China says it has successfully put its Tianwen-1 mission in orbit around Mars.

It's the first time the country has managed to get a spacecraft to the Red Planet and comes a day after the United Arab Emirates accomplished the same feat.

Engineers will bide their time before despatching the wheeled robot to the surface but the expectation is that this will happen in May or June.

Wednesday's orbit insertion underlines again the rapid progress China's space programme is making.

It follows December's impressive mission to retrieve rock and soil samples from Earth's Moon - by any measure a very complex undertaking.

Its five-tonne spacecraft stack, made up of orbiter and rover, was launched from Wenchang spaceport in July, and travelled nearly half a billion km to rendezvous with the Red Planet.

Engineers had planned a 14-minute braking burn on the orbiter's 3,000-newton thruster, with the expectation that this would reduce its 23km/s velocity sufficiently to allow capture by Mars' gravity.

The manoeuvre was automated; it had to be. Radio commands currently take 11 minutes to traverse the 190 million km now separating Earth from Mars.

It should have put Tianwen-1 in an initial large ellipse that comes in as close as 400km from the surface and out as far as 180,000km.

This will be trimmed over time to become tighter and more circularised.

In contrast to the Emiratis' live TV coverage on Tuesday, China chose to report the orbit insertion at Mars only after it had occurred.

It was clear early on, however, that events were proceeding as they should because amateur radio enthusiasts could listen across Tianwen-1's signals, and they could see each milestone in the manoeuvre was being achieved.

China is following the strategy employed by the Americans for their successful Viking landers in the mid-1970s. The idea then was to make orbit first and only later send a robot to the surface.

A period of reconnaissance will now follow but Tianwen-1's primary choice for a touchdown is a flat plain within the Utopia impact basin just north of Mars' equator.

The rover, which has yet to be named, looks a lot like the US space agency's (Nasa) Spirit and Opportunity rovers from the 2000s. It weighs some 240kg and is powered by fold-out solar panels.

A tall mast carries cameras to take pictures and aid navigation; five additional instruments will help assess the mineralogy of local rocks and look for any water-ice.

A key experiment will be the ground-penetrating radar, which should be able to sense geological layers at tens metres' depth.

This surface investigation is really only half the mission, however, because the orbiter that has been shepherding the rover will also study the planet, using a suite of seven remote-sensing instruments.

Like previous satellites, this spacecraft will observe characteristics of the high atmosphere and examine the structures and composition of the surface. High- and medium-resolution cameras should return some impressive pictures.

Tinawen-1 is one of three missions arriving at Mars this February.

The UAE's Hope probe made it safely into orbit on Tuesday. Next week, Nasa will attempt to put another of its big rovers on the surface.

Hit by the COVID-19 crisis, Mongolia’s economy has experienced the worst contraction since its economic transition in early 1990s, but it is projected to rebound in 2021. Following a 7.3 percent decline in the first nine months of 2020, the World Bank’s latest Mongolia Economic Update estimates that the economy will grow by 4.3 percent in 2021 – as government stimulus measures prop up domestic demand, shockwaves to the global economy recede, and vaccines are introduced.

The COVID-19 shock to Mongolia’s economy has been severe and widespread, affecting the structure and conditions of the labor market, says the report. While employment increased in IT and health sectors, job declines occurred in various other sectors including hospitality and entertainment. The report cautions of the increased risk of low-skilled workers in the informal sectors and those living just above the national poverty line falling into poverty.

“Economic recovery from the COVID-19 shocks is likely to be slow and erratic. Mongolia’s policy focus needs to transition from short-term relief to accelerating recovery and building resilience,” said Andrei Mikhnev, World Bank Country Manager for Mongolia. “The immediate challenge is the limited fiscal space to continue the generous support provided in 2020, while an abrupt withdrawal could create significant difficulties for households and firms”.

The report notes that the government’s relief measures were successful in providing adequate support to households and firms and prevented a wave of business closures. The report estimates the size of the government’s fiscal support at around 9 percent of GDP in 2020.[1] The 2021 budget foresees a return to fiscal consolidation, which will be required to prevent a further increase in the country’s large public sector debt.

The report projects real GDP growth in 2021-22 to accelerate to about 5 percent, supported by a renewed drive of investment in the mining sector. Private finance backed by foreign direct investment (FDI) will remain a key contributor to growth, especially in mining, manufacturing, and transport services. Private consumption will also support growth in the medium-term.

