1 MONGOLIA MARKS CENTENNIAL WITH A NEW COURSE FOR CHANGE WWW.EASTASIAFORUM.ORG PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      2 E-MART OPENS FIFTH STORE IN ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, TARGETING K-FOOD CRAZE WWW.BIZ.CHOSUN.COM PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      3 JAPAN AND MONGOLIA FORGE HISTORIC DEFENSE PACT UNDER THIRD NEIGHBOR STRATEGY WWW.ARMYRECOGNITION.COM  PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      4 CENTRAL BANK LOWERS ECONOMIC GROWTH FORECAST TO 5.2% WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      5 L. OYUN-ERDENE: EVERY CITIZEN WILL RECEIVE 350,000 MNT IN DIVIDENDS WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      6 THE BILL TO ELIMINATE THE QUOTA FOR FOREIGN WORKERS IN MONGOLIA HAS BEEN SUBMITTED WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      7 THE SECOND NATIONAL ONCOLOGY CENTER TO BE CONSTRUCTED IN ULAANBAATAR WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      8 GREEN BOND ISSUED FOR WASTE RECYCLING WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      9 BAGANUUR 50 MW BATTERY STORAGE POWER STATION SUPPLIES ENERGY TO CENTRAL SYSTEM WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      10 THE PENSION AMOUNT INCREASED BY SIX PERCENT WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      КОКС ХИМИЙН ҮЙЛДВЭРИЙН БҮТЭЭН БАЙГУУЛАЛТЫГ ИРЭХ ОНЫ ХОЁРДУГААР УЛИРАЛД ЭХЛҮҮЛНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     "ЭРДЭНЭС ТАВАНТОЛГОЙ” ХК-ИЙН ХУВЬЦАА ЭЗЭМШИГЧ ИРГЭН БҮРД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГ ӨНӨӨДӨР ОЛГОНО WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГИЙН ОРЛОГО 2040 ОНД 38 ИХ НАЯДАД ХҮРЭХ ТӨСӨӨЛӨЛ ГАРСАН WWW.NEWS.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ЭРДЭНЭС ОЮУ ТОЛГОЙ” ХХК-ИАС ХЭРЛЭН ТООНО ТӨСЛИЙГ ӨМНӨГОВЬ АЙМАГТ ТАНИЛЦУУЛЛАА WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     Л.ОЮУН-ЭРДЭНЭ: ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГААС НЭГ ИРГЭНД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГИЙН ХАДГАЛАМЖ ҮҮСЛЭЭ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ENTRÉE RESOURCES” 2 ЖИЛ ГАРУЙ ҮРГЭЛЖИЛСЭН АРБИТРЫН МАРГААНД ЯЛАЛТ БАЙГУУЛАВ WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ORANO MINING”-ИЙН ГЭРЭЭ БОЛОН ГАШУУНСУХАЙТ-ГАНЦМОД БООМТЫН ТӨСЛИЙН АСУУДЛААР ЗАСГИЙН ГАЗАР ХУРАЛДАЖ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     АЖИЛЧДЫН САРЫН ГОЛЧ ЦАЛИН III УЛИРЛЫН БАЙДЛААР ₮2 САЯ ОРЧИМ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     PROGRESSIVE EQUITY RESEARCH: 2025 ОН “PETRO MATAD” КОМПАНИД ЭЭЛТЭЙ БАЙХААР БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     2026 ОНЫГ ДУУСТАЛ ГАДААД АЖИЛТНЫ ТОО, ХУВЬ ХЭМЖЭЭГ ХЯЗГААРЛАХГҮЙ БАЙХ ХУУЛИЙН ТӨСӨЛ ӨРГӨН МЭДҮҮЛЭВ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19    

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Events

Events

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MBCC “Doing Business with Mongolia seminar and Christmas Receptiom” Dec 10. 2024 London UK MBCCI London UK Goodman LLC

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Rent costs 50% higher than minimum wage www.theubposts.com

