Cryptocurrency Bitcoin has risen for the first time above $60,000 (£43,100), continuing its record-breaking run.

Bitcoin - which has more than tripled in value since the end of last year - has been powered on by well-known companies adopting it as a method of payment.

But some analysts said this latest surge came in part due to the huge US stimulus package approved this week.

Bitcoin's total market value last month exceeded $1tn.

However, Bitcoin has a track record of wild price swings and has fallen sharply a number of times since it was created in 2009.

In February, Elon Musk revealed that his electric carmaker Tesla had bought $1.5bn worth of Bitcoin and would be accepting it as payment for its cars in future.

Mastercard also plans to accept certain cryptocurrencies as a form of payment while BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is exploring ways it can use the digital currency.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also played its part in Bitcoin's price rise, as more people go online for shopping, moving further away from physical coins and notes.

Critics argue Bitcoin is less of a currency and more of a speculative trading tool that is open to market manipulation.

There is also concern over its environmental impact, with huge amounts of energy needed to conduct transactions.

The Selenge Russian-Mongolian military drills will take place in October this year, the press office of Russia’s Eastern Military District told TASS on Thursday.

“The first conference for planning the Selenge-2021 joint Russian-Mongolian military drills was held via a video link from the headquarters of the Eastern Military District in Khabarovsk. The maneuvers are scheduled to take place in early October at a training ground in Mongolia,” the press office said.

During the negotiations, the sides agreed the scenario, the timeframe and the place of the drills, medical and logistics provision and the procedure for the movement of the Russian contingent’s units from the embarkation station to the training ground on the territory of Mongolia and back, it said.

“In the course of further planning conferences, the sides will discuss a plan of cultural and recreational measures devoted to the centenary of the Mongolian Armed Forces. The jubilee will be celebrated in 2021,” the press office noted.

In 2020, the Selenge international military maneuvers were held in an altered format due to the coronavirus pandemic and the troops practiced tasks solely on their territory: simultaneously at the Burduny training ground in Buryatia in Eastern Siberia and at the Doytym An practice range in Mongolia. The command and control was exercised from the Burduny training ground, for which purpose 12 Mongolian officers arrived there.

The Selenge joint Russian-Mongolian drills are aimed at fighting international terrorism. During the drills, the troops of both countries practice eliminating hypothetical illegal armed

A delegation from Russian gas giant, Gazprom, headed by Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee, has made a working visit to Mongolia.

The visit involved a flight along the proposed route of the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline, which will become an extension of Russia’s Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline across Mongolian territory.

Vitaly Markelov and S.Amarsaikhan, Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia, held a meeting of the Joint Working Group of Gazprom and the Government of Mongolia. Among other things, the meeting reviewed the ongoing development of a feasibility study for the project by the special-purpose vehicle Gazoprovod Soyuz Vostok.

The parties signed the action plan for the Joint Working Group for 2021–2022.

In December 2019, Gazprom and the Government of Mongolia signed a Memorandum of Understanding. A Joint Working Group was created under the Memorandum.

In early 2021, a special-purpose vehicle named Gazoprovod Soyuz Vostok was registered in Mongolia. The company was established with the purpose of performing design and survey works and conducting a feasibility study regarding the construction project for a gas trunkline to supply Russian gas across Mongolia to China.

The export capacity of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline might become more than 1.3 times higher than that of Power of Siberia. This will enable exports of large amounts of gas from Western Siberia not only westward but also eastward.

The first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines from the multilateral COVAX Facility have been delivered to Mongolia. These 14 400 doses are part of a first wave of arrival that will continue in the coming months. Mongolia will receive 138 540 doses of the vaccines under the COVAX Facility.

"The COVAX Facility is a great illustration of global solidarity. This is real multilateralism in action. The European Union is proud to join the Government of Mongolia, the UN agencies and bilateral donors to make this happen. Team Europe - the EU, its Member States and financial institutions - are a leading contributor to the COVAX Facility with more than EUR 2.2 billion. The first batch of vaccines is only the beginning. There will be much more. Making sure everyone has access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines is a top priority of the European Union." Said H.E. Traian Hristea, Ambassador of the European Union to Mongolia.

It is a key priority for the European Union to help end the pandemic by enabling fair, equitable, safe and effective global access to COVID-19 vaccines. This contribution will help secure 1.3 billion doses of vaccination for 92 low and middle-income countries, including Mongolia by the end of the year.

As the EU High Representative Joseph Borrell has said, the coronavirus is "the world's common enemy that we can only defeat with a global approach". Team Europe has mobilised significant resources also to help our partners across the world address the immediate health emergency, support health systems and the economic recovery.

Background

The COVAX Facility aims to deliver at least 2 billion doses before the end of this year, of which 1.3 billion to 92 countries that are eligible for such support. The EU and its Member States are committed to this unprecedented global effort to make sure all citizens have access to safe and effective vaccines.

COVAX is co-led by GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), working in partnership with UNICEF, civil society organisations, manufacturers and others stakeholders.

The COVAX Facility is a risk-sharing mechanism: it reduces the risk for manufacturers who invest without being sure about future demand, and it reduces the risk that countries would fail to secure access to a viable vaccine.

Team Europe - the EU, its Member States and the European Investment Bank - is a leading contributor to this multilateral initiative, with over EUR 2.2/USD 2.6 billion. The EU contribution as a whole brings us closer to achieving the COVAX target.