However, the latest domestic outbreak has added considerable uncertainty to the economic recovery, according to the report. Other risks to the outlook include further coronavirus outbreaks, extreme weather, fragility in the financial sector as regulatory forbearance is withdrawn, and the possibility of new spending and overstretched public finance in the run-up to the presidential elections.

The report cautions that even in the face of persistent uncertainty Mongolia needs to signal a clear commitment to fiscal stability to avoid a recurrence of the traditional macro boom-and-bust cycles. Further exchange rate flexibility could help cushion additional external shocks and thereby preserve the limited policy room.

Beyond these short-term risks, the rollout of vaccines could help bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control and allow policy efforts to begin focusing on the critical medium-term agenda. An immediate priority are further efforts to implement structural reforms in the banking sector, says the report. Key elements of these reforms include strengthening capital buffers and improving corporate governance of banks (including ongoing reforms in ownership structure of banks), facilitated by the gradual exit from extraordinary regulatory forbearance.

The report says that the approval of the banking law is a good first step which should be followed by further measures to strengthen the independence of bank supervision and deal with the legacy of non-performing loans in the sector.

The report recommends that Mongolia adopt an integrated and fiscally sustainable approach to boosting medium-term economic prospects and job creation. This includes leveraging private sector investment in the mining and non-mining sectors to create higher productivity jobs and sustainable income opportunities for Mongolians. These efforts should be complemented by better targeted government investments in infrastructure and a more efficient and affordable social safety net.

World Bank Group

To minimize COVID-19 transmission during the upcoming Tsagaan Sar holiday, the Mongolian government has announced that a state of “all-out-preparedness” and associated lockdown measures will be reimposed in Ulaanbaatar beginning at 0600 on February 11 and continuing until at least 0600 on February 23.

U.S. citizens should expect the reimposition of anti-COVID-19 measures adopted during previous lockdowns, including the suspension of non-essential businesses, movement restrictions (both vehicular and pedestrian), ongoing contact tracing, etc., although enforcement of these measures is expected to be more stringent than during similar previous periods. The public is once again urged to stay home and leave only to buy groceries, medicines, and other necessities. Grocery stores and pharmacies are expected to remain open, and one adult from each household will be permitted to visit these locations during pre-approved hours. Schools remain closed and public gatherings prohibited.

In addition, the government has announced its intention to conduct COVID-19 testing of one individual per household throughout Ulaanbaatar. Registered foreigners are not exempt from this requirement, and U.S. citizens should anticipate testing requests from local health authorities. The current proposal includes the potential of fines up to 500,000 MNT for those found in violation of the stay-at-home order and 100,000 MNT for refusing mandatory COVID-19 testing.

City residents working in non-essential industries will be prohibited from traveling via car, with QR codes required of authorized drivers. Public transportation will also be limited to those traveling for work in pre-approved sectors and will be limited to the hours of 0700 – 1000 and 1700 – 2000. (Limited exceptions will continue to apply for health emergencies, funeral services, and the purchase of utilities/heating supplies.)

U.S. citizens in Ulaanbaatar are encouraged to maintain adequate emergency provisions (food, water, medications, etc.) in the event the lockdown is extended or they are required to quarantine in place. U.S. citizens can also review previous Embassy announcements containing guidance on the measures adopted by the Mongolian government related to the community transmission of COVID-19 by visiting: https://mn.usembassy.gov/.../security-and-travel.../.

Update on Consular Services

The Consular Section at the U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar will once again suspend all consular services effective February 11. Services will resume as soon as they are deemed safe for visa applicants and U.S. citizens. If you are a U.S. citizen in need of emergency assistance, please contact +976 7007-6001.

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 10, 2021) - ION Energy Limited (TSXV: ION) (OTCQB: IONGF) (FSE: 5YB) ("ION" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Urgakh Naran Lithium Brine Project (the "Urgakh Naran Project") located in Mongolia's Dorngovi Province. The name "Urgakh Naran" is Mongolian for "Rising Sun" and the Project covers an area of approximately over 19,000 hectares of highly prospective lithium terrain located 150km WNW of the Company's flagship property, the Baavhai Uul Lithium Brine Project. The acquisition of the Urgakh Naran Project brings the total land area held by ION that is prospective for lithium salars to over 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres).

