The U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo expressed his regrets for postponing his visit to Mongolia, in a phone call today with President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga.

In return, the head of state of Mongolia said he is hoping that Mr. Pompeo’s visit will be rescheduled soon.

“It is our interest to keep our ‘third neighbor’ and strategic partner United States as a significant commercial and investment partner”, President Battulga continued, and shared his views on the opportunities to broaden relations with economic cooperation as priority.

In specific, President Battulga further underlined the importance of the “Mongolia Third Neighbor Trade Act” legislative bill, which is currently being discussed in the Congress. If passed, the bill will leverage the bilateral trade turnover, enhance the growth of textile industries and promote women’s employment. In this regard, the sides expressed mutual commitment to the extensive cooperation in the scope of the Mongolia-U.S. Strategic Partnership.

Concluding the conversation, President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga conveyed the Mongolian people’s warm wishes to President Donald Trump and the First Lady for full and speedy recovery.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s diagnosis with COVID-19, and subsequent hospitalization from Friday through Monday, has thrown the country’s political sphere into chaos, just one month out from a contentious presidential election. Inevitably, the situation at home is having ripple effects on U.S. diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Japan from October 4 to 6 for a meeting of foreign ministers of the “Quad,” as the grouping of four Indo-Pacific democracies (Australia, India, Japan, and the United States) is known. But after his stay in Japan, Pompeo is heading right back to the United States – cutting off planned trips to both Mongolia and South Korea.

The decision, apparently made with Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis in mind, came at the last minute. The State Department announced Pompeo would only be visiting Japan on October 3, the day before he left. As late as October 2, the department was insisting the trip would take place as planned. Officials held a briefing that day outlining the planned agenda for “Secretary Pompeo’s upcoming visit to Japan, Mongolia, and the Republic of Korea.” (Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis was announced early in the morning on October 2.)

In a brief statement announcing the change, the State Department said that “Secretary Pompeo expects to be traveling to Asia again in October and will work to reschedule visits on that trip, that is now just a few weeks off.” But some of the benefits of stopping in Ulaanbaatar and Seoul this week were time sensitive – and will be lost even with a delay of just a few weeks.

In the case of Mongolia, there’s already a sense that Washington doesn’t put much emphasis on the relationship. The cancelled trip – even if later rescheduled – fuels that perception. As David Stilwell, assistant secretary for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, pointed out in the pre-trip briefing, it would have been Pompeo’s first stop in Mongolia since he took over the State Department. The last visit to Mongolia by a U.S. secretary of state was John Kerry’s trip in 2016, under the Obama administration. Stilwell’s comment that Pompeo’s planned visit “is an example of the importance the United States attaches to the U.S.-Mongolian relationship” rings ironically now that the trip has been scrapped.

Mongolia already had frustrations about the lack of attention given to the relationship thanks to the slow progress of the United States’ Mongolia Third Neighbor Trade Act. The bill, which would grant duty-free access to some Mongolian imports, notably cashmere and textile products, has stalled out in Congress since being first introduced in 2018. The bill made no progress in 2018 and was reintroduced in 2019. It didn’t even make it past committee consideration, much less a full vote, in either year. With an election looming, the bill is all but certain to die quietly, and will need to be taken up again under a new Congress in 2020. Mongolia will be keen to see that happen, but has just lost a high-profile chance to make its priorities clear to the top U.S. diplomat.

Finally, by delaying the trip Pompeo misses the chance to capitalize on anti-China sentiment currently running high in Mongolia. There is deep anger over the sidelining of Mongolian-language education in China’s Inner Mongolia region. Mongolian protesters greeted Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi when he arrived in Ulaanbaatar in September, and have been pressuring their government to speak out on the issue. The United States had a chance to win public favor by commenting on the perceived oppression of ethnic Mongolians in China – and, as Stilwell did in his briefing, by talking up U.S. efforts to “to help preserve Mongolia’s cultural heritage.” A delay of even a few weeks could see that opportunity evaporate.

