Authorities in Mongolia plan to impose nationwide business and gathering controls April 3-18, while international travel controls are set to continue until at least May 1. Under the new directives, certain categories of nonessential businesses, including cinemas and gyms, must suspend operations. Businesses must close at 20:00 daily and enforce capacity limits. Restaurants cannot offer dine-in services. Public gatherings will be limited to no more than five people. The government also continues to require all people to wear facemasks in public nationwide.

Officials will likely continue highly localized lockdowns in residential buildings and businesses that have reported COVID-19 exposure. Residents, employees, and patrons of these locations must undergo COVID-19 testing and quarantine until receiving negative test results. Authorities will require close contacts of COVID-19 cases and their household members to quarantine for seven days, followed by a seven-day self-quarantine. Officials will require suspected cases originating from an outbreak site to quarantine for seven days.

Authorities continue to restrict travel from Ulaanbaatar to other areas of Mongolia; exceptions are in place for essential cargo shipments, healthcare workers, business trips, and charity work. Residents of the capital must present a negative result from a COVID-19 test taken within the previous 72 hours in order to leave the city. Individuals traveling from other parts of Mongolia must complete a health declaration form prior to entering Ulaanbaatar.

Travel RestrictionsInternational travel restrictions will stay in effect through at least May 1. International commercial flights remain banned; only repatriation services are operational for Mongolian nationals, permanent residents, and some long-term visa holders. Some charter flights for foreign nationals seeking to leave Mongolia are also authorized. International arrivals are required to quarantine in government-run facilities at their own expense for 10 days, followed by four days of self-quarantine.

International rail passenger transport remains suspended. Goods are generally allowed to move through border checkpoints, though intermittent land border closures are likely to continue.

Advice

Consider postponing travel to Mongolia if affected by travel restrictions. Register with your diplomatic mission if attempting to depart Mongolia. Follow all official instructions. Abide by national health and safety measures. Liaise with trusted contacts for further updates and guidance. Maintain contact with your diplomatic representation. Confirm all domestic transport arrangements. Ensure contingency plans account for further disruptive measures or extensions of current restrictions. Plan for potential shipping disruptions. Reconsider and reconfirm nonemergency health appointments.

Benin and Mongolia do not at first appear to have many similarities. One is a relatively small, but densely populated country in West Africa. The other is a large, but sparsely populated country in Central Asia. Yet, citizens in both countries have something in common: since 2020 they’ve had access to hundreds of new public services online.

In March 2020, the Government of Benin launched its national public services portal called service-public.bj which provides access to 70 transactional services like passport or building permit applications. It also delivers clear and coherent guidance on over 500 other public services. Soon after this, Benin launched an e-learning platform for public university students, and a website with the results of national public exams.

Meanwhile in Mongolia, the Government launched a platform available both online and through a smartphone app called e-Mongolia. E-Mongolia gives citizens access to the 181 most in-demand government services. Five months after its launch, e-Mongolia had been used by 700,000 people – that’s over 35 per cent of its adult population.

These new online services came at a perfect time, as governments tried to limit in-person interactions with citizens during the covid-19 crisis. This article looks at how these achievements were made possible, as well as the common features behind these two countries’ digital transformation success stories.

1. Supportive political leaders and committed operational leaders

In both countries, political leaders have put the digital transformation of public services at the core of their agendas. Patrice Talon, President of Benin since 2016, made this clear in his five-year action plan ‘Bénin Révélé’. He also names connectivity, digital literacy and smart administration as key development areas.

The same applies in Mongolia. The 40-year-old and recently appointed Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene has affirmed that building a digital nation is currently the country’s top priority.

But strong political support on its own is not enough. In Benin and Mongolia, much of the credit should be given to the women in charge of driving the digital transformation of their respective governments: Aurélie Adam Soulé Zoumarou and Bolor-Erdene Battsengel.

Aurélie Adam Soulé Zoumarou is the Minister of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation of Benin. She was appointed to this role by President Patrice Talon in 2017. Since then, she has led a wide range of programmes covering digital infrastructures, smart administration and support for technology start-up companies.

Bolor-Erdene Battsengels was appointed the Chairwoman of Mongolia’s Communications and Information Technology Authority (CITA) in July 2020. At 27 years old, she is the youngest person and first female to hold this position. For her first three months in CITA, she oversaw the implementation of the e-Mongolia platform.

