In Mongolia, matters related to trade are regulated by over 100 articles of 57 laws, with foreign trade managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and domestic trade managed by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry.

Head of the Policy and Planning Department of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry M.Enkh-Amar said, “The trade sector is the main way to support business and industry. However, the appropriate legal environment is yet to be developed in our country. The Ministry is currently developing a bill that will regulate foreign and domestic trade under a comprehensive system, creating a legal framework that includes all stakeholders, and working on having the bill approved by the current Government and Parliament.”

Mongolia is able to conduct foreign trade and services with the 164 member countries of the World Trade Organization. With the Free Trade Agreement established with Japan in 2016, works are being done on lowering the customs duties for about 9,000 types of products step-by-step, gradually reaching zero. Furthermore, in the framework of the Generalized Scheme of Preferences programme of the European Union, about 7,000 types of products can be entered the market free of customs duties.

The mining sector growth made about 1.5 percentage points or 24 percent of the GDP rise. Service sector includes trade, transportation, and communication sectors, which depend on the mining sector, showing that Mongolia’s economy is still encouraged by the growth in mining. In terms of the largest mining companies’ performance, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC exported 12.6 million tons of coal in the first 10 months and Energy Resource LLC 4.2 million tons of coal. Coal exports have reached 32.3 million tons, a 5 percent increase from the same period of last year.Thus, 524 national companies have supplied their products and services to Oyu Tolgoi (OT) LLC during the reporting period. OT spent USD 329 million on national procurement and the construction of Shaft 2 at the Oyu Tolgoi mine has been declared complete.The World Bank highlighted in its report in October, “In Mongolia, growth momentum has continued in the first half of 2019, as GDP rose to 7.3 percent from 6.8 percent in 2018. This robust performance has largely been supported by a strong coal sector and increased private investment. However, the report cautions of the risks including political uncertainty, commodity price shocks, cross border bottlenecks, implementation delay mega projects and slower implementation of banking sector reforms.”In addition to the main economic indicators, inflation has also declined. Consumer price index (CPI) at the national level, which increased 9 percent in September, rose 7.6 percent in October. In October 2019, a 5.1 percent increase in CPI from the end of the previous year was mainly due to increases in prices for meat and meat products by 27.4 percent and clothing, cloth and footwear for each group by 5.4 percent and alcoholic beverages, tobacco group by 2.7 percent, respectively.Meat prices have risen by 30 percent year on year, but have dropped by about 4 percent in October, compared to the previous month. However, the inflation rate in Ulaanbaatar is 8.5 percent, which exceeds the Bank of Mongolia (BoM)’s target.

The world’s second-biggest listed miner, which has a 68.4% stake in ERA, also said it will fully underwrite ERA’s A$476 million ($326 million) equity fundraising, after the uranium miner failed to secure someone else willing to do so.

Shares of ERA slumped 22.5% to A$0.190 on Friday, their lowest in almost five months, in a broader market that was up around a percent.

ERA has been looking to raise money to fund the closure and rehabilitation of the Ranger project in Australia’s Northern Territory after it ran into controversy due to its proximity to the Kakadu National Park – the country’s largest.

The Australian Government has documented more than 200 environmental incidents at the mine between 1979 and 2003.

ERA said it has been working closely with Rio for a funding solution after flagging, earlier this year, a higher-than-expected rehabilitation provision for the Ranger project which it could not cover.

“We take mine closure very seriously and ensuring ERA is able to fund the closure and rehabilitation of the Ranger Project Area, through participating in this entitlement offer, is a priority,” Rio’s group executive for energy and minerals, Bold Baatar, said in a statement.

ERA has until January 2021 to end mining activities, and until January 2026 to complete rehabilitation of the area. The rehabilitation work will not lead to any returns for ERA.

ERA was the target of some of the biggest environmental protests across Australia in 1998, including an eight-month blockade and 500 arrests, after the local indigenous Mirarr people opposed its planned development of the nearby Jabiluka concession on the fringe of the Kakadu rainforest.

