At the meeting, Speaker G.Zandanshatar briefly informed about Mongolia’s Constitutional amendments which is currently under parliamentary consideration and an intention of reforming higher educational sector and expressed an interest to establish Mongolia-Russia joint research university and implement scientific and technological projects.

Mr. Sergeyev said, “Funding from the state budget to the scientific sector is insufficient. It needs to be raised”. Expressing readiness to implement joint projects in modern agriculture, rare earth metals, renewable energy, space studies and studies of shared history based on archaeology, genetics and ethnography, Mr. Sergeyev asked support from the Speaker on the issue.

The sides concurred to co-work for expanding bilateral cooperation in science and technological sectors and develop it effectively.

The US company, run by the Canadian mining icon, said the decision allowed it to buy a 95% stake in Nimba, owned until now by BHP, Newmont Mining and France’s Orano.

Nimba, located on the border with Liberia, is just one of the world’s richest iron ore deposits found in Guinea, holding around 1 billion tonnes of the steelmaking ingredient.

The West African country is also host to the famed Simandou project, which Rio Tinto, Vale and billionaire Beny Steinmetz’s BSG Resources fought over for years. However, Guinea has never exported a tonne as it lacks infrastructure to transport the ore to local ports.

Using a much shorter route through neighbouring Liberia would be cheaper and faster. The government, however, has repeatedly said ore should shipped via the country’s own ports. It has so far made an exception by allowing Niron Metals’s Zogota mine to send production by rail to Liberia and ship from there. It is not clear whether HPX has secured a similar rail deal.

The Vancouver-based firm plans to produce between 1 million to 5 million tonnes in a first phase, with a view to increasing output to at least 20 million tonnes. Under the deal, Guinea’s government will receive a 15% stake in Société des Mines de Fer de Guinée (SMFG), the company that owns Nimba. The government will also get two seats on SMFG’s board.

Guinea has struggled for decades to extract money from its iron ore, which has been left undeveloped because of protracted legal disputes and the cost of infrastructure.
“With local procurement of goods and services, local recruitment and training of the workforce, the upgrading of transport routes and infrastructure, and the resulting economic multiplier effects, we anticipate that major social and economic benefits will flow from the Nimba mine,” HPX president Eric Finlayson said in a statement.

Friedland made his fortune from the Voisey’s Bay nickel project in Canada in the 1990s. Since then, he has been involved in some of the biggest mineral discoveries in the world, including the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia and the Kamoa-Kakula project in Democratic Republic of Congo.

The company still has to figure out how to build reverse logistics, according to the source.

In terms of e-commerce, there are some issues related to the delivery of goods from Russia to China.

Goods from Russia are currently exported only via eBay and Ozon, said the source, noting that those products are mainly sold to the United States.

In connection with weather conditions, crops are at the ripening phase in about 60 percent of the total farming fields. Technical preparedness for harvesting is running at 82 percent.

Of the total crops, 50 thousand tons will be reserved for next year’s sowing, 6.6 thousand tons will be used as seeds, 21.5 thousand tons –fodders and 8.7 thousand tons – spirit production. Thus, a total of 333.2 thousand tons of crops are likely to be distributed to flour producers.

Generally, Mongolia requires 320 thousand tons of pure wheat in order to produce flour that meets the country’s annual domestic needs. The preliminary balance shows it can be met.

Specifically, 15 major projects of the Government of Mongolia and 56 projects of private sector were presented to businesses and investors from China and other countries, seeking investment and trade partners. Of which 24 were projects on agricultural and animal origin product manufacturing and food industry, 3- on equipment manufacturing, 5 - on building material manufacturing, 3 - in tourism industry, 9 - in light industry, 1 - in mining, 2- in information technology, 1- in hydropower plant, 6- in social service sector and another 2- in strategically developing sector.

Furthermore, the sides signed over 50 cooperation agreements and memorandums, which were a result of partnership within Mongolia-China Expo held in 2017. The officials consider that it will advance bilateral trade and investment cooperation and partnership at regional level.

Trade turnover between Mongolia and Inner Mongolia reached USD 4.96 billion in 2018, showing an increase of 27 percent. it takes up 62 percent of the total trade turnover between Mongolia and China, which was USD 8.4 billion in 2018 and the two countries are striving to bring the trade turnover to USD 10 billion in 2020.

“Around 14 thousand foreign invested entities have been registered in Mongolia since 1990 and 50 percent of them were Chinese invested. Direct investment of China reached USD 5.1 billion in this period, making up 20 percent of total foreign investment and was written in the first place out of 120 countries with its investment volume. The fact shows that bilateral trade and investment cooperation has been expanding. The Governments of the two countries officially signed an agreement on the Construction of Erenhot-Zamyn-Uud Economic Cooperation Zone in June, 2019. This would be the first Mongolia-China Economic Cooperation Zone and also one of the important steps that connected ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative of China and ‘Development Road’ strategic policy of Mongolia,” said B.Bayarsaikhan, Head of the National Development Agency of Mongolia.

Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of Inner Mongolia Gun Min Zhun noted that Inner Mongolia’s investment to Mongolia has been increasing permanently. "As of June, 2019, we negotiated to make investment of USD 19.52 billion to 226 projects of Mongolia. Big construction projects have shown positive progress and we have been actively encouraging works to establish Erenhot-Zamyn-Uud Economic Cooperation Zone. Concurrently, the sides are promoting collaboration in directions of green environment, livestock industry, modern energy economics, and using big data.

The blueprint was unveiled at an international seminar of the East Asian Railroad Community which was held in Seoul.

Nearly one year after South and North Korea released the Pyongyang Joint Statement, on 19 Sept. 2018, Seoul has come up with a plan for economic cooperation with Pyongyang that would focus on a railroad project in East Asia.

Russia, Mongolia, and China have announced their intention to join the community, and each sent senior officials to the seminar: Russian Deputy Minister of Transport Vladimir Tokarev, Mongolian Deputy Minister of Road and Transportation Development S.Batbold, and Chinese National Railway Administration Director-General Yan Hexiang.

Japan’s Economic Research Institute for Northeast Asia (ERINA) and the World Bank also expressed interest in the idea by sending representatives to the seminar.

A senior representative noted: “The GDP of the states that could participate in the community represents 49.8% of global GDP, and their population, at 2.11 billion, accounts for 27.4% of the global population. By strengthening cooperation between these countries, the East Asian Railroad Community could serve to help elevate the region into the world’s greatest economic zone.”

This interesting proposal is clearly dependent upon the improvement of relations with Pyongyang.

The second session of the amendment to the Constitution provides voting in the 150 contradictory statements with substantial provisions, of which 60 are remaining. The regular meeting of the Parliament continued on Friday, but the MPP postponed five issues namely, parliamentary voting periods, increasing the number of members to 99, the public ownership of the wealth, the stability of the judiciary’s accountability, and the determination of the electoral system during the voting.

Democratic Party (DP) caucus proposed additional provisions on not exceeding the Cabinet’s debt 60 percent of GDP but was not supported. They request for reconsideration and MPP did not accept it.

In July, President Battulga Khaltmaa suggested Parliament to increase the four-year parliamentary tenure to five due to economic cycle length. The president proposed a part stating that the prime minister can be a lawmaker, but other Cabinet ministers cannot serve as lawmakers at the same time.

While the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) convened to consolidate its statements in 10 sets of delayed provisions, some of the issues were unsuccessful at settlement, and the council meeting was closed. At the parliamentary session, MPs agreed not to support the President’s proposal for a five-year parliamentary term and increasing the number of parliament members to 99. Also, they agreed with the provision on Prime Minister to appoint the Cabinet members. Parliament has the authority to include the president’s proposals wholly or partly, or not include them at all.

The use of this type of fuel is expected to decrease air pollution by 40-50 percent in Ulaanbaatar in 2019-2020. The Government of Mongolia has prohibited raw coal from Ulaanbaatar in May.

“Households will use enhanced fuels to substitute coal. Production of the fuel is in line with the plan, and quality check is being carried out regularly,” said spokesman for the Air Pollution Reduction Department of Mongolia.

Users will use a smart card called “Good” to buy enhanced coal. Each card will have the possibility to purchase three tons of fuel, and citizens will be able to purchase the fuel using the retailer's application and the basic limit of the card diminishes. If the limit runs out, TTT will be able to re-validate its claims.

Following Placement completion, Mr. Tserenpuntsag’s ownership of Aspire will increase from 27.5percent to 51.0 percent of Aspire on an undiluted basis.

The Placement price per share represents a significant premium to relevant share price tradingmeasures including a 27.7 percent to the 30-day volumeweighted average price (VWAP) of 1.645 cents per share for the period ending September 4, 2019.

The Placement reinforces the commitment of the Aspire Board and Mr. Tserenpuntsag to transform Aspire into a significant pure-play coking coal producer positioned in the second quartile of the global cost curve. The Placement is expected to provide a significant proportion of the estimated equity capital component required for the OEDP and the Company understands that Mr. Tserenpuntsag intends to support any future fundraising activities required to complete OEDP funding.

Importantly, Aspire will emerge post Placement in its strongest ever financial position with an estimated cash backing in excess of USD 40.0 million1 and nil borrowings. Mr. Tserenpuntsag has confirmed to Aspire his intention to support Aspire in completing future debt financing on favorable terms to fund the OEDP. To reflect the company’s strategic repositioning as a Mongolian majority-owned and led development company, the Aspire Board and key executive team will be restructured in conjunction with the Placement. This will involve a reduction in the Board size to five members and Executive Chairman Mr. David Paull transitioning to Non-Executive Chairman over a four-month period following completion of the Placement. The new Executive team will be led by Managing Director elect Mr. Achit-Erdene Darambazar.

Aspire is a 100 percent metallurgical coal and rail company focused on developing world-class premium coking coal deposits in Mongolia to deliver long term shareholder returns, and contributing to the social and economic enrichment of local communities.
The company is now advancing a definitive feasibility study for September 2019 for a decisionto-mine on the ‘Ovoot Early Development Plan’ (OEDP) 4Mtpa medium-term truck/rail mining solution – having completed two pre-feasibility studies, received a mining license, and approval by the Mineral Resource Authority of Mongolia (MRAM).