There is unofficial statistics in the capital city that about 70,000 students migrate to Ulaanbaatar annually. There are not enough dormitories to house them and therefore, apartment hunting is extreme, especially, in the new academic year and in winter, so the prices of renting apartments go higher from August to October. In relations to this, we were interested in this year’s price on rents, townhouses, and a single room.
We also talked to landlords and tenants about the price and the situation of the rent. Resident of Bayangol district G.Munkhjin said, “My wife and I have been living in a rented apartment for six years. Five years ago, we rented a studio apartment with a separate kitchen in third and fourth khoroolol for only about 400,000 MNT per month. Rents could be paid in up to three months with flexible terms. But as of last week, the monthly rent for a studio apartment with a separate kitchen, costs 1.2 million MNT. It means that in addition to receiving the payment in three months, one month’s deposit or a total of 4.8 million MNT should be paid. The monthly income of our family is about 2.5 million MNT. Almost 50 percent of it will be spent only on apartment rent.” Among the apartments for rent, studio or one-bedroom apartments, located in the city center, are the most sought after. Monthly fees for such apartments vary depending on whether they are furnished or not, and studio apartments usually cost 800,000 MNT to 1,900,000 MNT. For 800,000 MNT, you can find one located on the outskirts of the city like Nisekh or Yarmag, or you can rent one for 1.5 million MNT to 1.9 million MNT in the downtown. The rent is usually paid for more than three months, in addition to fearing that property may be destroyed or damaged, money equivalent to 500,000 to one month’s payment will be seized as a deposit. Additionally, the monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is between 1.2 million MNT to 4.5 million MNT. Most of them are furnished and they are expensive if they are in the city center, close to schools, kindergartens, and bus stations. There were more ads for renting two- to three-bedroom apartments than studio and one-bedroom apartments. The demand for these apartments does not seem to be high. Such apartments are often fully furnished and are attractive for long-term rentals, and the prices are high. Specifically, it ranges from 1.5 million MNT to 7.5 million MNT. The owners explained that the apartments costing more than 4 million MNT per month are mostly rented to foreigners and are newly built and fully furnished, and include utility bills. So, the monthly rent for the cheapest studio apartment is 800,000 MNT, which is almost 50 percent higher than the minimum wage. In addition, if you rent two- to three-bedroom apartments for 5.5 million per month, you will pay 10 times more than the minimum wage.
Due to the high cost of rent, students and single people often rent a room next to a household. The price of a single room starts from 300,000 MNT per month, and if it is in the city center, it is 400,000 to 600,000 MNT. Bathroom, washing machine and kitchen are shared, and in some cases, a certain percentage of electricity and internet bills may be paid. I contacted a person according to the advertisement that a single room of an apartment is for rent. An 18-square-meter room with a balcony will be rented out in the building no. 10 of the fourth khoroo of Bayangol District. The landlord said, “Three rooms separate from our kitchen will be rented out one by one. The fee for one room is 500,000 to 600,000 MNT, one to two people can live there. Tenants will also pay for internet, electricity, heating, and houseowners’ association fees. Utility bills are 200,000 MNT in winter and 100,000 MNT in summer. A clean apartment with a security guard and a camera.” When asked about the basis of which the rent is calculated, they said, “We have studied the rates of the rented apartments in this area. In general, three rooms cost more than 1.5 million MNT. Dividing each room for rent is beneficial for us and for those who live alone.”
It is less expensive to live in townhouses in the ger district. Four to six families can live on one floor, the bathroom is shared, and the monthly rent for a 20- to 30-square-meter apartment is 160,000 to 300,000 MNT. But if you live in a large room with a bathroom and shower inside, the price is 400,000 to 500,000 MNT. The three-month rent is usually paid upfront. In addition, the basement floor of some apartments is furnished and rented out. Living in such a room cost between 100,000 and 250,000 MNT depending on the amenities and size of the area. If you have a small room for one person, including one bathroom, the rent will be reduced to 100,000 MNT. Apart from this, there are many hostels for girls. Usually, three to five people can live in one room with bunk bed, wardrobe, and kitchen furniture. Depending on the location and amenities, one person will pay 250,000 to 350,000 MNT per month. Utility bills are included in the price of the apartment. In short, rent prices have increased by 30 to 40 percent per month compared to this time last year, and almost doubled from 2021.
Renting apartments and town houses has become a business. Such businesses are run by real estate agents or individuals. Broker agents set the price by adding a service fee of the price offered by the individual. In this regard, a real estate agent said, “If the apartment is rented out by an agent, the owners do not need to worry about anything. All you must do is offer your price. We find the owner to rent to, show the apartment, and hand it over to the owner intact at the end of the lease. A lot of people are interested in apartments for rent, and it takes time to show apartments. A contract is also signed and notarized, and the notary fee is usually paid by the landlord. As a real estate agent, you are paid by your company based on your sales revenue. We pay taxes from our salary.” No other tax is paid for renting or leasing an apartment, except for the notary fee. There are no legal provisions or regulations governing this. When clarifying whether renters of apartments, real estate, and stalls must pay taxes, the Mongolian Tax Authority said, “Citizens pay taxes by declaring their personal income. Taxes may be paid on rental and other income, but those who rent out apartments and rooms are less likely to pay tax. Also, there is no general information about how many apartments are rented out in the capital per year, at what price, and how they earn income. In fact, if you pay personal income tax, you get a refund for buying real estate and paying student tuition fees.”
Citizens often pay an average of 1.5 million MNT per month to live in an apartment. It will amount to 18 million MNT per year and 36 million MNT in two years, and it will form an advance for a mortgage worth 100 million MNT. However, citizens cannot accumulate such funds and cannot get into apartments because they do not meet the credit criteria. On the other hand the Ministry of Construction and Urban Development reported that from 2017 to 2022, an average of 17,000 apartments were put into operation per year, while 6,900 households were given mortgage loans. For example, if 10 new apartments are put into operation, only three to four of them will be included in the mortgage loan, that is if the demand and supply do not intersect. In 2019, the housing program for rent-to-own was implemented in the capital city to solve this problem. About 1,000 families currently live in such apartments, as can be seen on the website of the Ulaanbaatar City Apartment Corporation.
They said that in the future, they would put out many apartments for rent or rent-to-own that fit citizen’s income, but it has not been implemented. Also, the Ulaanbaatar City Apartment Corporation said that they will not accept applications from citizens who are interested to live in such apartments and cannot provide information.
BY Amarjargal Munkhbat
 
