star who has been playing basketball most of her life. With her team down 11-1 early, Onolbaatar, who is 5-foot-11, drove the lane and tried to muscle her way to the hoop. U.S. center Stefanie Dolson, who is 6-5, met her at the rim and violently blocked the shot, and Onolbaatar lowered her shoulder and fouled Dolson out of frustration.

When it was over, Onolbaatar finally flashed a smile when she walked out of the stadium, stopping by a television to watch a replay. She pointed and muttered something to her teammates. They all looked as if they had just won. Earlier in the week, Onolbaatar said she hoped girls in her country would watch the team play in Tokyo and feel inspired.

“I think I’m going to be a role model for them,” she said. “If I can practice hard, believe in myself and get to this level — they have an opportunity, too.”

July 25 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 1,513 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, bringing the total caseload to 156,737, the country's health ministry said Sunday.

Among the latest confirmed cases, 501 were recorded in the capital city Ulan Bator and others were detected in all 21 provinces, the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, seven more COVID-19 related deaths were recorded in the past day, raising the total to 801, said the ministry.

The Asian country began a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in late February, aiming to cover at least 60 percent of its population.

So far, 59.2 percent of the country's population has been fully vaccinated.