2. Empowered central digital agencies

The digital transformation of the governments of Benin and Mongolia also rely on an efficient governance model, where a central digital agency is empowered to drive change.

The Information Services and Systems Agency of Benin (ASSI) is the country’s central organisation in charge of executing flagship projects in digital government. It provides strategic and operational assistance to all government organisations, and ensures the coherence of information systems and services across public administration. The ASSI is directly under the direct supervision of the Presidency.

In Mongolia, the Communications and Information Technology Authority (CITA) is in charge of both ICT policy making and its implementation and it is responsible for the development of e-Mongolia. The fact CITA is placed under the authority of the Prime Minister gives it great legitimacy in leading cross-government projects.

In both countries, that direct link to government decision-makers has proven paramount to the success of these agencies, reaffirming their authority as well as allowing for swift transformation when necessary.

3. Existing connectivity and digital infrastructure

Benin and Mongolia did not wait for the covid-19 crisis to kickstart their digital transformation. The speed at which they were able to launch services in 2020 reflects the ground work they laid in previous years. Likewise, the early adoption of digital services by citizens could not have been possible without the significant efforts demonstrated by both countries in terms of infrastructure development in the past few years.

Since 2016, 2,000 kilometres of optical fibre has been installed across Benin which has helped the country more than double its internet coverage. And in order to reach citizens from all communities, they have set up a network of over 40 Community Digital Points, which are effectively public spaces where citizens can access computers and get online.

Alongside connectivity infrastructure, Benin and Mongolia have invested in digital infrastructure. It is worth mentioning that both countries have based their data infrastructure on the open source data exchange solution X-Road.

Mongolia started to use the X-Road model as early as 2016 to connect the information systems of all its ministries. But it took time to implement the system, and encourage data sharing across public administrations.

4. Engagement with citizens, and the private sector

Both Benin and Mongolia have understood the value of working hand-in-hand with the civil society, and the private sector. In October 2020 – prior to the development of a national e-payment platform – the ASSI organised a discovery workshop with various players in the financial sector. It welcomed comments and ideas from private actors to inform the development and implementation of the platform.

The Government of Benin was also receptive to help from private sector and civil society actors when the covid-19 crisis started. Start-up companies, SMEs, large corporates, academics, NGOs and government agencies gathered in 2020 to create ‘Taskforce INNOV covid-19’ and brainstorm on innovative solutions to the challenges caused by the crisis.

In Mongolia, CITA engaged with citizens to prioritise the services to include in the e-Mongolia platform. They conducted a survey, available both online and on paper. They also tracked the time citizens spent queuing to access public services. They kept engaging with citizens while developing the platform, to make sure all information was clear, and that services were easy to use.

In order to go fast, and keep momentum, CITA outsourced the development of the platform. However, they created a small project coordination unit in-house, to hold service providers accountable, and coordinate all stakeholders from the 28 government organisations involved.

2020: the year when previous hard work paid dividends

Benin and Mongolia made tremendous progress in government digital transformation last year. But that’s the result of a long, slow process that started years before. They’d already laid the essential foundations they could build on, including recruiting and empowering committed leaders, putting the right digital governance in place, investing in digital infrastructure, and creating channels to engage with civil society and private sector actors.

Compared with many countries, the covid-19 crisis has not had such a significant impact on the digital transformation plans of Benin and Mongolia because they already knew where they were heading – the pandemic only confirmed they were going the right way.

On March 31, the cabinet convened for a regular meeting and decided not to move the country into the Red Level or the all-out-readiness regime starting from April 3, Saturday, until April 18, Sunday despite the State Emergency Commission has suggested to impose strict lockdown mesures to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

However, during this period, some businesses and organizations will be suspended. According to the cabinet secretariat, this measure is made under the government’s objective to recover the economy and protect the population's health amid the pandemic while maintaining the normal operations of the business industry.