 
 
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A 10-hour flight to meet 1,500 Catholics: The Pope visits Mongolia www.cnn.com

Pope Francis formally began his 8,000-kilometer trip to Mongolia on Saturday, a country sandwiched between Russia and China that has a tiny Catholic population.
Catholics from Mongolia and other countries, some seen waving Chinese flags, gathered in the main square of capital city Ulaanbaatar to catch a glimpse of the pontiff during an official welcome ceremony.
With just 1,500 Catholics in the entire country, the visit was lacking the usual fanfare and mass crowds typically associated with Pope Francis’ trips abroad. When he visited Portugal in August 1.5 million people attended one of his vigils.
Pictures from the scene showed small gatherings of around 100 people, with lower security in place than is usually seen when the Pope visits foreign countries.
Yang Guang from China told Reuters: “I’m just extremely happy because this is the first time I’ve seen him. It’s not as if I have this kind of opportunity all the time. I’m just very happy.”
The Pope, who is 86 and has been suffering from poor health, arrived on Friday after a 10-hour flight. He came at the invite of the government and spent the first day resting,
The official visit comes at a time when the Vatican’s relations with Mongolia’s two powerful neighbors are strained.
China, which shares a 4,600-kilometer border with Mongolia, has been accused of violating an accord signed with the Vatican in 2018 which allowed jointly-approved Catholic bishops in China for the first time. Prior to the agreement, bishops appointed by either the Vatican or the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association were not recognized by the other party.
China is officially an atheist state, but religious practice is legal in the country – albeit under tight government supervision and surveillance.
The Vatican’s relations with Moscow have deteriorated over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Pope has also drawn criticism from Ukraine with remarks made about Russia’s war. Most recently he was accused by Ukrainian officials of “imperialist propaganda” after he urged young Russian Catholics to view themselves as descendants of the Russian empire during a video address.
In a speech delivered from Ulaanbaatar on Saturday, the Pope said that governments and secular institutions have “nothing to fear from the Church’s work of evangelization.”
Without naming any country in particular, he went on to say that the Church “has no political agenda to advance, but is sustained by the quiet power of God’s grace and a message of mercy and truth, which is meant to promote the good of all.”
During the speech, Pope Francis also called on leaders to dispel “the dark clouds of war.”
Mongolia’s President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh told the crowd: “With a view to peacefully contributing to the international community’s efforts in addressing regional and global security challenges, Mongolia has been offering its initiatives and actively engaging with our immediate and third neighbors.”
According to Vatican News, the most recent data from 2023 puts the current number of Catholics in Mongolia at around 1,500 out of an overall population of 3.5 million.
This compares to only 14 Catholics in the country in 1995, per Vatican News.
 
 
 
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A Nation With Few Catholics Gives Pope a Welcome Fit for an Emperor www.nytimes.com