The Company acquired the Urgakh Naran Project as a result of its successful tender bid submitted to the Mineral Resource Authority of Mongolia. The total cost of acquiring the Urgakh Naran Project was approximately USD$310,000 for consulting, administrative and transfer tax costs.

"The acquisition of this project represents the further execution of our Company's objectives to secure terrains highly prospective for the discovery of lithium salars. Ion Energy is a leader in Mongolia's lithium exploration and development. It also solidifies Ion Energy's long-term commitment to support our world's green revolution by playing a key role in the supply chain. The Urgakh Naran Project is situated in the arid and infrastructure rich region of the South Gobi Desert," commented ION's CEO, Ali Haji. Work has already commenced to develop the exploration program on this highly prospective project. The Company will also be releasing results from its recently completed Geophysics program on the Baavhai Uul Lithium Brine Project.

Summary:

Time: 9am UK and 17.00 Ulaanbaatar time .

Date: 11th Feb

Text to use (feel free to tweak):

The Department for International Trade and The Foreign Commonwealth Development office will host a webinar on the UK's Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP). Under this scheme, importers pay lower (often zero) tariffs on goods from seventy developing countries.

This webinar is targeted to businesses in Asian countries that are interested in exporting to the UK (see a list below of the eligible countries). This webinar will cover:

- UK's GSP Overview

- Evidence required to import goods under GSP

- The Enhanced Framework: application and monitoring processes.

- Improvements and future of the UK's GSP

- Q&A

Link: https://eu.eventscloud.com/ehome/trade-events-calendar/all-events?keyword=Generalised

In recent years, one battle in the fight against poor or corrupt natural resource governance has been the efforts to end anonymous corporate ownership.

Undisclosed ownership interests enable profound corruption in a variety of sectors, particularly in the extractive industries, where the magnitude of money involved attracts a number of insidious schemes. Consider the scenario where members of a legislature hold secret ownership stakes in mining companies, while at the same time drafting legislation governing that sector: They may prioritize self-interest over the well-being of the public—all without the public’s knowledge or ability to hold them to account.

To mitigate corruption risks, as well as a variety of other issues facilitated by secret corporate ownership, countries around the world have developed beneficial ownership (BO) registries—online databases that publish the names of company shareholders, owners, or beneficiaries.

At heart, the disclosure of BO pursues two objectives. First, it limits the ability of companies to use financial schemes or complex ownership structures to evade and avoid taxes, launder money, or finance illegal activities. Second, it inhibits a variety of corrupt interactions between private enterprise and public actors. For example, in a system with full transparency, a regulator would not be able to accept a bribe from a firm in exchange for a positive decision.

BO registries face a host of challenges. In Mongolia, where mining contributes around 23% of the country’s GDP, BO transparency (BOT) has made some progress, but profound issues remain.

Mongolia has been crafting its BO disclosure systems for the better part of this decade. In 2013, the Mongolia chapter of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) took a first step when it requested voluntary disclosure of BO information from extractive companies. In 2016, the EITI Standard was expanded to require public disclosure of extractive company BO data. As a member of the EITI since 2006, Mongolia voluntarily committed to this provision, and the country devised a roadmap for meeting the criteria by the beginning of this year. However, it failed to meet the deadline.

OUR APPROACH

In late November 2020, the Leveraging Transparency to Reduce Corruption (LTRC) initiative, with the Open Society Forum, the Natural Resource Governance Institute, and Transparency International Mongolia, hosted a virtual roundtable on BO with stakeholders in Mongolia from civil society, government (regulatory bodies and Parliament), and international organizations. The event marked the beginning of LTRC’s work in Mongolia to strengthen the ongoing BOT process.

This work will be consistent with the LTRC TAP-Plus framework, which posits that bundled transparency, accountability, and participation (TAP) interventions can move the needle on corruption in natural resource governance when their design properly considers context and existing implementation gaps. LTRC aims to contribute to an ecosystem that makes BO disclosure more robust and leads to effective accountability.