($1 = 1.4588 Australian dollars)

(By Nikhil Kurian Nainan and Melanie Burton; Editing by Muralikumar

In a statement Sunday, Saudi Aramco said it was aiming to sell about 1.5% of its 200 billion shares in a partial privatization for between 30 riyals ($8) and 32 riyals ($8.53) each.
That means Aramco, the most profitable company in the world, could be worth between 6 trillion riyals ($1.6 trillion) and 6.4 trillion riyals ($1.7 trillion) — making it also by far the world's most valuable company ahead of Apple (AAPL).
That won't be the only record to fall if Aramco achieves the higher price: at that level, the share sale would raise just over $25 billion, making it slightly bigger than Alibaba's (BABA) 2014 debut on the New York Stock Exchange, so far the world's biggest IPO.
Saudi Arabia is selling shares in Aramco for the first time as part of an economic diversification plan aimed at weaning the kingdom off oil.
Aramco has vast oil reserves and massive daily output. It holds a monopoly in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of crude. It made $111 billion in profit in 2018, and has promised to pay an annual dividend of $75 billion through 2024.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had reportedly sought a valuation for Aramco near $2 trillion. But low oil prices, the climate crisis and geopolitical risk have raised skepticism among international investors. Up to 0.5% of the company will be sold to individuals, with the remainder offered to institutional investors.
Aramco may need to heavily rely on rich local families, sympathetic sovereign wealth funds or major customers such as China signing up for shares. Reuters reported Sunday that Aramco will not market the IPO abroad.
The price for the shares will be set on December 5, with trading on the Saudi stock exchange expected to start later that month, according to Aramco's prospectus.
Wall Street's biggest names are advising Saudi Arabia on the privatization, despite pressure from activists who say financing fossil fuel companies will worsen the climate crisis. They have also urged banks not to do business with the kingdom because of its human rights record, including the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Aramco listed Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C), Credit Suisse (CS), Morgan Stanley (MS) and HSBC (HBCYF) as joint financial advisers on the transaction. They have all previously declined to comment to CNN Business.
— John Defterios and Julia Horowitz contributed to this article.

According to PV Magazine, all the components of the wind farm will be manufactured in the Inner Mongolia city of Ulanchabu. Authorities in that city say compliance reviews and administrative procedures will be carried out in the first half of next year, with construction due to start on the massive renewables project by August, with a completion target of 2021.

One thing Inner Mongolia is not is close to China’s urban and industrialized areas, which means all that renewable energy has to transmitted over ultra high voltage transmission lines to where it is needed. The Inner Mongolia Solar Energy Industry Association says those transmission lines are now in place, which makes it possible for local authorities to set curtailment targets for solar at near zero and for wind power at a maximum of 10%. You can see some of those transmission lines in the background of the photo above.

Some may find it curious that a corporation known as China General Nuclear is in the renewables business. PV Magazine explains that CGN was created in 1994 in Guangdong province to operate China’s first nuclear power station at Daya Bay, but diversified into wind and solar many years ago. Today, it is a participant in more than 300 clean energy projects in China. It has a 4.4 GW solar portfolio and operates 12.7 GW of wind facilities across all provinces in China. CGN also has an international footprint with wind farms in the UK, France, and Australia.

CGN has drawn the ire of Trump trade officials, who have added it to a list of Chinese companies that US business are prohibited from doing business with. According to CNBC, the current maladministration asserts CGN is “engaged in or enabled efforts to acquire advanced U.S. nuclear technology and material for diversion to military uses in China.”

Thanks to the xenophobia rampant in Washington, DC these days from the Tweeter in Chief on down, we now know every person of Chinese descent alive today is actually a spy for the central government and is intent on destroying the American way of life. Not since the heady days of Joseph McCarthy and the Red Menace have Americans had so many reasons to be fearful of foreigners. It’s as if America needs a constant parade of bogeymen to define its national character — such as it is.

The amendments are made in four different areas of parliamentary system and governance, executive power, enhancement of accountability of judicial systems and of local governance system.

Parliament Speaker G.Zandanshatar said “The four bills on amendments to the Constitution of Mongolia, carrying the people’s desire for better future, are now passing in parliament after being actively discussed at the last three parliaments. In the past three years, these amendments were high on agenda of the seventh Parliament of Mongolia, founded by the wills of the Mongolian people”.

According to the Parliament Speaker, since the amendments’ submission, nonstop parliamentary debate continued throughout the last summer. During this time, parliamentary plenary and standing committee meetings had spent a total of 105.9 hours on 36 series of discussions of the bills. Parliament members organized public discussions and presentations in nine districts of Ulaanbaatar city and 21 aimags of Mongolia and 306 thousand people expressed their opinions.