Mongolia put its history and culture on display as Pope Francis visited the Asian nation. Although it was the first trip to the country by a Roman Catholic pontiff, he noted that the two entities have ties dating back many centuries.
In a lush valley in the vast Mongolian countryside, hulking wrestlers, equestrians doing bareback tricks, throat singers and archers performed for top Vatican cardinals who snacked on dried yogurt delicacies under the shade of a ceremonial blue tent.
It was treatment worthy of an emperor for the prelates accompanying Pope Francis, who was back in Mongolia’s capital resting during his four-day trip to the country, the first ever by a Roman Catholic pontiff. But in a largely Buddhist and atheist country with barely 1,400 Catholics, some of the Mongolians at the Naadam festival in the central province of Töv on Friday were not quite clear why the Catholic clerics were there, or what Catholics even were.
“What are Catholics again?” Anojin Enkh, 26, a caterer with the Grand Khaan Irish Pub, said as she stocked a lamb and dumpling buffet for Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s second-in-command, and other top cardinals, bishops, priests, nuns and Vaticanisti in the papal press corps. “I don’t know any Catholic people.”
Francis has made visiting places where his flock is often forgotten a hallmark of his papacy. But even by that measure, Mongolia is especially off the radar, its Catholic population especially minuscule.
The country’s entire Catholic population could fit into a cathedral. It has a handful of churches and only two native Mongolian priests. On Friday, when Francis arrived, horses and goats vastly outnumbered the people standing on the road to see his motorcade pass.
On Saturday, a couple of hundred pilgrims, most of whom had come from other countries, barely registered in the immense Sükhbaatar Square in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, where Francis bowed before a huge statue of Ghengis Khan and reviewed a parade of cavalry soldiers dressed in ancient Mongolian armor.
“I am pleased that this community, however small and discrete, shares with enthusiasm and commitment in the country’s process of growth,” Francis said at an event soon afterward with Mongolia’s president at the State Palace.
The pope also put his visit into the long continuum of contact between Mongolians and the Catholic Church — a familiarity that Francis said dated back not only to the establishment of diplomatic relations three decades ago, but to “much earlier in time.”
Historians have traced that history to the seventh century, when an Eastern branch of Christianity coexisted with shamanism. Some of the commanders in the empire of Genghis Khan, who spread the Mongolian empire and his genes throughout Asia, were of the Christian faith. Francis said on Saturday that he was giving Mongolia the gift of an “authenticated copy” of a reply that Güyük, the third Mongol Emperor, had sent in 1246 in response to a missive from Pope Innocent IV.
Francis did not mention that the correspondence was not exactly chummy.
Pope Innocent had been alarmed by the Mongol Empire’s incursions and its laying waste to Christian forces in Eastern Europe. He questioned the emperor about his intentions to stretch out his “destroying hand,” beseeched him to desist, floated the idea of conversion and threatened that while God had let some nations fall before the Mongolians, he could yet punish them in this life or the next.
The Mongolian leader responded in kind — which is to say, not kindly. He told the pope and his kings to come to his court and submit to his rule. He expressed bewilderment at the pope’s suggestion of baptism, saying that God appeared to clearly be on the victorious Mongolia’s side, and warned that the pope risked becoming an enemy.
“All letters back then were like that,” Odbayar Erdenetsogt, the foreign policy adviser to Mongolia’s president, said with a shrug on Friday as horsemen behind him rode upside down, to the delight of Francis’ entourage. “Because we were a big empire.”
The earlier empire may be infamous for rape and pillage. But in some respects, it was, for the time, rather tolerant when it came to religion. In the 13th and 14th centuries, when the Mongolians controlled much of Eurasia, they fostered peaceful trading along the Silk Road: Mongolian nomads eager to do business would assess the religious affiliation of caravans crossing the Mongolian steppes and then extract from their coffers a Christian cross, a Quran or a Buddhist statue to facilitate trade.
“It was a pragmatic approach,” said Sumati Luvsandendev, a leading Mongolian political scientist who happens to be the nominal president of the Jewish community of Mongolia, which he said basically did not exist, but which the Vatican said would be represented at an interreligious event led by Francis on Sunday.
(Mr. Luvsandendev said he had not been asked to attend that gathering: “Maybe they found somebody else.”)
Perhaps the most famous of the merchant visitors to Mongolia, Marco Polo, wrote in his 13th-century “Travels” about how Kublai Khan, a Mongolian emperor and grandson of Genghis Khan, put down a revolt by “a baptized Christian.” After having the rebel rolled up in a carpet that “was dragged all over the place with such violence that he died,” the emperor made a peace offering to the Christians.
He told them, Marco Polo wrote, that the “the cross of your God did the right thing by not helping” the rebel and later suggested that the pope send 100 wise Christians to his land with the potential of his own conversion, “so there will be more Christians here than there are in your part of the world.”
It did not shake out that way. Buddhism took hold, and Catholicism struggled.
Centuries later, in the 1920s, the Vatican sought to establish mission structures in the country, but Mongolia fell under the Soviet sphere and Communism prevailed for the next 70 years. As religion was suppressed, atheism grew.
Only in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, did Catholics return, and even then they were often outnumbered by other Christian missionaries.
“Back then, there were not many Catholics here,” Mr. Erdenetsogt said after the wrestling finals at the festival. The Mongolian official recalled that when he was in high school at that time, Christians had started coming in waves. “A lot of people from Salt Lake City,” he said. “A lot of Mormons. Even had some Quakers.”
In 2003, Giorgio Marengo, a Catholic missionary, arrived and then spent three years learning the language and the lay of the land. In 2006, he and other missionaries started spreading to provinces where, he said in an interview, “there were no Catholics at all” and where there had “never been a church before.”
They eventually obtained some land from the government.
“That is where we put our two ger — one for prayer and one for activities,” he said, referring to the portable circular dwellings, sometimes called yurts, that dot the Mongolian landscape. That community, reminiscent of the early church “like after the apostles,” he said, had grown into a small parish of about 50.
“The church is still a ger,” he said. “A ger of big dimensions or size, but it’s still a ger.”
Last year, Francis stunned the Vatican by making Father Marengo, who is 49, the youngest cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church.
On Saturday afternoon, Francis joined Cardinal Marengo, Catholic missionaries and some of the few Mongolian Catholics in Ulaanbaatar at the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, itself shaped like a colossal red brick ger.
In the pews, Uran Tuul, 35, a Catholic convert, said that she had been the first among her friends and family to become Catholic, but that “now there are more.” She then listened as Francis encouraged the congregation to “not be concerned about small numbers, limited success or apparent irrelevance.”
He added, “God loves littleness.”
BY
Jason Horowitz is the Rome bureau chief, covering Italy, the Vatican, Greece and other parts of Southern Europe. He previously covered the 2016 presidential campaign, the Obama administration and Congress, with an emphasis on political profiles and features. More about Jason Horowitz
 
