255 Mongolians return from the United States www.montsame.mn

A charter flight, bringing 255 Mongolian nationals from the United States, has landed today, June 24, at 10:45 am at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar.

Newly Licensed Activities Of Real Estate Brokerage In Mongolia www.mondaq.com

REAL ESTATE BROKERAGE ACTIVITIES AS NON-FINANCIAL BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICE PROVIDER SHALL BE CONSIDERED AS LICENSED ACTIVITY in accordance with framework of improving policies, strategies and regulations to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Accordingly, Financial Regulatory Commission (the FRC) of Mongolia approved "Procedure for Licensing, Permitting, Authorization and Registration of a real estate brokerage company" (the Procedure) by the resolution No 120, dating 11, March 2020.

The license for conducting real estate brokerage activity shall be issued for a permanent period. The following activities shall be conducted within the license:

Brokerage of sale, purchase and transfer of real estate and the relevant claims;
Brokerage of leasing and renting of real estate and the relevant claims.
In addition to these activities, the company that has the license may conduct following activities upon registering at the FRC:

Real estate management service;
Sales of real estate upon purchasing and repairing;
Other services considered to be real estate brokerage activity by the FRC.
I. An applicant shall meet the following requirements to obtain a license for real estate brokerage activity:
The share capital must be at least 15,000,000 (fifteen million) MNT;
The share capital must be funded by monetary asset that is generated from lawful-sourceof-income. The share capital must not be financed by credit;
To have at least one broker experienced as a real estate brokerage agent for at least 2 years and responsible for brokerage of sale, purchase and transfer of real estate and the relevant claims;
To have more than one agent that is responsible for brokerage of sale, purchase and transfer of real estate and the relevant claims;
The broker and the agent shall have obtained a certification that shows their participation in a training organized under a program approved by the FRC and taken the relevant examination (A certification of broker and agent that shows the participation in relevant to real estate brokerage training within 1, June 2020 shall be accepted);
Governing body, shareholder and broker of the company shall meet the following criteria of "Eligible person":
To have appropriate education and work experience;
To have completed higher or secondary education;
To have completed a training approved by the FRC and obtained a certification.
Not to have involved in crime;
No criminal charges or penalties in connection with crimes and violations of money laundering, terrorism financing, bribery, corruption or fraud under the Criminal Code;
Not a suspect of money laundering, terrorism financing or corruption under the Criminal Code at the stage of lawsuit and investigation.
To have an ethical reputation;
Not have been imposed of disciplinary sanction of dismissal due to one's wrongful actions and violation of industry code of ethics within the last one year;
Not to be a convict of complaint in connection with financial and non-financial services and activities;
Not to have violated the industry code of ethics within the last one year;
Not to have violated any laws, regulations, business ethics and codes in Mongolia or abroad, or not to have supported one to do so;
To be available to conform with any requirements under any regulations, or professional and ethical standards of Mongolia or abroad.
To be free from conflict of interest;
Not to have contradicted with article 20, 21, and 22 of the Law on Regulation of Public and Private Interests in Public Service and Prevention of Conflict of Interest;
Not to have contradicted with a special law regulating activities related to financial services specified in article 3.1 of the Law on the Legal Status of the Financial Regulatory Commission.
Others provided by law.
To have appointed a person to supervise the compliance of the Law on Combating of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing;
To have a workplace, facility, hardware, and software to conduct real estate brokerage activities;
To have adopted an internal procedure for real estate brokerage activities, ethic code of employees, and adopted internal control and risk management program stipulated in the Law on Combating of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing;
To have adopted business plan.
For foreign invested real estate brokerage company, following shall be required in addition to the requirements above and the requirements stipulated in the Law of Mongolia on Investment:

Investor shall have obtained information, statement, and reference about his/her source of its monetary investment and activities from relevant State Authority or any Law Enforcement Agency, and Banking and Financial Institutions of the country of origin;
Investor shall have delivered information on the amount and origin of the monetary investment to Financial Information Unit of Mongolia.

ADB Project Expands Food Stamps and Cash Grants for Poor and Vulnerable in Mongolia www.adb.org

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $26.4 million loan to lessen the socioeconomic impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on poor and vulnerable groups in Mongolia, especially women and children.