Following businesses and services are suspended between April 3 and 18:

- Restaurants, lounges, saunas, swimming pools, wellness centers, cinemas and performance and entertainment activities, gyms, resorts and training centers

- Food places and restaurants can only offer food via delivery

- Hairdressers and beauty centers are allowed to open only on weekdays with proper health and safety precautions

- Shops and retail businesses must strictly adhere to social distancing and infection prevention guidelines and operate at up to 30 percent of its capacity. /Supermarkets to limit customers with the number of shopping carts available/

- Large marketplaces, such as Narantuul, Kharkhorin, Bars, Khuchit Shonkhor, Narantuul-2 to operate at up to 30 percent capacity only on weekdays.

- Shops, retails and markets to close at 8 PM daily.

- Passenger movement out of Ulaanbaatar to rural areas are suspended, except for those with reasonable excuses

- Traffic movement to rural aimags from Ulaanbaatar to be suspended, except for the delivery of food, fodder and fuel products.

Certain arrangements are also to be made, including:

- Public and private industry must enforce 5-person limit for social gatherings at all levels.

- People aged over 60 to avoid leaving home for non-essential reasons and take preventative measures against infection

- To intensify neighborhood connection and volunteer activities for safety

- Government and private organizations to allow up to 30 percent of employees to work from office.

Measures to be implemented in the scope of the transmission surveillance and vaccination drive are:

- To intensify works to trace close contacts

- To provide those staying at 7-day home isolation with dedicated package of health manual, medications, vitamins, thermometer and sanitizers

- To shorten mandatory 10-day-quarantine for arrivals from foreign countries to 7 days and perform PCR tests on the arrivals on the 5th and 7th days of the quarantine, and to remove further home-isolation to those with negative test results

- To vaccinate 1 million adult populations in Ulaanbaatar city before May 1, and vaccinate homeless people and prisoners requiring special care

- To vaccinate priority groups for vaccination /doctors, healthcare workers, police, emergency management and border officers/ in rural aimags starting April 5

- To complete vaccination in rural areas by July 1.

During its regular meeting held on March 31, the cabinet heard a presentation on the programs to support the country’s economy within the framework of the ‘MNT 10 trillion Comprehensive Plan for Health Protection and Economic Recovery’.

Loan program to support employment: As of March 29, commercial banks have issued loans totaling MNT 152.8 billion to 343 entities and 2,088 individuals. Average loan amount granted to individuals is MNT 38 million, and MNT 210 million for companies.

Long-term repo financing loan program: MNT 185.5 billion worth of loans were issued to 1,078 businesses and 280 individuals. Average loan amount granted to individuals is MNT 123 million, and MNT 140 million for businesses.

Mortgage loans: 2,043 borrowers received MNT 153.8 billion of mortgage loans in total. The average mortgage amount issued in Ulaanbaatar is MNT 83 million and MNT 55 million in rural areas.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a 100-million-U.S.-dollar loan to strengthen Mongolia's health sector and its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank's office in Mongolia said Wednesday.

"Mongolia remains vulnerable to COVID-19 and other emerging diseases. A surge in infections would strain the health system and result in a shortage of quarantine facilities, necessary equipment, drugs, and other essential resources," said James Lynch, director general of the East Asia Regional Department of the ADB.

He said that the project will expedite the medium-term reforms that will strengthen the health system and help Mongolia become better prepared to respond to future health crises.

The project will focus on four reform areas: strengthening planning and preparedness of the health sector, and ensuring the availability of critical medicines and emergency supplies; improving national pharmaceutical regulation, and increasing hospital autonomy and good governance; enhancing procurement in the health sector to increase efficiency, and establishing a single purchaser for health services; and safeguarding fiscal sustainability of the government over the next three to five years, said the ADB.

As of Wednesday, Mongolia has confirmed around 8,500 COVID-19 cases, with 12 deaths.

It is estimated that about 60 percent of the country's 3.3 million population is at high risk of infection.

According to a 2017 World Health Organization evaluation, Mongolia's core capacities relating to pandemic preparedness are limited, suggesting Mongolia is ill-prepared for a surge of COVID-19 or a similar pandemic. Enditem

Chinese phone maker Xiaomi is wading into electric vehicles with a $10bn (£7.3bn) investment over ten years.

The Chinese tech giant's goal is to "offer quality smart electric vehicles," it said on Tuesday.

Xiaomi is the world's third largest smartphone maker behind Apple and Samsung, according to data firm Canalys.

The company will be entering a fiercely competitive electric car market that also includes rivals Apple and Huawei.