Meanwhile, in South Korea, the opportunity costs are even greater. With North Korea set to celebrate the 75th anniversary of its ruling party on October 10, analysts expect Pyongyang to show off new military technology. Pompeo’s presence in Seoul just a few days before would have sent a strong signal of alliance solidarity. As Stilwell put it, the trip would “reaffirm the ironclad U.S.-ROK alliance, which is a linchpin of peace and security in the region.” Now that reassurance – and, more concretely, the chance to discuss a united response – won’t come until after North Korea’s anniversary celebrations, with whatever provocations that may bring.

Such signaling is doubly important at a time when the U.S.-South Korea alliance is fraying over fractious cost-sharing talks. The Special Measures Agreement that outlines Seoul’s contribution to the cost of hosting U.S. forces in South Korea expired in 2019; the two sides have been unable to close the gap between U.S. demands for a five-fold increase and South Korea’s insistence that its current levels of contribution are fair. Under those circumstances, routine signaling of the health of the relationship – including official visits like Pompeo’s – assumes a heightened importance.

Further complicating things is the fact that Pompeo kept his scheduled trip to Tokyo. South Korea is always sensitive to the optics of U.S. officials visiting Japan without stopping in Seoul, even more so at the current moment, when the Japan-South Korea relationship remains on the rocks. Pompeo’s trip to Japan, of course, involved a meeting with three other foreign ministers – something much harder to reschedule. But there were also bilateral discussions with Japan. Seoul will be keenly aware that Pompeo “stressed that the [U.S.-Japan] Alliance is essential to the future of a free and open Indo-Pacific region” in talks with Japan’s foreign minister, without subsequently holding discussions with his South Korean counterpart as well.

That hints at one final issue with the shortened trip: The only leg Pompeo kept involved a meeting of the Quad, widely seen as an anti-China bloc despite constant protestations to the contrary from its members. Keeping Pompeo’s commitment to the Quad, and the Quad alone, thus reinforces perceptions that U.S. Asia diplomacy places top priority on countering China. That message is especially problematic for South Korea and Mongolia, which both have a deep economic reliance on China. Seoul and Ulaanbaatar would be unwilling to unequivocally “choose sides” in the U.S.-China Cold War. The more U.S. diplomacy looks to be focused on drawing those lines, the less comfortable countries like South Korea and Mongolia will be.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday issued a draft report on revised training procedures for the Boeing BA.N 737 MAX, a key milestone to the plane's eventual ungrounding.

The FAA said the draft Flight Standardization Board report would be open for public comment through Nov. 2 before the procedures are finalized. The proposal adds new training requirements to deal with a key safety system called MCAS tied to two fatal crashes that killed 346 people and led to the plane’s grounding in March 2019.

Boeing did not immediately comment.

MCAS, which was designed to help counter a tendency of the MAX to pitch up, could be activated after data from only a single Angle of Attack (AOA) sensor.

Faulty data that erroneously triggered MCAS to repeatedly activate played critical roles in fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, a U.S. House report released last month said.

The FAA is requiring new safeguards to MCAS, including requiring it receive data from two sensors, before it allows the 737 MAX to return to service.

Pilots must undergo new simulator training before they can resume flights, including training on multiple flight deck alerts during unusual conditions along with how to respond to a runaway stabilizer with timely pilot actions required.

Pilots must also get training for erroneous, high AOA malfunctions.

The FAA must finalize the software upgrade requirements and other changes to the 737 MAX before it can issue an ungrounding order, which is expected at some point in November. That could allow the MAX to begin resuming commercial flights before the end of 2020.

Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Aurora Ellis

Fast containment of the Covid-19 outbreak has given Asian countries an advantage over other economies, paving the way for a faster recovery, analysts at Goldman Sachs believe.

“We think Asia’s really the best positioned of the major regions right now, given the good control of the virus in most of the region outside of India and some parts of Southeast Asia,” Andrew Tilton, chief Asia economist at the investment bank, said as cited by CNBC on Monday.

