Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi plans to visit Mongolia next week to seek cooperation in resolving the issue of North Korea’s abductions of Japanese nationals. Mr Motegi is expected to meet with Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh and Foreign Minister N.Enkhtaivan during the visit.

Mongolia has close ties with North Korea and Japan has often looked to Mongolia to act as a mediator.

Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s new prime minister, has said he will make every effort to resolve the abduction issue and is ready to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un without any preconditions, a position inherited from his predecessor Shinzo Abe.

Mr Motegi is also expected to discuss ways to ease travel restrictions between Japan and Mongolia that have been imposed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

It will be the first trip to Mongolia by a Japanese foreign minister since Taro Kono visited the country in June last year.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. E-Mongolia electronic platform, which is intended to serve as a one-stop shop for various government services, launched officially yesterday, October 01. The Communications and Information Technology Authority, the developer of the E-Mongolia system, today organized a presentation on the system.

The system, which compiles and integrates government services to provide easy and smooth round-the-clock access, now allows citizens to obtain 181 government services through mobile application (iOS and Android) and online website, such as references, submission of request to government services, tracking of application processes without limitation of geography, locations, and time and so on. Furthermore, users are able to submit their requests and petitions to the government agencies, and get address location, office hour, and service conditions of the government agencies.

Other government service systems, such as E-barimt (VAT promotion system under the Ministry of Finance) and E-halamj (social welfare services under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection) have also been integrated into the E-Mongolia platform. Another 492 government services will become available on the system within the next year, according to the developer. E-Mongolia app users will not be charged for data used while accessing the app until the end of 2020 in agreement with mobile service providers, such as Mobicom, Unitel and Skytel as part of their social responsibility.

During the presentation of E-Mongolia platform, Chair of the Cabinet Secretariat L.Oyun-Erdene underlined that the system has been developed and introduced within the framework of the government’s long-term development policy ‘Vision – 2050’ and the government’s action plan for until 2024 with a view to reduce red tape and bureaucracy for citizens of the country and develop single-window service concept.

“As five to seven years are estimated to be required for Mongolia to make a complete digital transition, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Innovation and Digital Policy is developing several bills to ensure digital transition, such as bills on information security, data protection, etc. At minimum, MNT 10 billion could be cut on annual expenses related to paper-based document flings and postal services with the help of the full digitization of government services” said Oyun-Erdene.

Mongolia’s ger district is the main residential area in Ulaanbaatar, hosting 60% of the country’s capital city population. The detached houses or gers/ yurts located in this district are usually surrounded by almost two-meters high wooden fences, and are mainly constructed by non-professional builders or house owners themselves.

Empowering community members to rediscover their ancient knowledge and skills on sustainable housing and construction techniques, using locally available materials from their immediate surroundings, not only gives the people involved greater independence but also strengthens their local economy. As environmental pressures continue to increase and concerns about resource scarcity continue to grow, a number of architects and builders are returning to one of the world’s oldest construction methods: earth building.

Supported by the SWITCH-Asia Switch Off Air Pollution project, PADEM and its partner local organization Healthy Life Organization (HLO) Mongolia organised and delivered in June 2020, a two-weeks workshop on “Reviving Earth Construction Techniques in Mongolia”, facilitated by specialised architect Chinbadam D.

HLO Mongolia, the Mongolian Women’s Fund, the Parents-Teachers Association Mongolia and the Mongolian National Federation of the Blind, selected 30 participants from groups in the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar. Two craftsmen of the Switch Off Air Pollution project also attended the workshop.

Construction with earth materials is one of the oldest traditional technologies, widely employed in the past thousands of years by world civilizations. Compressed earth bricks and rammed earth, for example, have been used in ancient times as construction material in Mongolia’s Buddhist monasteries, as well as in Mongol artistic heritage. As a result of their inherent sustainability, these earth construction techniques are experiencing a revival in Ulaanbaatar.

Workshop participants were enthusiastic about learning ancient earth building techniques and expressed the need for promoting these on a larger scale, educating young generations to think about sustainable housing and its long-term benefits for communities and the environment. Several trainees also expressed their willingness to apply acquired skills in compressed earth brick production for income generation. This is the case of Sukh-Ochir Sodnompuntsag, an active participant during the training who dreams to open a small-sized enterprise centered on earth construction techniques.

“Mongolian monastery constructions have endured for centuries in the harsh climate and they are only one of the rare examples of ancient knowledge techniques of sedentary Mongolian construction. Traditional construction techniques updated with current modern knowledge have proven to be the best adaptation from an environmental and social point of view in the projects implemented by Geres in Morocco and Tajikistan. Hence, we wanted to test those technologies in Mongolia too,” explained Beatriz Maroto Izquierdo, Geres Mongolia Country Director.

Today, EARTH, the world’s most primitive building material, is increasingly being used to create some of our most advanced homes. This initiative in Mongolia reminds us that cheap, easy to make, durable materials and solutions have a long history in humanity’s existence. We have an opportunity to bring the most ancient building techniques back into our lives, blend them with modern engineering methods to develop the sustainable housing solutions we need in our present and in our future.

Original article featured in Montsame Mongolian News Agency

For more information on this initiative contact:

Odonchimeg.I,

Geres Mongolia Communications Officer

T: +976-95007392

Email: o.idersaikhan@geres.eu

Mongolia's new parliament opened its first regular session here on Thursday after June's parliamentary election to review bills and rules concerning the country's economy and society.

During the 75-day regular autumn session, legislators of the country's 76-seat unicameral parliament will discuss 112 draft laws and regulations covering many areas of the country's society and economy, said parliament speaker Gombojav Zandanshatar at the opening ceremony of the session.