Xiaomi will set up a wholly-owned subsidiary with an initial investment of about $1.5bn, with the company's chief executive Lei Jun heading up the new venture.

"The decision was made after numerous rounds of deliberation among all our partners, and this will be the final major entrepreneurial project of my life," he said in a statement.

So far, the company has given no indication about whether it will produce budget models or target the top end of the market.

There are already hundreds of companies in China jostling for a share of the world's leading market for electric cars.

Planned or existing models in China range from the tiny Hong Guang Mini EV, which retails for $4,500 to the new high-end electric brand Zeekr, which is owned by China's biggest carmaker Geely.

Foreign manufacturers are also looking to build EVs for Chinese consumers.

Tesla is already delivering its Model Y to China from its Shanghai factory, while Ford has plans to manufacture the electric version of its Mustang there.

Partnering up

Other Chinese technology companies have also signalled their intention to make cars, or to partner with existing carmakers to produce new driving technologies.

Search engine giant Baidu announced in January it would also launch an electric car business.

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has formed an EV joint venture with SAIC, while ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing has partnered with automaker BYD to make electric vehicles specifically designed for its services.

Data provider S&P Global Platts estimates that "new energy vehicles" will account for 20% of total new car sales in China by 2025.

Steppe Gold (TSX: STGO) today announced that the company’s revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $52 million on sales of 31,733 gold ounces and 13,710 silver ounces with average realized prices per ounce of $1,822 and $20, respectively.

The company’s operating income from mine operations, before depreciation and depletion, was $33 million and consolidated group adjusted EBITDA for the year was $24 million. Year-end cash, restricted cash and savings accounts balance was $33 million.

During the year ended December 31, 2020, 1,138,209 tonnes of ore were mined and 699,204 tonnes of ore stacked with an average gold grade of 2.03 g/t and an average silver grade of 8.88 g/t.

Steppe Gold noted that it is very pleased with a strong start to production at the ATO gold mine in Mongolia, with operating cash flow from mine operations in 2020 of $33 million, on revenue of $52 million, in an approximate 9 months of production.

President and CEO Bataa Tumur-Ochir added, "We have now mined approximately 1.7m tonnes of ore and 1.25m tonnes stacked on the leach pad. With a new fixed crusher in place this summer, we are planning a record year for stacking in 2021. With the ATO resource now at 2.45m oz Au Eq, and procurement of long lead capital items underway, we are focused on increasing our production run rate from the oxide phase through 2021 and 2022 and executing the Phase 2 expansion which has already begun."

Steppe Gold is targeting annual production in 2021 and 2022 of between 50,000 to 60,000 oz and then a transition to the fresh rock ores in 2023. Production forecasts for 2021 are dependent on a restart of leaching in April 2021 and no further delays on procurement due to COVID-19.

By Vladimir Basov

Some of the cows from Auckland's Cornwall Park are to be exported to Mongolia to participate in a breeding programme.

The announcement has outraged animal welfare organisations and members of the public, who say live export is “inhumane”.

In a text message to a member of the public, the Cornwall Park Trust confirmed it does “occasionally export cows”.

“Cornwall park is proud that our cows have been selected to help establish a breeding programme for Mongolian farmers,” the message read.

“This programme will help these remote villagers become more self-sufficient and improve the villagers' standard of living.”

The cattle are very valuable and are treated as such, the message read.

“This includes full veterinary care throughout the voyage for a small amount that make the journey.”

SAFE chief executive Debra Ashton said Aucklanders would be shocked to learn their beloved park was being used to raise animals for the controversial live export trade.

The park was gifted to the city in 1901 by Sir John Logan Campbell.

Cornwall Park has been farming Simmental cattle for more than 20 years.

Ashton said the cows will face a “long, rough journey in cramped, disgusting conditions” before arriving in a country with high elevations and cold, dry conditions.

“Those gentle cows that Aucklanders will be familiar with, will eventually be slaughtered in their destination country, potentially by means too cruel to be legal in Aotearoa,” she said.

“Cows are at risk at sea, and they’re at risk in their destination country. The animal welfare laws and regulations we have in New Zealand don’t exist in the countries we export animals to.”

Ashton called on the trust to reconsider its decision and stop any future plans to sell more animals to live exporters.

The Japanese Coast Guard has called off its full-time search for Gulf Livestock 1, the live export ship that went missing in a typhoon in the East China Sea.