For simplicity, we divided the discussion around BOT in four stages, as shown on the figure below: the legislative framework that governs it, the supply of data for the BO registry, and the demand for and use of the data that can be leveraged to foster accountability and oversight. We encouraged participants to discuss how to address challenges, including:

Gaps in legislation and its enforcement

Limitations to the usability and usefulness of the registry and existing data

Lack of incentives and political economy constraints around the actual use of BO information

Constraints to achieve effective accountability

4 stages of beneficial ownership transparency

Below, we outline key challenges and potential solutions that emerged from both the roundtable and LTRC’s research.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Mongolia’s BO legal and regulatory system offers at least three major areas for improvement. First, the system is vague and inconsistent, with legal disclosure requirements varying across statutes and ministries. Second, the threshold ownership levels that trigger a disclosure requirement are higher than international standards and potentially allow large numbers of owners to evade scrutiny. Third, the data that the government collects is inaccessible to the public.

At least seven different laws have a bearing on BO disclosure in Mongolia, from the Law on State Registration of Legal Entities to the Law on Minerals to the Law on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. Unfortunately, the disclosure requirements are not harmonized across the laws and in some cases are overly vague, making them difficult to follow even for well-meaning companies.

The first step for a foreign or domestic enterprise operating in Mongolia is straightforward. It must register with the General Authority for State Registration. In a major improvement, as of January 2021, companies must disclose to the agency all ultimate beneficial owners that hold a 33% or more asset stake. Once registration is complete, companies are required to register with the General Tax Authority and then with a variety of other ministries, as appropriate. Unfortunately, the rules and requirements behind those later interactions do not always correspond with the general registry process. As a result, various regulators are unable to tie their records or efforts to another ministry’s records or data. The tangle of discordant rules and data is frustrating to companies that are trying to follow the rules. Worse, they also present opportunities for bad faith actors to manipulate the system or to just fall through the cracks.

Meanwhile, with Mongolia’s disclosure requirement not triggered unless someone holds a 33% stake in a company, beneficial owners with lower shares go undetected. The global norm of a 25% threshold is already high. Indeed, many stakeholders around the world argue that owners of as low as 5% of a company should be disclosed.

Nonetheless, many participants in the roundtable were encouraged by recent developments regarding these two issues. The fact that Mongolia had taken a major step forward in its top-level state registration requirement was seen as a major opening. The combination of the looming January 2021 deadline to disclose 33%-and-up BOs and Mongolia’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list over money laundering concerns could create new momentum for coordination and harmonization across ministries. In addition, some attendees also believed that the 33% trigger will likely be lowered as various ministries’ information technology capacities expand.

Nevertheless, one remaining implementation gap should be addressed: As a matter of law, making registry information available to the public is not currently possible. The Law on the State Registration of Legal Entities contains a clause listing the company information to be made publicly available; BO is not included on that list. As a result, the State Registration Office officially announced that they cannot make registered BO information public, since the law does not mandate such disclosure.

While undoubtedly complex, these legal issues are by no means insurmountable. Beyond the EITI, Mongolia has committed to other voluntary international standards that require or encourage BOT, including the OECD/G20’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting framework and the multilateral Open Government Partnership; these further serve as incentives for the country to enshrine BOT into domestic legislation.

Now, the Mongolian Parliament is considering a law on mining sector transparency (sometimes known as the “EITI law”) that would, among other provisions, mandate public disclosure of extractive industries’ BO information. In the short term, champions in Parliament and civil society, along with international organizations, can advocate for the passage of this law. Then, advocates for BO disclosure must work to ensure that it is effectively implemented.

SUPPLY OF DATA

Although there is an official state-run BO registry in Mongolia, it leaves room for improvement. Because the law limits the release of sensitive BO information to the public, the BOT system mainly serves state bodies (such as the tax office) and is not designed for citizen use. Participants discussed how limited public access to official BO data severely inhibits accountability efforts. Even painstaking efforts to gather information across siloed registries are often insufficient because the data are partial, out of date, or inaccurate.

Meanwhile, the state’s data collection process suffers from technical and capacity challenges. BO information is collected on paper, and then entered into the database manually. This introduces the risk of clerical errors and, crucially, imposes personnel capacity constraints on information collection and processing. There are efforts to streamline registration forms and move the collection process online, but progress is slow and information technology infrastructure challenges persist.

Even when data is disclosed and released, a lack of prior data is a concern. The Mongolian state registry publishes current data, but once information is updated, all prior data is discarded. But the extractive industries have long lifecycles, during which there may be frequent changes in contracts and ownership. As a result, the lack of longitudinal data limits the ability to identify and understand BO trends over time.