 
 
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Pope Francis hails religious tolerance, warns of environmental ruin on Mongolia visit www.france24.com

The 86-year-old Francis, on the first papal visit to the Asian nation sandwiched between China and Russia, was feted with an official welcome ceremony that included a phalanx of Mongolian horsemen in metal armour parading past the State Palace.
The pope, who waved to the crowd in front of a massive bronze statue of Genghis Khan as a group of young Mongolian Catholics yelled 'Viva il Papa!', is seeking a neutral ally in the sensitive region as he seeks to improve Vatican relations with both of Mongolia's neighbours.
Welcomed by President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, who donned the traditional "deel" tunic, Pope Francis called himself a "pilgrim of friendship" and extolled the virtues of the country, including its "ranchers and planters respectful of the delicate balances of the ecosystem".
Mongolia's Shamanist and Buddhist traditions of living in harmony with nature and its creatures "can contribute significantly to the urgent and no longer deferrable efforts to protect and preserve planet Earth", he said.
Francis also praised Mongolia for its religious tolerance and nuclear-free policy, but warned that corruption was "the fruit of a utilitarian and unscrupulous mentality that has impoverished whole countries".
Religions can "represent a safeguard against the insidious threat of corruption, which effectively represents a serious menace to the development of any human community", he said.
Mongolia has been marred by corruption and environmental degradation in recent years, with its capital suffering from some of the world's worst air quality and a scandal over embezzlement by officials sparking street protests last year.
Vast swathes of the country's territory are also at risk of desertification due to climate change, overgrazing and mining.
Michel Chambon, a scholar of Catholics in Asia, told AFP ahead of the visit that Francis might warn civil authorities of their duty to support democratic principles in more than name.
"Francis may be thinking, 'I'm willing to play the game of coming here, attracting attention and showing how you're a multi-religious, respectful country... but by the way, where are you in terms of political inclusion, anti-corruption efforts?'"
Global figure
In the vast Sukhbaatar Plaza, named for a Mongol revolutionary hero, more than 1,000 pilgrims and others hoped to catch a glimpse of the leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics.
In the crowd was Mongolian Enkhtur Dagvadorj, who said Francis "seems a great person. He is indeed a global figure."
"Although Mongolians are Buddhists, it is lovely to receive a Pope from Rome in our country. Also, his visit is very beneficial to our country in many aspects, from reputation to the economy," he said.
The visit by the Argentine Jesuit will provide a boost to local Catholics, one of the smallest and youngest communities in the global reach of the Church at only about 1,400 members – including just 25 priests, two of them Mongolian, and 33 nuns.
The trip represents his desire to bring the Church's message to remote, largely ignored areas far from Rome, but it also has the undeniably geopolitical aim of helping the Vatican keep the door open to the greater region.
China's doorstep
Francis' trip to the doorstep of China, which has never extended an invitation for the pope to visit, drew some Chinese Catholics, with about a dozen waving the country's flag during the welcome ceremony.
AFP heard one visitor advising another not to speak with reporters, for fear of "trouble" upon their return to China.
But one Chinese woman in attendance told AFP that seeing the pope will "basically be like seeing Jesus".
"There are a lot of Catholics in China who wanted to come, but they couldn't make it. So we feel quite blessed," she said.
The Holy See renewed a deal last year with Beijing that allows both sides a say in appointing bishops in China, a move critics have called a dangerous Vatican concession in exchange for a presence in the country.
Beijing's Communist Party is officially atheist and exercises strict control over all recognised religious institutions, including vetting sermons and choosing bishops.
In a comment that appeared directed at China, the pope told a gathering of the faithful at Ulaanbaatar's Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral that governments have "nothing to fear" from the Church.
"She has no political agenda to advance, but is sustained by the quiet power of God's grace and a message of mercy and truth, which is meant to promote the good of all," he said.
The pope, who underwent a hernia operation in June, appeared to have difficulty walking Saturday, gingerly taking steps with a cane when not in a wheelchair.
On Sunday, Francis will lead an interreligious meeting and conduct mass inside a newly built ice hockey arena.
(AFP)
 
 
 
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Vietnamese Catholics travel to Mongolia to see pope, ask him to visit www.reuters.com

