Record number of new COVID-19 cases confirmed, total surges to 98 www.montsame.mn

Covid-19 test results of the Mongolian military students who arrived from Russia on May 13, yesterday, have all come out, and 55 of them were resulted positive for the virus, bringing the total number of Covid-19 cases in Mongolia to 98.

ADB, Mongolia sign 3 loans to boost COVID-19 response, renewable energy www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Mongolia today signed two loans to mitigate the severe health and economic impacts of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and one loan and grant to install the country’s first large-scale advanced battery energy storage system (BESS).

The loans and grant comprise of $100 million loan for the COVID-19 Rapid Response Program, $30 million additional financing for the Fifth Health Sector Project to further strengthen the country’s preparedness and response to COVID-19, and $100 million loan and $3 million grant for the First Utility Scale Energy Storage Project.

Signing for ADB was Country Director for Mongolia Pavit Ramachandran while Khurelbaatar Chimed, Minister of Finance, signed for the Government of Mongolia. Minister of Health Sarangerel Davaajantsan and Minister of Energy Davaasuren Tserenpil attended the ceremony.

“The two COVID-19 related loans will assist the government as it manages the impact and responds to health and social protection needs arising from the pandemic,” said Mr. Ramachandran. “The Energy Storage Project will help tap the country’s rich renewable energy potential in wind and solar power to meet the country’s future power demand.”

The COVID-19 Rapid Response Program will support the government’s ongoing initiatives, including a National Emergency Response Plan to contain the spread of COVID-19 and strengthen the health system as well as social protection measures targeting poor and vulnerable groups, households, and businesses. It will also supply medical equipment and supplies and strengthen standards on infection control and testing capacity in hospitals across the country.

The additional financing of $30 million for the Fifth Health Sector Development Project will increase the coverage of upgraded sterilization departments to all referral (secondary and tertiary) hospitals nationwide and boost the capacity of hospitals to diagnose and treat COVID-19 patients, including by providing intensive care and ambulance services. It will also establish a warehouse to manage centralized stockpiles of medicines and medical devices in Ulaanbaatar.

ADB approved the Fifth Health Sector Development Project in December 2012, with ADB contributing the equivalent of $30 million to the $38.38 million project cost to promote safe blood transfusion services, medical waste management, and hospital hygiene. The World Health Organization provided cofinancing of $480,000.

The renewable energy project will install 125 megawatts of advanced BESS making it among the largest battery storage systems globally. The BESS will be resilient to Mongolia’s extremely cold climate and equipped with a battery energy management system enabling it to be charged entirely by renewable electricity. This will then discharge clean electricity to supply peaking power in the central energy system grid. The project will also provide regulation reserve to integrate additional renewable energy capacity in the transmission grid.

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.

Source: Asian Development Bank

Mongolia: How Nalaikh’s Youth See Democracy www.thediplomat.com

Youth in Nalaikh, Mongolia are eager to engage with their local government and participate in community-driven social initiatives, but a disconnect between democracy in theory and democracy in practice may be impeding their ability to do so. With Mongolia’s 2020 election around the corner, it is essential for leaders to note that Nalaikh’s youth view democracy in a positive light but are unclear on the role they play within it. Proactive, youth-specific outreach is required to capitalize on their enthusiasm and increase civic engagement among young Mongolians (especially if COVID-19 containment measures create barriers to election participation).

As graduate students in the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs (MPPGA) program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, we spent two weeks in Ulaanbaatar center and Nalaikh District in December 2019. Nalaikh is one of the nine districts of Ulaanbaatar. With a population of just over 37,000, it is approximately 48 kilometers southeast of the capital. Working with the Governor’s Office of Nalaikh, we conducted field research to investigate how public policy can address low levels of youth civic engagement in their district.

We conducted a series of focus groups with youth in Nalaikh. These sessions included a “Democracy Mind Map” exercise, in which we divided participants into small groups and gave them a chart with “Democracy’ written in the center. We asked them to fill it in with anything that came to mind when they hear the word “democracy.” When we amalgamated the data from all groups for analysis, the results surprised us.

The majority of youth in our focus groups hesitated when asked to do this activity, and most needed some prompting to start writing. Participants were highly engaged in other activities we ran, often asking for more time or more paper — but when we turned the conversation to democracy, youth seemed less comfortable and less confident. The word cloud below shows all the terms that participants wrote down on their Mind Maps. The larger a word is in the cloud, the more often it was written.

The four translators working with us told us that during the exercise, participants seemed to be trying to recall definitions they had learned in school, rather than describing a lived experience. This inference aligns with a surprising observation from the results: the majority of terms listed are concepts or structures, but the actions of participating in a democracy are largely absent. We drew the conclusion that our focus group participants understand democracy in theory but are less clear on their role in it.