For further information, contact: delegation-mongolia-press@eeas.europa.eu

March 13 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's State Emergency Commission on Saturday decided to restrict mass gatherings and public events in the country's capital Ulan Bator for two weeks starting from next Monday due to resurging COVID-19 cases.

The restriction will cover all types of mass events and gatherings such as competitions, concerts, exhibitions and weddings as well as operations of religion and some service organizations such as karaoke bars, night clubs, and gaming centers, the commission said in a statement.

In recent days, around or more than 100 COVID-19 infections have been reported daily in Ulan Bator, which is home to over half of the country's population of 3.3 million.

As of Saturday, Mongolia has registered 3,833 COVID-19 cases, and about 3,000 of them were detected in Ulan Bator. Enditem

March 14 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia registered 128 more COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing its national caseload to 3,961, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Sunday.

Among the latest confirmed cases, 127 were locally transmitted, and the remaining one was imported, according to local authorities.

The Asian country has so far recorded eight COVID-19-related deaths. Enditem

This working paper reports the current state of the Mongolian financial system on its way to become a completely market-based economy. A thorough discussion of the structure and the financial position of the banking system, the government reforms in the banking sector, a restructuring strategy, banking supervision, the cost of bank restructuring, and the future of the banking system in Mongolia follows a brief background of the economic conditions. The paper also looks into the non-bank financial sector such as the securities markets, insurance, pension funds, insurance companies, and factoring and leasing as an alternate sources of capital for economic activities, with the consideration that this sector, given proper regulatory and legal framework, will develop in parallel to the ailing banking sector. The paper is concluded by providing an agenda for the future and recommendations for policies for faster economic growth.

Please review the full report on the link https://documents.worldbank.org/.../financial-sector...

Russia’s coal miners could boost exports to China, the world’s number one energy consumer, after Beijing slapped tariffs on Australian imports amid a growing trade rift.

Chinese authorities completely halted supplies of coal from Australia in late 2020 after Canberra voiced its support for an international inquiry into China’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.

But with China’s appetite for energy imports steadily increasing, Russia is looking to fill the void by boosting coal exports to its neighbor.

“As imports of coal from Australia to China are expected to decline, Russia has a chance to replace at least part of it with its own coal,” said TS Lombard analyst Madina Khrustaleva, as quoted by SCMP, a Hong Kong-based English-language news outlet.

The expert noted that Russia has several large coal deposits ready to begin supplying China, with transport being the only hurdle.

Mutual trade between Russia and China has been growing since 2014, and China has since become Russia’s biggest trade partner.

“Russia is clearly in pole position to substitute imports from Australia. The increase in oil prices is also helping Russia, so all in all there are really tailwinds for Russia,” Alicia García-Herrero, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at Natixis, told the media.

Over the past year, a political rift between China and Australia has spilled over into the economic world. Chinese authorities applied import duties on a wide range of Australian produce, including wine, lobster, meat, barley, timber, and coal. Canberra hit back with tariffs on Chinese aluminum, paper, and steel.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for boosting coal exports to Asia by at least 30 percent over the next three years. Putin also approved financing for expanding the country’s rail routes for transporting coal to the continent from the Kuzbass region, Russia’s key mining area.

According to Khrustaleva, Russia has invested in modernizing the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian railway networks, the nation’s key rail routes. The expert also said that Russian coal companies are developing joint ventures with Chinese firms to boost coal trade.

In December, Elgaugol, the company behind the Elga coal project in the Russian Far East, agreed to launch a joint venture with China’s Fujian Guohang Ocean Shipping Group that will export metallurgical coal to China. The Elga project aims to ship 30 million tons of coal to China in 2023, almost doubling Russia’s total coal exports to China, which stood at around 33 million tons in 2019.

On 10 March 2021, the EU and Mongolia launched their first annual Political Dialogue, marking another important step in a relationship that has further grown in strength over the past years.

The Dialogue was an opportunity to deepen a comprehensive partnership. The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism and to the rules-based international order and committed to further strengthening multilateral cooperation in the framework of the ASEAN Regional Forum, the OSCE, as well as ASEM.

The EU and Mongolia face many similar challenges. This first Political Dialogue allowed to deepen the respective understanding on engaging with two major neighbours, China and Russia. The two sides also reiterated their shared objective of the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

The EU and Mongolia also discussed the importance of connectivity, notably energy, transport and digital connections, for overall economic growth and resilience. The EU recalled its commitment for increased connectivity between Europe and Asia on the basis of sustainable, comprehensive and rules-based principles. Both sides stressed the need for a predictable, stable and open investment climate.

The next Political Dialogue is scheduled to take place in Mongolia, when conditions will allow.

The Dialogue, which was held as a video conference, was chaired by Deputy Secretary General, Mr Enrique Mora, Political Director of the European External Action Service and was co-chaired by Mongolia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Munkhjin Batsumber.

March 11 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia recorded 80 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, raising its national count to 3,561, the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Thursday.

Seventy nine of the latest cases were detected in the capital Ulan Bator, the country's hardest hit region, while another one was reported in the central province of Tuv, the NCCD said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Mongolia registered one more COVID-19-related death during the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to eight, the center added.

The Asian country launched a national COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Feb. 23, and more than 48,200 people have been vaccinated so far, according to the Health Ministry.

The country plans to immunize at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million people with four types of COVID-19 vaccines.