“In addition, the parliamentary debates have carefully considered more than 600 proposals delivered by government and nongovernmental organizations, political parties and scholars and academics. To put in other words, the amendments to the Constitution ensure the basis of public consensus, encompassing a wide range of participants” said G.Zandanshatar.

Accompanying the amendments, around 30 laws were changed, including Law on National Wealth Fund, Law on Courts, Law on Administrative and Territorial Units and their governance, Law on Elections and Law on Political Parties to build legislative reforms and the foundation to ensure justice and rule of law both in the state and the society.

The amendments to the Constitution will take effect on May 25, 2020.

In October 2019, equilibrated revenue and grants of the General government budget reached MNT 1.1 trillion, increased by MNT 222.2 billion or 25.5% from the previous month and total expenditure and net lending reached MNT 1.0 trillion, increased by MNT 96.4 billion or 10.3% from the previous month.

In the first 10 months of 2019, tax revenue reached MNT 8.0 trillion, increased by MNT 1.3 trillion or 19.2% compared with the same period of previous year. This growth was mainly affected by increases of MNT 399.7 billion or 22.8% in income tax, MNT 294.1 billion or 22.9% in social security revenue, MNT 243.5 billion or 13.9% in value added taxes, MNT 136.6 billion or 21.9% in other tax, MNT 110.5 billion or 17.8% in excise taxes and MNT 96.7 billion or 17.4% in revenue from foreign activities.

General Government budget revenue was comprised of 81.5% of tax revenue, 8.5% of non-tax revenue, 9.2% of the future heritage fund and 0.8% of the stabilization fund.

In the first 10 months of 2019, total expenditure and net lending of the General government budget reached MNT 8.3 trillion, increased by MNT 1.1 trillion or 15.6% compared with the same period of previous year. This increase was mainly due to MNT 697.6 billion or 11.9% increase in current expenditure and MNT 517.0 billion or 49.4% increase in capital expenditure.

General government budget expenditure and net lending was comprised 78.8% of current expenditure, 18.8% of capital expenditure and 2.4% of net lending.

Source: National Statistics Office

He also said that Russia is ready to share its experience in digital technologies. "There are good chances for boosting our cooperation in computer science and telecommunications. Russia offers BRICS states to take a closer look at our newest projects. I am talking about electronic document management, search systems and antivirus software, which responds to the highest advanced security requirements."

The Russian president offered to expand energy cooperation, noting: "Russia reliably ensures deliveries of energy materials to global markets and makes a significant contribution to supporting global energy security which is vital for economic growth and social development.”

Putin has earlier called on the trade partners to develop settlements in national currencies, instead of the commonly used currencies like the US dollar. According to him, the integration of payments systems and the establishment of an independent channel on information exchange could facilitate the stability of the banking systems of the five countries.

BRIC was established in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, before South Africa joined the bloc in 2010, adding the “S” to the acronym.

As of 2018, combined nominal GDP of these five emerging economies amounted to $18.6 trillion, which is about 23 percent of the gross world product. The trade bloc represents more than 40 percent of the world’s population.

According to International Monetary Fund estimates, member states are responsible for more than half of the global economic growth of the last 10 years.

As an effort to reduce traffic jam, school bus service is to be tested for 27 elementary schools in 33 routes within Ulaanbaatar, starting tomorrow, November 15. The decision made by the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar city and Governor of the capital city will cover around 3000 students from second to fifth classes in elementary schools. This measure will not only help eliminating the traffic congestion, but also will save costs and time spent by parents for school drop-offs and prevent children from waiting for public transports in the cold.

About MNT 30 million is required for the test implementation of the school bus service for 22 workdays, funding for which the Ulaanbaatar city municipality will be in charge. If the school bus service is deemed to be effective, the service will become permanent and necessary expenditure for this service will be budgeted for city’s annual budget. In the future, it is calculated that around MNT 1 billion will be financed for the duration around 7.5 months for the school bus program.

Each one of the total 40 school buses for service will be accompanied by a school’ social worker in order to ensure safety of the children and is installed with GPS tracker so that parents are able to know where their child's bus is.

According to officials of the Ulaanbaatar city, this measure is expected to reduce traffic volume by 30 percent.