“The loss of jobs and income in the wake of COVID-19 coupled with rising food prices will particularly affect poor and vulnerable people,” says ADB Principal Social Sector Specialist Karin Schelzig. “The Shock-Responsive Social Protection Project will expand food support and cash transfers on a temporary basis, utilizing the targeting and delivery systems of two established social assistance programs.”

Mongolia’s early and robust response to contain the spread of COVID-19 has helped keep the number of cases relatively low, but the health risk-level remains high, and the curtailment of economic activity has affected many parts of the economy. ADB estimates show that Mongolia will suffer significant investment and consumption shocks in addition to negative global demand spillovers in 2020.

The pre-crisis poverty rate in Mongolia was 28.4%. A significant share of Mongolians who are technically non-poor live precariously close to the poverty line.

To counter the negative impacts of the pandemic, on 27 March the government launched a countercyclical development expenditure program, which includes temporary increases in child money program benefits. On 6 May the government announced further social assistance measures including expanding the food stamp program.

The project will finance the temporary increase in the monthly benefit levels for all child money program and food stamp program beneficiaries through September 2020. The child money program reaches more than 1 million Mongolian children with electronic transfers. Food stamps are cash-like benefits that are delivered either as electronic payments to e-cards or as physical vouchers in more remote areas. Food stamps can be used to purchase 10 staple food items, including milk and vegetables.

Food stamps benefit 240,500 Mongolians, among them more than 118,000 children. Women and girls comprise 53% of the recipients. The program reaches 44,325 families (the poorest 5%).

The project is a key part of ADB’s package of support to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in Mongolia. This assistance has included grants to purchase emergency medical equipment and supplies, short and medium-term responses such as a $40 million loan to support health security, a $24 million reallocation to support small- and medium-sized enterprises, and a $100 million countercyclical support program.

Total project cost is $270.79 million, of which $239.39 will be provided by the Government of Mongolia. The World Bank will also provide loan cofinancing of $5 million for the expansion of the child money program benefits.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

Western region wool processing plant to be built in Zavkhan aimag www.montsame.mn

Zavkhan /MONTSAME/ The Western region wool processing plant will be established in Aldarkhaan soum of Zavkhan aimag with MNT 20.1 billion financing.

Gold X names Friedland chairman, stock jumps www.mining.com

Gold X Mining (TSXV: GLDX) announced Monday that Ivanhoe Mines founder Robert Friedland has joined the company’s board as non-executive chairman.

Mongolian organic honey to become a new export product www.montsame.mn

Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry Ch.Ulaan became familiarized with bee farming in Batsumber soum of Tuv aimag.

Mongolia To Hold Election Under Coronavirus Cloud www.barrons.com (AFP news)

Mongolians will elect a new parliament Wednesday under the cloud of the coronavirus, with controversy over candidates flouting lockdown rules and thousands of people stranded overseas unable to vote.

Mongolia, a landlocked country of three million people wedged between China and Russia, has taken some of the world's toughest and most enduring measures to contain the virus.

In March it became one of the first countries to close its borders, while schools and universities that were even more quickly shuttered will remain closed until September.

But 2,000 polling stations have been set up for Wednesday's vote, which will elect the parliament though not the most powerful presidential post.

Fuelling anger over seemingly different rules for politics and other aspects of life, the country's two main parties have broken bans on gatherings of above 30 people by holding big campaign rallies.

They have also flouted bans on door-to-door campaigning and ignored other social distancing rules.

"People are much more worried about COVID-19 than unemployment or poverty," said Bold Sambuu, a senior adviser at Zorig Foundation, a democracy advocacy group.

About 600 candidates are contesting the 76 seats in the single-chamber parliament.

The ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) appears best placed to take advantage of the unprecedented circumstances, partly because the strict measures have kept a lid on infections.

There have only been about 200 reported cases in Mongolia -- most imported from Russia -- and no confirmed coronavirus fatalities.

Another of its strict measures has been forcing returnees to spend five weeks in quarantine, including three in a government-run facility.

But about 8,000 Mongolians have been stranded abroad by the virus.