Europe is currently facing a new wave of coronavirus infections, with more and more cities enforcing tougher restrictions, which may hamper their recovery after previous lockdowns. The US is also seeing an increase in average daily cases.

Meanwhile official data from China, one of the main economic drivers of the Asia region, shows the worst impact of coronavirus appears to be over. The country has been reporting only a dozen to two dozen newly confirmed cases every day for the past few weeks, compared to the thousands of daily infections still being reported in the US.

“I think, given the good control of domestic transmission of the virus in China, we are [going to be] seeing services activity come back there as well,” Tilton told CNBC.

That said, consumer spending in the world’s second-largest economy is recovering less quickly than the government had expected. Tourist expenditure in the first half of the “golden week” national holiday plunged by nearly a third from that during the same period in 2019. This could pose a challenge to Beijing’s attempts at boosting domestic spending. Statistics show that, in August, retail sales finally increased by 0.5 percent compared to the previous year, but they were still down over eight percent for the first half of 2020.

The Chinese economy still managed to post positive growth in the last quarter, however, escaping recession, and current economic data points at further recovery overall. China economists from Nomura expect the nation’s GDP to grow 5.2 percent in the third quarter compared to a year ago.

According to global market strategist for Asia Pacific at Invesco David Chao, China has shown a continued V-shaped rebound from the pandemic, and this gives a boost to its neighbors. “China’s recovery will lift the surrounding Asian economies to a certain extent,” he told CNBC earlier this week.

Mongolia has reported one new case of coronavirus after testing 803 samples in four laboratories nationwide. So far, Mongolia has had 315 confirmed cases of coronavirus; 307 of them have recovered.

Currently, eight people with coronavirus are under treatment at the National Centre for Communicative Diseases.

Centerra Gold (TSX: CG) on Tuesday confirmed that operations at its Kumtor mine will continue uninterrupted following the recent political unrest in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Kumtor mine is located in a remote mountainous location about 430 km by road to the southeast of the national capital Bishkek, which appears to be the centre of the unrest.

However, the company says it is still monitoring the situation to ensure that conditions remain safe to continue to transport people and supplies to the mine site.

The political situation is continuing to evolve, Centerra says, and it is taking all the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of its personnel and operations.

Earlier this week, protestors gathered to denounce the results of Sunday’s parliamentary elections and later took over government buildings in what President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, whose parties dominated the election, described as an attempt to seize power.

As the violence between demonstrators and security forces escalated, the election results were eventually annulled by the authorities.

On the same day, London-based Kaz Minerals suspended production at its Bozymchak copper-gold mine after a reported attack on another gold deposit.

Kumtor is one of the largest gold mines in Central Asia operated by a Western company, having produced more than 12.6 million ounces of gold between 1997 and the end of 2019.

Shares of Centerra Gold plunged 12.2% on the TSX by noon EDT, sending the miner’s market value down to C$4 billion.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. On October 2, Millennium Challenge Account Mongolia (MCA-Mongolia) in cooperation with Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) organized an event to inform local firms and entities about the projects being implemented under the Mongolia Water Compact and planned international construction tenders and procurement opportunities under these projects. Representatives from over 100 private entities took part in the event.

President of MNCCI and Member of MCA-Mongolia Board of Directors Mr. O.Amartuvshin, MCA-Mongolia CEO Ms. E.Sodontogos and MCC Deputy Resident Country Director to Mongolia Mr. Eric Guetschoff opened the event addressing the audience.

“The participation and cooperation of private sector entities is crucial for the implementation of this major project funded by the U.S Millennium Challenge Corporation. For this reason, today we are organizing this event in cooperation with MCA-Mongolia to inform you of projects being implemented under the Compact and possibilities for the private sector entities to be involved in. For local companies, it is unlikely to be individually involved in large international projects like this, usually local companies will participate in partnerships or in a joint-venture”, Mr. O.Amartuvshin highlighted in his opening remarks.