Following the trust’s Facebook announcement about the export, many members of the public have expressed sadness, with one saying the cows are on a “one-way trip to hell”.

The cows will suffer a “rough, disgusting, perhaps deadly journey”, and an extreme climate in Mongolia, another said.

The Ministry for Primary Industries has been reviewing the controversial live export trade for the past two years.

During that time, the live export ship Gulf Livestock 1 capsized and sank off the coast of China.

stuff-logoauckland push alret updates icon

The incident saw 5867 New Zealand cows drown and 41 crew members, including two New Zealanders, lost at sea.

Ministry figures show 109,921 cattle were live exported to China in 2020, with 128 mortalities.

According to the Simmental Cattle Breeders Society, Cornwall Park has been breeding and keeping Simmental cattle for more than 20 years.

They have a quiet temperament and adapt well to the hustle and bustle of city life, a post on the society’s website said.

A Simmental bull and steers are pictured on a foggy morning at Cornwall Park.

NICOLE LAWTON/STUFF

A Simmental bull and steers are pictured on a foggy morning at Cornwall Park.

According to the Cornwall Park website, there are about 60 cows at the park, but the numbers at least double during calving season from July to September.

The Simmental cattle are known for their “sturdy nature, excellent beef and ability to cope with changes in climate”, the website said.

“Our cattle are either sold to be breeders or for meat, while some stay with us to replace our mother cows – we pick the cream of the crop ... and year-on-year they help us to improve our herd.”

More than four million visitors are estimated to come to Cornwall Park every year.

A magnitude-5.2 earthquake occurred in the Mongolia-Russia border region at around 08:01 ULAT March 31. The epicenter was about 42 km (26 miles) south southwest of Turt, Mongolia. The tremor occurred at a depth of about 10 km (6 miles), and weak-to-light shaking was probably felt throughout the border regions, including Khovsgol in Mongolia and eastern parts of Tuva Republic, western parts of Buryatia, and far southern parts of Irkutsk Oblast . There have been no initial reports of damage or casualties as a result of the earthquake; significant damage is unlikely. It could take several hours until authorities can conduct comprehensive damage assessments, especially in remote areas. Aftershocks are possible over the coming days.

Officials may temporarily shut down transportation infrastructure in the tremor zone to check for damage. Minor disruptions could occur during shutdowns, but service will likely resume quickly if no damage is found. Utility outages are possible, particularly near the earthquake's epicenter.

Advice

Plan accordingly for aftershocks. Consider vacating multistory buildings if operating in affected areas until authorities confirm their structural integrity. Allow additional time for air and road travel, as aftershocks may prompt brief disruptions. Seek updated information on road conditions before driving in hilly areas in the affected region due to potential landslides.

On March 30, Prime Minister of Mongolia L.Oyun-Erdene worked at the National Cancer Center and National Center for Communicable Diseases.

The Prime Minister become acquainted with the ongoing vaccination of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 at the National Cancer Center. The 25,740 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which Mongolia received under the COVAX Facility, is being administered to organ transplant recipients, patients with chronic diseases, people with HIV and cancer patients.

At the National Center for Communicable Diseases, L.Battur, General Director of the country’s main health organization responding to COVID-19, introduced about the current state of the COVID-19 transmission and if strict lockdown measures are not imposed, in all likelihood, the coronavirus infection rates will rise by 10 times at minimum by mid June compared to the current level.

As the cabinet is expected to decide on March 31 whether to put in place another lockdown to curb the COVID-19 infections in the country from April 3 to April 18, PM Oyun-Erdene highlighted that the government has been adhering to principle of supporting the economy while avoiding any strict quarantine measures. “However, we must listen to our experts and scientists. If lockdown is placed, we must intensify the vaccination drive to vaccinate one million adult populations within April to make the lockdown effective.

The PM also informed that the government will provide a total of MNT 2.8 billion as incentive pay to 2,230 healthcare workers and 1,100 resident doctors, who have been working on the frontline to combat COVID-19 pandemic.

As of March 30, a total of 300,366 people in Mongolia or 15.2 percent of the target number of the total population have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines available in Mongolia, including Sputnik-V, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech. The administration of the second doses will begin from April 10, reports the Health Ministry.