Without access to verified, complete, and timely information, civil society organizations are constrained in types of monitoring and accountability activities they can conduct. These challenges highlight the need for coordination and collaboration between different actors. Participants suggested that their analysis would improve with enhanced mechanisms for linking and sharing information found in the private sector (especially mining companies and banks) with public registries, as well as with data sharing among government agencies. Participants also suggested the integration of different government databases.

Reforming the existing registries and forming information sharing partnerships will take time. In the near term, several participants advocated for the creation of a civil society BO registration mechanism. Instead of waiting for changes to be made to the state registration, civil society organizations may consider leveraging nontraditional sources to create a nonstate platform for BO disclosures.

DEMAND AND ACCOUNTABILITY

On the demand side, participants underscored that little is known about the general public’s understanding of transparency tools and mechanisms, including BOT. Without a clear picture of the public’s sense of the value of BO disclosures—and any barriers to advancing awareness and understanding of this topic—it is difficult for journalists and civil society organizations to gauge how to most effectively communicate BO information to the public.

Even among individuals who recognize the value of BO and seek to monitor disclosures, a lack of technical capacity inhibits the ability of end-users to access and understand the data, thus impeding the ability of stakeholders to use the data in pursuit of oversight and accountability.

In addition, those that do have the technical data review capacity may still be stymied in their efforts if the data is incomplete or inaccessible (e.g., not in a user-friendly format). This underscores the importance of coordination and collaboration among relevant stakeholders to ensure that data is accurate, complete, and timely.

Participants suggested a number of action items to enhance uptake and use of accurate, timely data. For example, initiatives (e.g., surveys) to establish a baseline understanding of the public’s awareness of BO could inform their efforts to more effectively communicate information about BO. In addition, training opportunities for civil society organizations and media could improve their ability to access and analyze data. However, participants noted that one-off training opportunities are valuable, but not sufficient; instead, ongoing mentorship supported by grants or other funding opportunities will be vital to ensure the impact of these efforts is sustainable. Further, efforts to support journalists and civil society organizations must be sensitive to the context of restricted media freedom in Mongolia. Several participants also noted the importance of establishing rigorous processes for verifying that data is accurate and ensuring compliance with disclosure processes.

LOOKING AHEAD

In the coming months, LTRC will continue to work with local partners to develop a strategy for overcoming implementation gaps and building an effective BO ecosystem in Mongolia. We welcome thoughts, feedback, and ideas for continued engagement at ltrc@brookings.edu.

Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 54 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,174, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Wednesday.

"A total of 25,275 tests for COVID-19 were conducted at 12 laboratories across Mongolia yesterday and 54 of them were positive," the NCCD said in a statement.

The latest confirmed cases were locally transmitted or detected in the country's capital Ulan Bator, according to the center.

The Asian country has so far recorded four COVID-19-related deaths and 1,585 recoveries. Enditem

Brother Gniazdowski admires the modesty and simplicity of people who teach him humility through their poor but peaceful lives.

“Keep praying for me and my brothers” is the simple message for anyone who drops by the profile of Brother Krzysztof Gniazdowski on the Salesian mission website.

The Polish Salesian lay missionary has served in Mongolia since 2007 and has spent most of his 25 years of consecrated life in the East Asian country.

Brother Gniazdowski, 49, was born on April 17, 1971, and is the third of three sons and one daughter of his parents. He has a master’s degree in pedagogy in family social work.

Originally from Skwierzyna in western Poland, he took his first vows with the Salesians on Sept. 22, 1995, and final vows on Aug. 22, 2000. He worked in a Salesian mission in Poland before joining the Mongolian mission.

In Mongolia, he first worked for the Don Bosco Technical School in capital Ulaanbaatar that offers vocational courses on auto mechanics, welding, plumbing, design and sewing, office administration and construction. For about two decades, the school has enabled more than 1,000 students, mostly poor school drop-out children, to graduate and find jobs to support their families.

Stories Transform Lives

He has also been involved with a Salesian-run orphanage for street kids in the capital that has been a home for hundreds of poor, abandoned children since 2003.

Brother Gniazdowski now oversees the Salesian mission in Darkhan, Mongolia’s third largest city, where another vocational school for 300 students was set up in 2005.

The school is close to St. Mary, Help of Christians Church. It offers courses for students in a range of useful subjects: computer skills, writing and formatting documents, processing video files, drawing and handicrafts, and foreign languages. Many Mongolians emigrate to China, Japan and Korea for work and settlement, so the courses aim to help them find a good job abroad by teaching conversational English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

Salesians also run a library for local residents and encourage all including children to read books regularly.