This disconnect could be one of the factors driving low levels of youth civic engagement in Nalaikh. If youth only think of democracy as a concept from a textbook, and do not relate to it personally or see evidence of it impacting their lives, then they may have little incentive to participate in local or national governance. It appears to us that for youth in Nalaikh, the link between actions (like voting or completing a survey) and outcomes (a government that better responds to their needs) is missing.

We also wanted to understand how youth feel toward democracy. We cannot gauge this definitively, because we did not ask participants to categorize their terms as “good” or “bad” during the exercise. However, we have attempted to estimate these sentiments. We assigned a value to each term based on its most common definition: positive for terms indicating an increased standard of living (i.e. “human rights”), negative for terms indicating a decreased standard of living (i.e. “alcoholism”), and neutral for descriptions of things (i.e. “law”) The results are shown in the chart below.

These estimates must be interpreted with caution, but the results do show a telling pattern nonetheless: Many of the things youth associate with democracy are neutral descriptors, but where value judgments are clear, positive associations with democracy outweigh negative ones. Despite the prominent protests against corruption scandals in Mongolia’s democracy in recent years, youth in Nalaikh do believe in democracy as a positive force. This reinforces our conclusion about civic engagement: Low engagement is not driven by opposition or negativity on the part of youth, but a lack of information about how to participate and why it’s important to do so.

There are some caveats to our findings: Our study focused on youth in Nalaikh, specifically, and was constrained by a two-week timeframe for fieldwork. Nonetheless, our data tell an interesting story that is relevant to discussion of democracy and Mongolia’s youth.

As the 2020 election approaches, Mongolian leaders should strive to involve and engage youth in the process. This begins with re-examining any perceptions of youth as apathetic or disengaged. All of the youth that we interacted with in Mongolia were bright, insightful, and passionate, and these impressions are backed up by the data we collected. Governments at all levels have an opportunity to harness this enthusiasm and foster civic engagement in the next generation of its citizens and leaders.

A high level of youth civic engagement is important for any country. Civic engagement is widely considered to be a marker of human development. Youth, in turn, are key actors in an engaged citizenry. An excerpt from the Handbook of Research on Civic Engagement in Youth puts it best: youth citizenship, in the form of “values, attitudes, knowledge, identities, and practices,” has “a direct impact on human and social capital and [creates] the political conditions within which socioeconomic development is possible.” Clearly, the stakes are high. Youth themselves also have a vested interest in the democratic process, as they will eventually inherit the results of political decisions made today.

At this critical juncture, it is essential to capitalize on the positive perceptions of democracy that Mongolian youth hold, and fill in any gaps in their understanding of themselves as democratic participants. There is consensus across various fields of research, from political science to psychology, that direct application and learning through experience are essential to building a robust sense of political efficacy in youth. We believe that if governments provide engagement opportunities catered directly to youth, Mongolia can close the gap between theory and practice and increase youth civic engagement resulting in a more robust democracy.

Claire Casher, Samantha Coronel, Rasmus Dilling-Hansen, and Cassandra Jeffery are students in the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs program at the University of British Columbia

Korean Air plans to resume flights to Mongolia www.news.mn

South Korean biggest airlines ‘Korean Air’ plans to resume flights on 19 international routes next month as it strives to offset a sharp decline in passenger travel demand with an increased demand for cargo deliveries.

Russia Outbreak Spreads to Neighbor as Mongolian Cases Jump www.bloomberg.com

Mongolia recorded its biggest one-day increase in coronavirus cases, with most of the infections in students returning home from emerging virus hotspot Russia. Health officials reported 56 confirmed cases of the virus Thursday, all of them recent arrivals from nearby Russia, where the outbreak has ballooned to more than 250,000 cases, overtaking Italy and Spain as the second-highest tally globally after the U.S. “Testing of the people from abroad is under way,” Nyamkhuu Dulmaa, director of the National Center for Communicable Diseases, said. “Diagnostics, shelter and personal protective equipment are adequately prepared.” While Mongolia’s domestic outbreak has been relatively small -- with 98 cases as of Thursday -- the deteriorating situation in Russia poses a risk to Mongolia given two countries’ traditional ties. Many Mongolians work and study in Russia, which is one of the former Soviet state’s biggest trading partners, and the two countries share a 2,000-mile land border. Mongolia has been repatriating citizens from around the world as the virus spread. China, where the virus first emerged late last year, has also seen cases from Russia. The northern province of Heilongjiang has imposed strict controls in response to a number of imported infections, with travelers required to undertake 35 days of quarantine. While China’s epidemic has largely been brought under control, the country is seeing a second wave in the province of Jilin, which shares a small stretch of border with Russia, as well as North Korea, where the virus situation is unclear. Two cities in Jilin have been placed under lockdown amid a growing resurgence in cases. Read more: China Seals Off Cities Near North Korea as New Clusters Grow Mongolia’s location -- it also shares a border with China -- and vulnerable health-care system saw it act relatively quickly to the virus threat. The government imposed curbs on international travel and people entering the country are quarantined for 21 days. The capital, Ulaanbaatar, has been locked down since March, when Mongolia identified its first case of Covid-19. Schools in the country have been closed since January, and restaurants and bars in Ulaanbaatar are subject to a 10 p.m. curfew.