Vietnamese Catholics who flew thousands of miles to see Pope Francis in Mongolia had one message for the pontiff: They want him to visit their communist-run country too.
"Visit Vietnam, Papa," some in the group shouted as the pope was driven in a golf cart past a crowd of about 2,000 people of various nationalities on the grounds of the Catholic cathedral in Ulaanbaatar on Saturday.
Vietnam broke off relations with the Vatican after the communists took over the reunited country at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. The authorities then viewed the Catholic Church in Vietnam as having been too close to the former colonial power, France.
"I see that he's very near, very near distance. So I really want to cry when I see him," said Cindy Pham from Ho Chi Minh City. "Even when I saw him, the first time at the gate, I ran, ran a lot to see him again."
The prospect of a papal visit to Vietnam, once seemingly impossible, became more realistic last month when the Vatican and Hanoi agreed to have a Resident Papal Representative in Hanoi.
It was a step years in the making which could lead to full diplomatic ties. It was announced on July 27 when the pope received Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong at the Vatican.
"I really hope that he will visit Vietnam in the short term," Pham said, mentioning the hope spawned by president's visit to the Vatican.
Maria Vo, a Vietnamese-born tour guide who now lives in the Philippines, could not contain her excitement as Francis waved from the moving golf cart.
"I cannot tell (you) my feelings right now, because I'm so happy," said Vo, seeing the pope for the first time. "Vietnamese people, we love him and are waiting for him to visit us in Vietnam."
Writing by Joseph Campbell and Philip Pullella Editing by Ros Russell
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China, Mongolia open joint center to curb desertification www.xinhuanet.com

The China-Mongolia Desertification Prevention and Control Cooperation Center was inaugurated here on Friday.
The center will serve as an important platform for carrying out joint efforts to prevent and control desertification, as part of China's support for Mongolia's afforestation campaign "Billion Trees."
The cooperation plan will also include China's assistance in constructing ecological protection and restoration demonstration areas in Mongolia, promoting China's advanced technologies in afforestation and desertification prevention and control, establishing monitor stations in the Gobi Desert areas, and strengthening cooperation in sandstorm monitoring and early warning.
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First Largest Solar Power Plants in Remote Areas www.montsame.mn

The first-ever largest solar power plant in a remote area of Mongolia is under construction to be completed in December 2023. It is a 10MW Solar power plant in Murun soum of Khuvsgul aimag, the northern province of Mongolia.
The Murun 10MW Solar Power Plant is a subproject of the Upscaling Renewable Energy Sector Project being implemented with a grant of USD 14.6 million from the Strategic Climate Fund, USD 6 million from Japan Fund for the Joint Crediting Mechanism, and a loan of USD 40 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The Project will develop 41.0 megawatts (MW) of solar, wind, and shallow-ground renewable energy in remote areas of the Western and Altai Uliastai Energy Systems. The Sector Project selected western aimags as the remote western region, where 30 percent of the total population resides, has not been connected to the central grid yet even though the energy need of the region increases by 10 percent every year and livelihood is considered lower than of central provinces, one of the causes of lacking investment.
Therefore, within the Upscaling Renewable Energy Sector Project, the following core subprojects are planned to be implemented.
Wind subproject: A wind power plant in the western region of Mongolia. 2) Uliastai subproject: A 5 MW solar power plant in Aldarkhaan and Uliastai soums of Zavkhan aimag, and a 3.6 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at the Uliastai substation. 3) Gobi Altai subproject: A 10 MW solar power plant in Yesonbulag soum. 4) Altai Soum subproject: An off-grid 0.5 MW hybrid solar and BESS facility in Altai soum. 5) Khovd subproject: A 135 kW shallow-ground heat pump (SGHP) at Kindergarten 1 in Khovd City.
In addition to these, shallow ground heat pump projects are under progress in 5 soums, namely Uliastai, Altai, Ulaangom, Ulziit and Jargalant soums of Zavkhan, Gobi-Altai, Uvs, Bayankhongor and Khovd aimags. The Project is being implemented over two phases, with the first phase from 2019-2022 and the second from 2022-2024.
Newly appointed ADB Country Director for Mongolia Shannon Cowlin, accompanied by relevant officials of the projects, under implementation in Khuvsgul aimag and a press group, visited the sites in late August to oversee the projects’ implementation.
The construction of the 10 MW solar PV farm is in full swing at the site of the Murun 10MW Solar Power Plant Project, installing all the 23192 pieces of solar PVs, competing against time as cold days are coming to stop outside work. The solar panels which have 21.8 percent efficiency are produced by LONGi, the world's leading supplier of solar PV solutions.
The subproject contract has been awarded to Xian Electric Engineering Co.,LTD and the contractor had worked on developing design drawings and installation of PVs is progressing with around 90 percent performance, working together with subcontractor Smart Plus company of Mongolia. Smart Plus, an experienced company that also has installed PVs for a 10MW solar power plant in Myangad soum of Khovd aimag is using installing machines and a special screw machine for drilling rocky earth, shortening the time to install the required strings (52 PVs on 1 string).
The Murun solar power plant will be connected to the central power grid through the existing Murun substation, which is also planned to be extended within the subproject. Advisor of the project Professor Enebish Namjil said “The PV installation and other works are progressing successfully ensuring the completion in time. Murun soum has not had a reliable energy source so far. This project will enable the soum to have an independent energy source that fully provides not only the whole energy needs of the soum but also supplies energy to the central grid system of Mongolia, decreasing the load by 68 to 75 percent. The project will be an example for others as a solar power plant is built in the area with extreme weather, one of the coldest provinces of Mongolia.” Professor Enebish worked as an administrator for the Darkhan Solar Plant Project (10MW) which commissioned its full operations on January 19, 2017.
Mongolia’s total electricity consumption is roughly 1GW and it is increasing year by year. Nearly 90 percent of this demand is met by the centralized energy system which means 800-900 MW, though the renewable energy source has been increasing in recent years.
While Mongolia can be ranked 5th in the world with its underground mineral resources, it can top the globe with its capacity to utilize renewable energy. The Mongolian Gobi is advantageous as it is studied more closely compared to other deserts such as the Sahara and Arizona. Starting in 1999, Mongolian scholars teamed up with international experts and studied the feasibilities of the Gobi for utilization of renewable energy and even came up with technological solutions to exploit the great resources.
The studies have proven that mega plants with 10-100 times larger capacities than the total energy consumption of Mongolia can be built in the Gobi, excluding other areas. “ Mongolia has nothing to lose because such plants only require a minuscule part of the vast Gobi region. The land will not be dug or depraved in any way; it will only be used for its sunlight and wind. Mongolia will benefit from the high-tech and possibility of exporting the excess energy that's produced. Only the tax revenue of such amount of renewable energy exports will be enough to increase Mongolia’s GDP several times,” noted Professor Enebish in his interview.
The Murun Solar Power Plant is unique in Mongolia not only with its capacity of 10MW, the first largest solar plant in the remote areas, but also with its coverage of small areas (30 ha) compared with its capacity, saving water usage of 148 thousand tons, and using new simpler technique in the installation of PVs.
The Solar Power Plant, which is expected to last 25 years will produce electricity of 15500 thousand KW/h annually, providing 21600 households with permanent electricity. The Upscaling Renewable Energy Sector Project is anticipated to support the distributed renewable energy systems in remote and less developed regions in Mongolia; and enhance the capacity of local public utilities in investment planning, project management, and grid control for sustainable renewable energy upscaling in the targeted region. Upon successful completion, the Project delivers, most importantly, clean electricity to 70,000 households while annually avoiding 82,789 tons of carbon dioxide emission. Performance indicators were evaluated on the construction readiness and the effectiveness of environmental management for the proposed construction of the 10 MW solar PV farm in Moron soum, Khuvsgul Aimag. Environmental Monitoring is conducted on every subproject constantly. The impact will be imported electricity reduced and energy security improved. The outcome also will be renewable energy supply in Mongolia increased.
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Education Sector to Work in Completely New Legal Environment in 2023-2024 www.montsame.mn