With no provisions made for them to vote overseas, many are seething and some are demanding the elections be delayed.

The government had arranged limited charter flights to bring home some citizens from abroad.

But it did not undertake a large-scale repatriation, saying there was not enough room in the quarantine facilities.

Only pregnant women, seniors, minors and people with serious illnesses have been allowed to board the rare charter flights, and passengers are required to pay.

"We all cried when Prime Minister (Ukhnaa) Khurelsukh announced that he doesn’t know when Mongolia will re-open its borders," said Dolgorsuren, a woman who was able to return to Mongolia in March and has become an advocate for other mothers of children still stranded abroad.

"No tourists will come during this summer. The government should use empty tour camps and other doctors to check our temperatures and blood pressure."

Further infuriating those stuck overseas was the case of local rock band The Hu, whose members were able to get a chartered flight from Australia.

They secured the flight and returned home even though they did not fit any of the conditions, raising suspicion that the selection system is corrupt.

Adding to concerns about graft in the young democracy -- Mongolia ended decades as a Soviet satellite in 1990 -- the MPP paid off debts of 230,000 pensioners in February.

Another 200,000 pensioners who did not have loans were promised vouchers for one million tugrik ($355) if the MPP were re-elected -- a move condemned by the IMF as a breach of its bailout agreement.

Mongolia’s humanitarian assistance handed over to the United States www.montsame.mn

H.E. Mr. Yondon Otgonbayar, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the United States, officially handed over the 60 thousand personal protective equipment (PPE) to Mr. Mike O’Hare, Regional Administrator of the FEMA’s Region 10, on June 21, 2020.

The PPEs are the donation of the people and Government of Mongolia to the people and Government of the United States, which is delivered as part of the “Far Is No Distance For Friends” humanitarian act. The representatives from FEMA, Port of Seattle as well as Embassy of Mongolia in Washington DC and Mongolian Consulate-General in San Francisco were present at the hand-over event.

During the hand-over event, Ambassador Otgonbayar highlighted that the people and Government of the United States have been helping Mongolia during the difficult times of transition and natural disasters. He then underscored that today the people and Government of Mongolia are donating these PPEs as a show of solidarity to help the people and the Government of the United States to combat the coronavirus. Ambassador expressed his confidence that American people will overcome the coronavirus pandemic and wished good luck.

The PPEs will be distributed by the FEMA to the states of Arizona and Nevada.

In the Declaration on Strategic Partnership between Mongolia and the U.S., declared by the President of Mongolia H.E. Mr. Kh. Battulga and the US President Donald Trump in 2019; and a Roadmap for Expanded Economic Partnership between Mongolia and the U.S., announced by the Prime Minister of Mongolia, H.E. Mr. U.Khurelsukh, and the US Vice President Mike Pence in 2018, the two sides agreed to increase the opportunities for economic cooperation, expand the relations across all areas of cooperation, including political, economic, cultural, educational and humanitarian, as well as people-to-people ties; recognized the importance of transport development and aim to improve the competitiveness of their respective transportation sectors in more open markets.

The Boeing’s B-767 airplane, named after Chinggis Khaan, is making a first-ever direct flight between Mongolia and the United States while bringing the PPEs. On the way back, the airplane will carry onboard Mongolian citizens stranded in the U.S. and dinosaur fossils. Ambassador stressed that these two-way flights are turning the new page of aviation cooperation between Mongolia and the United States and setting the new milestone in the bilateral relations.

The Government of Mongolia and the Embassy of Mongolia in Washington DC express deep appreciation to U.S. institutions, including the Department of State (DOS), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Port of Seattle for their major assistance in successfully bringing the PPEs, repatriating Mongolian citizens and delivering the dinosaur fossils back to Mongolia.

Embassy of Mongolia to the United States

Mongolia reports 7 new cases of COVID-19 www.xinhuanet.com

June 22 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported seven new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the national count to 213, the country's National Center for Communicable Disease (NCCD) said Monday.

Putin not ruling out run for another term www.nhk.or.jp

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he does not rule out the possibility of seeking another term in office, if voters approve proposed constitutional reforms that would allow him to do so.