In 2020, Brother Gniazdowski celebrated his silver jubilee of consecrated life with his students and confreres in Mongolia.

Mongolian families

On the occasion he also wrote an article supplemented with colorful photographs for Misje Salezjanskie (Salesian Missions), a magazine published by the Mission Office in Polish capital Warsaw. The article, “Mission Mongolia,” offers vivid details about his personal, joyful mission despite various challenges.

A mission of joy, love and hope

Mongolia’s “untouched, pristine nature” has greatly fascinated Brother Gniazdowski.

“When I move away from the metropolitan area, it seems time has stopped ... in places with steppes, animals, birds of prey, vast uninhabited spaces, and piercing wind,” he said.

He notes that Mongolians experience a harsh continental climate. During summer the temperature reaches over 40 degrees Celsius but during winter it drops below minus 40C.

The missionary is also fascinated by the Gobi, the largest desert in Asia, where nomadic tribes are found who move from place to place in search of water and pastures for animals, mainly sheep and goats.

The Gobi also provides a breeding ground for camels and yaks amid the vast steppe landscapes, sands, meadows, rocky areas and the Altai Mountains, a sanctuary for many rare species of animals and plants.

“Apart from extreme weather conditions, one can also come across ruins of Tibetan monasteries, destroyed during the communist period and archaeological excavations in the Gobi. This is where the first dinosaur eggs were discovered,” Brother Gniazdowski noted.

Families and children

In Darkhan, almost every day he meets with poor children who need support.

“Many Mongolian families do not take care of their children and are only interested when the government gives them money. And it’s often the lack of income which causes families to break up. Children suffer the most because they remain on the streets where they steal and are victimized and exploited,” Brother Gniazdowski told Salesians ANS service.

In 2015, the Salesians opened a youth center in the Shuwuu area, which had been lacking a safe, youth-friendly environment for years. Besides running an elementary school for the little ones, a playground sparked huge cheers among hundreds of children who flock to play every day.

Brother Gniazdowski is saddened by the plight of people facing poverty, especially children. He recalled one incident involving a poor boy that made him emotional. He was about to throw away a pair of his sneakers as they were worn out. Suddenly, a kid approached and furtively asked for them.

“The same day I saw the boy playing soccer wearing my old shoes. No one knew they were my worn-out shoes. I told myself: 'I vowed poverty but I see that these are the people who are truly practicing poverty,'” he said.

Care for environment

In recent years, thanks to Pope Francis’ celebrated environmental encyclical, Laudato Si', Brother Gniazdowski has also been involved in agricultural and ecological projects.

Some five kilometers from the Salesian center in Darkhan, he has been looking after a small Salesian farm and nursery.

“During the vacation season and early spring after school, we take students to a farm. There they learn how to learn how to till the soil, sow, plant and care for vegetables including tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, lettuce, pumpkins, watermelon, cucumbers, squash, broccoli,” he said.

Together with students, he also plants various kinds of Mongolian natives, shrubs, trees and flowers.

Many of the young people enjoy learning how to farm, especially during harvest time when they receive the fruits of their work. Crops are sold and the money goes to a special fund set up for children and youth for scholarships or school admission fees.

The students also learn about protecting their environment. They segregate waste and sew shopping bags from fabrics for use instead of plastic bags and packages.

Help for the needy

Like other Salesians, Brother Gniazdowski also finds great joy running the conventional Salesian Oratory, which is a place for learning, playing, prayer and work for children and youth.

“They come and play football, volleyball, table tennis, learn how to ride bicycles and learn the basics of traffic. With the help of volunteers and teachers, they do their homework and receive help in learning foreign languages and in mathematics,” he said.

After classes, children and youth gather for a short prayer. “Many are interested in the Catholic faith, asking questions and seeking solutions to their problems.”

St. Mary, Help of Christians Parish in Darkhan has only 250 Catholics, all ethnic Mongolians. The situation is different in the capital where Catholics hail from various nationalities including Koreans and Filipinos.

Despite their small numbers, Catholics regularly attend church services including Sunday Masses.

The faithful remain committed to church rules and rituals such as sacraments like matrimony. The idea of the indissolubility of marriage is surprising to Mongolians in a country where conjugal infidelity and divorce are common.

Brother Gniazdowski loves the traditions, rituals and hospitality of Mongolians that are influenced by Tibetan Buddhism.