“The newly approved Education Package Law should be correctly comprehended and particular attention must be paid to its implementation at every level. Major platforms will be introduced in secondary schools, and more attention will be paid to the rights of children and students to learn and develop, and their protection. Improvements of dormitory and library services are reflected in the documents.
Registration for the expansion of "Medle" On-line School, which opened last year with 10,000 children, has begun to organize selective courses for the 11th graders. The number of children of "Medle" On-line School is expected to reach 30,000 this year. The school promotes independent learning of children in remote areas where they do not have a possibility to select subjects,” assumes the Head of the Secondary Education Department of the Ministry of Education and Science T. Nyam-Ochir at a press conference co-organized by the Ministry of Education and Science, General Authority for Education and The Capital City Education Department in connection with the start of the new school year.
Apart from legitimizing the start and the end of classes in pre-school facilities and secondary schools, the number of class days during the school year was set to be 170-185 days in conformity with international standards. Since the four-term structure was approved, the official letter on the training plan has been delivered to all aimags. The time schedule of the curriculum has not been changed, and the regulations were made to enable the schools to decide on their own examination weeks, issues pertaining to public holidays, and spend more time for children’s development and protection.
This school year, 302 thousand children are preliminarily registered in the pre-school facilities, i.e. kindergartens. The second round of registration for the capital's kindergartens will be organized soon, but estimates suggest over 71,000 new children to be enrolled.
This year 781,000 children will study in secondary schools nationwide, making increase of 35,000 children from the last year. About 40,000 teenagers will study in vocational education and 22,000 new teenagers will be enrolled. In higher educational institutions, 147,000 youth will study and 25,000 youth will enter institutes and universities. These preliminary figures will be finalized by October 15.
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Decisions Made at The Cabinet Session www.montsame.mn