Mongolia posts 30.8 percent drop in Q1 foreign trade www.menfn.com

The National Statistics Office (NSA) of Mongolia said on Wednesday that the foreign trade turnover of the country posted a drop of 30.8 percent in the starting quarter of the current year compared to a year earlier.

ADB Provides $100 Million to Support Mongolia's COVID-19 Response www.adb.org

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (12 May 2020) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $100 million loan to the Government of Mongolia to mitigate the severe health and economic impacts of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

“I commend the government on its response to the COVID-19 outbreak, which has kept the number of COVID-19 cases low in Mongolia,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa. “However, the crisis is putting a strain on the economy and the threat to public health remains serious. ADB’s assistance will help fund critical support to vulnerable people and businesses, and assist the government in managing the economic impact and responding to the health and social protection needs the pandemic has created.”

COVID-19 is triggering a severe economic slowdown in Mongolia. The current turmoil in the global economy and commodity markets has reduced revenues, increased balance of payment pressures, and accentuated financial sector risks. Women and small businesses are particularly vulnerable.

The economy, with its dependence on mining, which accounts for almost a quarter of gross domestic product and 90% of exports, remains vulnerable to swings in commodity prices. Mongolia is also heavily dependent on trade with its neighbor, the People’s Republic of China, where an economic slowdown has triggered a sharp fall in export prices in Mongolia and badly hit the transport, tourism, retail trade, and services sectors.

In response, the government launched on 27 March a countercyclical development expenditure program (CDEP), with the intention of introducing $1.8 billion in measures to counter the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ADB’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Program is funded through the COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) under ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility. CPRO was established as part of ADB’s $20 billion expanded assistance for developing member countries’ COVID-19 response, which was announced on 13 April.

The program will support the government’s ongoing initiatives, including a National Emergency Response Plan to contain the spread of COVID-19 and strengthen the health system; and the CDEP, comprising cash transfer schemes and other social protection measures targeting poor and vulnerable groups, households, and businesses.

With ADB assistance, the CDEP will increase the allocation under the Child Money Program by 50% to reach 1.1 million children. Private sector workers will be exempt from personal income tax for 6 months starting from 1 April, aimed at employees at risk of losing their jobs. At least 45% of the beneficiaries are targeted to be women.

Support will also be provided to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, including those engaged in international trade, particularly the import of critical food and medical supplies, to protect jobs. Businesses whose operations have been impacted will be eligible for a 6-month exemption from the payment of social insurance, with at least 50% of the beneficiaries women.

Short-term assistance in supplying medical equipment and supplies will be complemented by a set of medium-term measures, including strengthening 35 hospitals to meet national infection prevention and control standards, and improving 210 hospitals to meet national standards to manage Severe Acute Respiratory Infection patients, and enhancing testing capacity.

To ensure that COVID-19 pandemic responses are well-aligned and complementary, ADB is working closely with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, other development partners, and various United Nations agencies.

ADB’s rapid response support to Mongolia has included the reallocation of $1.4 million in early February under an existing health sector operation to support the procurement of emergency health equipment, a small-scale technical assistance project for emergency response systems in the health sector, and a $1 million grant from the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Facility to support further procurement of emergency medical equipment. On 7 May, ADB approved $30 million in extra financing for the Fifth Health Sector Project to further strengthen the country’s preparedness and response.

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.

Mongolia conducts over 11,000 tests for COVID-19 so far www.xinhuanet.com

Mongolia has conducted more than 11,000 tests for COVID-19 since January, an official of the country's National Center for Communicable Disease (NCCD) said Wednesday.

347 Mongolians arriving on Russian military transport planes www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Last week, Minister of Defense of Mongolia N.Enkhbold put forth a request to his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu to bring Mongolian students at the universities and colleges of the Russian Ministry of Defense home on Russia’s military transport aircraft during their virtual meeting last week.

V.Putin: People of Russia always remember contribution of Mongolia in great victory www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War was marked in the Russian Federation on May 9. On this occasion, President of Mongolia Kh.Battulga and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin have exchanged greetings and celebratory letters.