Mongolians celebrate cultural feasts like Cagan Tsar (New Year) and national days such as Naddam (Independence Day) with great enthusiasm. They wear traditional costumes called Deel and families visit relatives, friends and acquaintances for days and traditional food delicacies are served.

The missionary is compassionate about Mongolian families who live in extreme poverty.

“Many of them live on garbage dumps and they look for what can be recycled and still be used. They go around with big bags in which they collect cans, bottles, rags and cardboard and sell them to make a few pennies,” he said.

He is amazed by the incredible modesty and simplicity of people who teach him humility through their poor but peaceful lives.

“I am happy to live and work in Mongolia among people who, in spite of deprivations and difficulties, trust that the next day will be better,” he said.

Mongolia and the Church

Mongolia, a country of some 3.2 million, is a mineral-rich nation but some 28 percent of the population live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

Poverty in Mongolia declined steadily after the country parted ways with communism in 1991 and entered a free market economy. Mongolia’s economic success in recent decades is mostly credited to foreign investment linked to vast mineral resources and mining.

The mining industry is a mainstay of the Mongolian economy but is also blamed for an acute water crisis by causing depletion of groundwater and polluting surface water. According to the 2030 Water Resource Group, about 40 percent of Mongolians don’t have proper access to a safe water supply.

More than 50 percent of Mongolians are Buddhists, about 40 percent are non-religious, about 3 percent are Muslims, 2.5 percent are Shamanic and 1.3 percent are Christians, according to a 2020 census.

Catholicism arrived in Mongolia in the 13th century during the Mongol empire but withered away with the end of the Yuan dynasty in 1368. Although missionary activities resumed in the mid-19th century, they ceased to function when a communist regime came to power.

With the fall of communism and emergence of democracy in 1991, Catholic missionaries arrived and rebuilt the Church from the ashes. The Church currently has about 1,200 Catholics in four parishes.

Salesian missionaries, who arrived in Mongolia in 2001, play an important role in the Church’s mission, providing critical support for poor children and families to ensure they have equal opportunities for a better future.

Salesians serve from three mission stations in capital Ulaanbaatar, Shuwuu, about 30 kilometers from the capital, and in Darkhan, some 229 kilometers away.

They run a daycare center and elementary school, centers for street children and disadvantaged youth and two technical schools. A vital service provided by Salesians is a safe water supply point at Shuwuu mission center that provides clean water for hundreds of families every day.

MOSCOW, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund said on Tuesday that Mongolia had approved its Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 for domestic use, becoming the 23rd country to do so globally.

Mongolia granted the vaccine an emergency use authorisation without conducting its own clinical trials. Pharmaceutical firm Mongol Emimpex Concern LLC supported the process, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Polina Ivanova; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Two mine shovels of model EKG-12K (430 t, 24 t payload) made by IZ-KARTEX in St Petersburg, part of UZTM-KARTEX group, were recently commissioned at the mining operations of leading copper mine PGS Erdenet Company in Mongolia. The Mongolian mining company procured new Russian machines within the framework of a company development project.

Erdenet is the leading Mongolian state-owned company engaged in mining and processing copper-molybdenum ore. The company is currently upgrading its facilities: total investments for the previous year amounted to about $245 million.

While implementing their investment program, Erdenet has procured four EKG-12K mine shovels from IZ-KARTEX since 2018: the first one has been supplied in 2018, the second in 2019, and two more machines have been commissioned in December 2020. According to B. Otgondava, the manager of the open pit mine owned by Erdenet, the company decided to procure machines made by IZ-KARTEX because these machines are optimally adapted to the conditions of Mongolian mines.

“We are satisfied with the performance of machines made by IZ-KARTEX. These machines are very reliable and user-friendly. We expect the new machines to show high performance level and stable trouble-free operation”, says the Chief Engineer of the open pit mine, D. Ulammandah.

Today Erdenet company is using 11 different models of earth-moving machinery made by IZ-KARTEX. PGS Erdenet Company is one of the largest Asian mining companies and the leading Mongolian company in the field of mining and processing copper-molybdenum ore. In the year 2020 Erdenet reported processing more than 32.5 Mt of ore. Since 2017 the company has spent more than $27 million towards geological survey works, increasing its ore reserves in the deeper part of the deposit and plotting several prospective areas of the deposit of strategic importance.