At its regular session on August 31, 2023, the Cabinet made the following decisions:
The quality of the improved briquette fuel will be upgraded and gradually introduced into use
The Minister of Energy B. Choijilsuren informed the members of the Government about the research, analysis and estimates of upgrading the quality of the improved briquette fuel and its technological innovation. The Minister was instructed to carry out the technological innovation of the improved briquette fuel plant, bring the quality of briquette fuel up to international standards, and organize the gradual introduction into use.
To enhance the quality of the improved briquette fuel, Tavantolgoi Tulsh LLC, and public and private laboratories carried out industrial tests for the production of briquette fuel from semi-coking coal, laboratory and practical firepot and igniting tests, laboratory analysis of produced fuel and igniters, and made related assessment and conclusions.
The comparison of technical parameters and the grade of toxic gas contained in the smoke of semi-coking fuel against middling fuel revealed 51.9% less volatility, 57.7% less sulfur, and 37.2% less ash respectively, and 72.6% decrease of the amount of dust particles, 85.5% decrease of sulfur gas, 10.8% decrease of carbonyl gas, and 23.5% decrease of nitrogen oxide in the smoke emission respectively.
Since 2010, air pollution indicators have been measured by automatic devices in 18 points around ger districts, highways, residential areas, and factories in six districts of Ulaanbaatar.
The use of semi-coke or processed products will reduce dust particles from 124mkg/m3 to 67.5mkg/m3 or 45.5%. According to the MNS 4585:2007 Standard “Air quality. General technical requirements", the amount of dust particles and sulfurous gas will reach the level of "51-100 normal".
Estimations for the supply of semi-coke briquettes with igniters to 26,825 households of Nisekh and Yarmag nearabouts in Khan-Uul district, and Nalaihk district of Ulaanbaatar, and ger district of Darkhan-Uul aimag from December 15, 2023 have been done. To provide households in these three locations with semi-coke briquettes, a total MNT 32.0 billion funding will be required for the procurement of 24,500 tons of semi-coke and igniters.
Pregnant women, children under 18, and citizens to undergo repeated control examinations will not be requested the Form 13A
The Minister of Health S. Chinzorig informed the members of the Government about the system of transfer of clients (patients) between hospitals (Form 13A), the current state of digital transfer and the measures to undertake in the future. In connection with this introduction, the Minister of Health was instructed to further improve the system of transferring clients between hospitals.
Due to the digitalization of the client transfer system in hospitals, there were constraints such as requiring the Form 13A when a pregnant woman goes to a referral hospital, when she returns to her supervising doctor, and when she is examined at a referral hospital for a condition that does not require a 13A form, she is requested the Form 13A again when she needs to go to another department or hospital.
Therefore, regulations have been introduced, so that pregnant women, children under 18, and citizens who need to undergo repeated examinations at the medical institution, and other departments within the hospital, would not be required to provide Form 13A.
"Teeth Brushing Time" in secondary schools and kindergartens
The Minister of Health S. Chinzorig and the Minister of Education and Science L. Enkh-Amgalan were tasked to approve the "Healthy Teeth" Action Plan (2024-2027) within the third quarter of 2023 and ensure its implementation.
The Minister of Education and Science L. Enkh-Amgalan and governors of aimags and Ulaanbaatar were instructed to reflect in state and joint programs and projects, and local budgets works to gradually organize and practice the daily “Teeth Brushing Time'' in pre-school institutions and secondary schools, and provide kindergarten children and secondary school pupils with a hygienic environment with teeth brushing points.
Within the scope of the "Healthy Teeth" initiative, the Minister of Health S. Chinzorig was instructed to take measures to include funds required for prevention, treatment and care of oral cavity in the budget of the Health Insurance Fund.
In his meeting with representatives of public and private organizations extending oral health service held on March 6, 2023, the Mongolian Premier L. Oyun-Erdene tasked to take significant measures to improve dental and oral health, and implement the "Teeth" Project in 2024.
Although the Government implemented the Oral Health Programs in 1999-2005, 2006-2015, and the National Program "Healthy Teeth-Healthy Children" in 2019-2021, dental caries remains one of the most pressing public health problems among people of all ages.
Brief news
· The Minister of Health and the Minister of Education and Science were instructed to approve the Action Plan for Improving Civil Health Education (2024-2027) within the third quarter of 2023 and ensure its implementation.
· The Public Center for Combating Cyber Attacks and Violations was set up under the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications.
· The "Mongolia-China Expo" event will be held in Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia, People’s Republic of China, on September 6-10, 2023.
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China-Mongolia border port resumes railway passenger traffic www.xinhuanet.com

Erenhot, the largest land port on the China-Mongolia border, welcomed the first batch of 74 inbound visitors on Wednesday morning, as the port resumed railway passenger traffic.
The arrival of the visitors in China marks the resumption of customs clearance services for passenger traffic between the Erenhot and Dzamin Uud railway ports after a suspension of about three years due to the pandemic, according to the Erenhot port customs authorities.
The Erenhot railway port is the only entry and exit point for China-Europe freight trains in the middle corridor.
The resumption of passenger traffic is expected to greatly facilitate the travel for attendees of the upcoming international and China-Mongolia expos scheduled in China, while also fueling the growth of China-Mongolia trade.
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