Ms. E.Sodontogos noted, “We are working hard to ensure that this major investment can generate the highest possible benefits for Mongolia and for our economy, including the private sector. Therefore, we hope that you, too, will be actively involved in the Program implementation and construction works and closely cooperate with us while strictly following the rules and regulations related to the procurement procedure”.

The event continued with presentations on three closely-related main activities of the Program by Downstream Wells Activity Director B.Batsukh, Wastewater Recycling Activity Director T.Khishigt and Water Sector Sustainability Activity Director L.Unurjargal. In addition, presentations on planned international construction tenders, procurement opportunities under these projects and MCC Program Procurement Guidelines and relevant policies were provided by Procurement Director T.Enkhtungalag and MCC Anti- Fraud and Corruption as well tax policies by General Counsel P.Bayar. Finally, managers of the independent Fiscal Agent firm – “Cardno Emerging Markets” and the Procurement Agent firm – “Charles Kendall and Partners”, who are charge of MCA-Mongolia procurement and financial operations, took part in the event to provide relevant information.

Background

The Government of Mongolia and the U.S Millennium Challenge Corporation signed the $350 million Mongolia Water Compact, a grant to help to reduce poverty through economic growth in Mongolia on July 27, 2018, and the Compact is funding the Bulk Water Supply Program which aims to meet ever-increasing demand of in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia.

Mongolia Water Compact aims to provide a sustainable supply of water to Ulaanbaatar through funding the development of two new groundwater wellfields and the construction of an Advanced Water Purification Plant to treat up to 50 million cubic meters/year of water extracted from the new wellfields to the highest drinking water quality standards and supply to the central network of the city, as well as the construction of Wastewater Recycling Plant that will treat 50,000 cubic meters/day of the effluent from new CWWTP and convey the recycled water to Combined Heating and Power plants number three and four (CHP-3 and CHP-4) for technical use. The Compact also includes a Water Sector Sustainability Activity which will enhance the long-term sustainability of UB city water and wastewater system while ensuring that the Compact activities have lasting benefits.

Millennium Challenge Account - Mongolia is a state-owned enterprise established by the decision of the Government of Mongolia on October 3, 2018, pursuant to Government Resolution No 297 in accordance with Section 3.2 of the Compact to implement the Program under the 350 million USD Mongolia Water Compact signed with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government foreign aid agency.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation is an independent U.S. government agency working to reduce global poverty through economic growth. Created in 2004, MCC provides time-limited grants and assistance to poor countries that meet rigorous standards for good governance, from fighting corruption to respecting democratic rights. Learn more about MCC at www.mcc.gov.

MCA-Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The construction of Science and Innovation Center commenced on October 2. The commencement ceremony was attended by Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh, Minister of Education and Science L.Tsedevsuren, President of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences (MAS) D.Regdel, and other officials and scholars.

In his remarks at the ceremony, PM U.Khurelsukh said, “The Government deems that the country’s development will advance through science-based government policy. A historic development project kicks off on the threshold of the 100th anniversaries of the People’s Revolution and the establishment of modern scientific organization in Mongolia which fall next year”

The Science and Innovation Center development project is being implemented in accordance with the decisions made at the First State Congress of Scientific Workers in 2019 and the goals of the Government’s 2020-2024 Action Program such as those aimed at elevating scientific research, improving research outcomes, increasing the role of science in the country’s development, supporting research institutes and centers and research and innovation projects and encouraging startups.

The center worth MNT 94 billion will be built on a 4.8 ha area in the Botanical Garden located in 12th subdistrict of Bayanzurkh district until 2022. It will have laboratories, model workshop, office, library, conference hall, sports hall, repository, and museums of paleontology, archaeology, and astronomy where 3,300 scholars and workers of MAS institutes, universities, and other scientific organizations will carry out their researches.

The center will also open up an opportunity for joint research activities in biotechnology, nanotechnology, and information technology among research organizations and universities.