Mongolia approves national program to promote innovation www.xinhuanet.com

Mongolia on Wednesday approved a national program to bolster innovation, according to a statement by the government's press office.

Criteria updated for Oyu Tolgoi Board members to represent Mongolia www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. At its regular session of today, January 29, the Cabinet discussed criteria for members of the Board of Directors of Oyu Tolgoi LLC to represent the interests of the government of Mongolia in the Oyu Tolgoi mining project.

Mongolia approves national program to promote livestock husbandry www.xinhuanet.com

Mongolia on Wednesday approved a national program to promote the development of livestock husbandry, according to a statement issued by the government's press office.

Exploration licenses decline by 20 percent yoy www.zgm.mn

The number of licenses valid in Mongolia declined by 9 percent in 2019 from a year earlier, reaching 2,796. Operational licenses have decreased by three, while exploration licenses have dropped by 20 percent to 1,126, according to the Minerals Resources and Petroleum Authority (MRPAM). Moreover, valid exploration licenses cover 3.8 percent of the whole territory of Mongolia. The industry experts have been criticizing the Government’s decision to halt issuing a new exploration license for one year. Of the operating licenses, 31.8 percent are gold, 17.8 percent are coal, 11.2 percent are fluoride and 4.6 percent are limestone. To note, Mongolia is the third-largest supplier of fluoride in the world after China and Mexico. In the meantime, the number of fluoride projects is increasing as well. The Mineral Resources Council has approved feasibility studies for 53 new mining projects in 2019-2020, of which 22.6 percent or 12 are for fluoride. In terms of the structure of the license owners, 14.5 percent of the total license holders are 100 percent foreign-invested and 6 percent are Mongolian and foreign joint ventures. China, the Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, and Singapore are dominating among foreign-invested companies.

New refined coal factory to commence production in September 2020 www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Cabinet today discussed an issue of building the second factory for refined coal briquettes in Ulaanbaatar city.

China virus toll passes 130 as U.S. weighs flight ban www.reuters.com

BEIJING (Reuters) - The death toll from a new coronavirus in China rose sharply to 132 on Wednesday with nearly 1,500 new cases, heaping pressure on Beijing to control the disease as U.S. officials said the White House was weighing whether to suspend flights to the country.

A nurse takes the temperature of a woman in the reception area of the First People's Hospital in Yueyang, Hunan Province, near the border to Hubei Province, which is under partial lockdown after an outbreak of a new coronavirus, in China January 28, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
The White House is holding daily meetings on the outbreak and monitoring China-U.S. flights as a likely source of infections, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters, though it had decided against suspending air traffic.

A senior Trump administration official said the administration had not asked airlines to suspend flights, after CNBC reported that the White House had told airline executives it was considering such as drastic move.

Fears of the spreading virus have already pushed airlines around the world to reduce flights to China and global companies to restrict employee travel to the country, while sectors from mining to luxury goods have been shaken by concerns for global growth in the event of a worst-case pandemic.

China’s National Health Commission on Wednesday said the total number of deaths from the flu-like virus rose by 26 on Tuesday to 132, almost all in Hubei province which is under virtual lockdown, while the number of confirmed cases rose by 1,459 to a total of 5,974.

Several countries are trying to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan, the city in Hubei at the center of the epidemic. A U.S. government official who declined to be identified told Reuters a U.S. charter plane had departed from Wuhan earlier on Wednesday, without elaborating on the number of passengers on board.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing earlier said a chartered plane would pick up its consular staff on Wednesday.

Australia said it would help some citizens leave Hubei and quarantine them on Christmas Island, a remote speck in the Indian Ocean best known for housing asylum seekers.

New cases were reported around the world including Germany, where four people from the same company were infected after one of them contracted it from a colleague while visiting their workplace in China.

The German cases raise concerns about the human-to-human spread of the virus which can be transmitted in droplets from coughs and sneezes and has an incubation period of up to 14 days.

SCIENTISTS GROW VIRUS
Known as “2019-nCoV”, the newly identified coronavirus has created alarm because it is spreading quickly and there are still important unknowns surrounding it, such as its lethality and whether it is infectious before symptoms show.

It emerged late last year in Wuhan, a major transportation hub and capital of central Hubei province with a population of 11 million people. China has since moved to lock down most of Hubei, with a population around the same as Italy.

Health authorities believe the virus originated from an animal and have pointed to a seafood market in Wuhan where wildlife was traded illegally.

A team of scientists in Australia said on Wednesday they had developed a lab-grown version of the coronavirus, the first to be recreated outside of China, in a breakthrough that could help combat the global spread of the disease.

The researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne said they would share the sample, which was grown from an infected patient, with the World Health Organization and laboratories around the world.

“Having the real virus means we now have the ability to actually validate and verify all test methods, and compare their sensitivities and specificities,” the Doherty Institute’s virus identification laboratory head, Julian Druce, said in a statement.

The virus has spread to more than a dozen countries and cases such as those in Germany show it is spreading through human contact and not only through travelers from China.

“The virus is a devil and we cannot let the devil hide,” state television quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping said during a meeting with World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Beijing on Tuesday.

“China will strengthen international cooperation and welcomes the WHO participation in virus prevention... China is confident of winning the battle against the virus.”

Asian stock markets erased earlier gains on Wednesday with Hong Kong shares tumbling to a seven-week low as the surge in new cases fueled fears about the economic impact of the virus. From France to Japan, governments were organizing evacuations, while Hong Kong - scene of anti-China unrest for months - planned to suspend rail and ferry links with the mainland. United Airlines said it was suspending some flights between the United States and China for a week from Feb. 1 due to a “significant decline in demand.”

The outbreak has forced extensive travel curbs in China, with many local officials trying to identify people who are from or have visited Hubei province, and some communities trying to exclude all outsiders.

Some apartment blocks have forbid delivery drivers from entering, forcing them to drop off their parcels outside building gates.

The European Commission said it would help fund two aircraft to fly EU citizens home, with 250 French nationals leaving on the first flight.

Gold prices surge as global coronavirus fear shakes market confidence www.rt.com

Gold is once again proving its reputation as the traditional safe haven during times of uncertainty. The price of the precious metal has been rising amid continuing worries over the spread of the coronavirus.
Bullion has gained $20 an ounce to reach a 7-year high of $1,585 this week, before easing to around $1,578 per ounce on Tuesday. It has led the rally of other metals, including silver and platinum.

Participation of Mongolian soldiers in humanitarian work to be increased www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Minister of Defense N.Enkhbold received Head of the East Asia Representative Office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Jacques Pellet on January 26.

President Kh.Battulga becomes acquainted with Norway wealth fund operations www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. During his visit to the Kingdom of Norway on January 27, President of Mongolia Kh.Battulga held a meeting with the executive officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the central bank, and the wealth fund of Norway to hold an open discussion.

Vision-2050 Policy Document targets peaceful and secure society www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The ‘Vision-2050’ is a policy document, which was formulated by a working group comprising of 1500 people, including scholars, experts and state secretaries of 13 ministries, heads of some government agencies, authorities of universities and representatives of non-government organizations. According to the Prime Minister's order No: 52 dated April 30, 2019, the working group analyzed development stages of the past 30 years of Mongolia and formulated the policy document that will define long and mid-term development policy until 2050. We are presenting 9 fundamental goals of the development policy in detail.

The peace and security of the country are no longer limited within the neighboring countries and the region in which they live, but they continue to depend on changing globalization, integration and global security. In recent years, the world powers and influential nations have been seeking sanctions against each other and expanding their influence, as well as terrorist attacks, illicit drugs and weapons trafficking by non-country subjects have been increasing year by year.

It is essential to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement agencies, ensure security of the territory and develop bilateral and multilateral cooperation between the countries in order to prevent and control not only domestic threats but also any possible transnational threats.

The efforts of international organizations, including the United Nations, have increased to maintain coordination and stabilization of the crisis and ensure security in any hot spot and the contribution of the "blue helmets" to this process has been enhanced. The effectiveness of diplomatic methods of prevention has been greatly increased, and the role of the "military" in it has increased significantly.

It is also important to invest in disaster reduction and resilience, to provide early warning information and preparedness for each type of threat, to strengthen disaster recovery and recovery efforts to reduce disaster risks and resolve existing problems.

It has therefore set the goal of strengthening the nation's defense capacity, ensuring human and social security through maintaining human rights and freedoms, social order and the security of its citizens' habitat, and reducing disaster risks.

This goal comprises of the following objectives and each objective will be carried out in three stages in the periods: 2020-2030, 2031-2040 and 2041-2050.

Strengthen the country’s defense system and its capabilities.
Ensure territorial integrity and the border security and improve its border protection capacity.
Intensify non-traditional risk reduction, risk prevention and suppression capabilities, and strengthen peaceful environment for the citizens.
Improve legal environment for the law enforcement sector, support development, improve working conditions, and prepare competitive human resources.
Ensure the integrity, confidentiality and accessibility of government, public and private information and create competitiveness.