Particularly, as part of the policy to reduce banks' interest rates and help more people have access to houses, the parliament is expected to consider a bill to lower the interest rate of housing mortgage loans from 8 percent to 6 percent, according to the speaker.

Housing is one of the most pressing issues in Mongolia's capital Ulan Bator, which is home to over half of Mongolia's 3.2 million population.

More than half of Ulan Bator's population live in the city's ger districts, with no running water, central heating or sewerage systems.

The ruling Mongolian People's Party won a landslide victory in the country's parliamentary elections on June 24, taking 62 seats out of 76 in the parliament.

Zandanshatar was re-elected as parliament speaker during the first session of the new parliament in June. Enditem

The number of people who recovered from coronavirus in Mongolia increased to 307 as of October 1, the National Center for Communicable Diseases said.

On September 30, two more patients were discharged from the hospital after complete recovery from COVID-19. Now they will stay in a 14-day quarantine.

Mongolia reported a total of 313 cases of coronavirus, all of them were imported.

6 patients with coronavirus stay in hospital, 4 of them have a mild form of the disease, 2 are in serious condition.

No deaths from coronavirus were reported in Mongolia.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ According to the decision of the State Emergency Commission, a total of 82 charter flights have been conducted from January 28 to September 30, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

22,973 Mongolian nationals have repatriated from 81 countries by air and auto. In particular, 16,438 citizens arrived on charter flights while 6535 citizens entered through auto border crossings.

In addition, 30 citizens, who requested to return home from China, have been repatriated through Zamyn-Uud-Eren border crossing on September 29. Moreover, last Tuesday, September 29, a charter flight from Seoul to Ulaanbaatar brought 216 foreign citizens of 15 countries, who work in Mongolia and have permanent residence permit.

The launch of the “Building the Capacity for COVID-19 Diagnosis and Service Delivery for the Most Vulnerable in Mongolia amidst the Pandemic” project was held today. The representatives from donors, partners, and implementing organizations including Daniel Worrall, the CEO and Country Manager of Rio Tinto Mongolia LLC and Armando Torres, the CEO of Oyu Tolgoi LLC, Tapan Mishra, the UN Resident Coordinator in Mongolia and Kaori Ishikawa, the Head of Office of UNFPA Mongolia Country Office attended the launch event.

This is the first partnership between UNFPA, UN and Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto’s Country Office in Mongolia and Oyu Tolgoi LLC have granted 602,000 USD which equals to 1.7 billion MNT to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for enhancing the capacity of health sector with a focus on COVID-19 preparedness and recovery in Mongolia. In partnership with the Ministry of Health, UNFPA Mongolia is going to utilize this fund for strengthening the country’s diagnostic capacity by building a total of four PCR laboratories in Dornogobi, Umnugobi provinces and in Ulaanbaatar, and ensuring the continuity of vital health services for persons requiring regular medical checkups by developing telemedicine services at the primary health care units.

Amarjargal Khenchbish, the Deputy Country Director for Rio Tinto Mongolia, said, “At Rio Tinto, our focus is on the health and safety of our employees and the communities where we operate and on keeping our operations running safely during the times of pandemic, so we can continue to contribute to local and national economies and serve our customers.”

Each four target hospitals including the General Hospital of Zamiin Uud soum in Dornogobi province, the Regional Diagnostic and Treatment Center of Umnugobi province, the National Center for Material and Child Health, the Ulaanbaatar City Maternal and Children’s Hospital will be equipped with PCR-based molecular diagnostic laboratories. With the PCR laboratories, the hospitals will be able to quickly diagnose not only COVID-19 but also various infectious diseases including influenza, antibiotic resistant tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted infections, as well as new and re-emerging infections at soum and provincial level, and in Ulaanbaatar.

“The continuity of essential health services is crucial at all times, especially during the health emergency like the one we are currently experiencing” noted Kaori Ishikawa, the Head of Office at the UNFPA Country Office in Mongolia at the launch. She also highlighted that “Based on UNFPA’s past experience, the telemedicine service that will be developed. It will ensure that people who require medical checkups such as pregnant women, older persons and people with disabilities receive the services they need in the comfort of their homes or at the primary health care units. It will prevent them from contracting the virus while visiting hospitals in case there is a COVID-19 outbreak in the community level and ensures that there’s no disruption in the health care services”. As part of the project, the primary health care providers will be supplied with the health provider kits and software that’s used for delivering telemedicine services. They will also be trained on communicating and receiving professional guidance with medical specialists about patients’ condition via information and telecommunication technologies.

The implementation of the project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021.

The highway bridge linking Russia and China over the Amur River is expected to be operational as soon as November, according to Amur Oblast Governor Vasily Orlov. The bridge is set to boost economic ties between the two nations.

“The infrastructure and all the services are ready. We expect that the bridge will be launched in November,” Orlov said on his Instagram page this week. He explained that the opening date was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ambitious $300 million construction project began in December 2016 and was completed in November 2019. It was initially expected to be brought into service in April.

The bridge links the cities of Heihe in northern China and Blagoveshchensk in Russia’s Far East that are located on opposite banks of the Amur River. The structure is more than 1km long (0.6 miles) and is a part of a key 19.9km (12.4 miles) two-lane highway project.

The harsh weather conditions in the frigid region have been hampering cross-border trade for years, but the project is set to solve this problem. After the route becomes operational, cargo volume could see an 8-fold increase to four million tons per year, according to Alexander Kozlov, the Russian Minister for the Development of the Far East.

The new bridge should also boost tourism, increasing the number of visitors to Russia from China to two million. However, tourists won’t initially be able to use the road as it will only be available to cargo trucks. It will take another year and a half to build a crossing point that will enable passenger transport, including tourist buses, to cross the bridge.