The investment based planning, financing activities and integrated investment database are available on the website. A total of 1281 projects planned in 2019 have been registered in the system and officials of 100 organizations connected to it as well.
With the introduction of the system, it will be possible to submit funding requests online, get information on financing procedures, ongoing projects and obtain legal and statistical information on investment.

At the meeting, the Cabinet members adopted a railway direction to be built between Tavantolgoi deposit and Zuunbayan bagh (smallest administrative unit) in Sainshand soum of Dornogobi aimag. The railway will be 414.6 km from Tavantolgoi deposit in Tsogttsetsii soum of Umnugobi aimag to Zuunbayan railway station. It is expected to increase exports and transportation of mining and industrial products as well as to promote regional socio-economic development.

Built in 1970-1980, the 244 km Ulaanbaatar – Darkhan highway passes through major industrial towns, agricultural regions and tourist camps. The road is of strategic importance, because it is part of the north-south corridor, linking the capital with Russia. Darkhan is the country’s third-largest city.

Due to heavier than planned for usage and lack of maintenance, the road is now heavily damaged and the cause of many accidents – including deaths and life-changing injuries. Nearly 3800 cars use the road daily; the original projected capacity was just 600 a day! The flow of vehicles increases to 12300 during the two traditional festivals of Naadam and Tsagaan Sar (White Moon). During the latter, which takes place in the winter, poor weather conditions including ice and snowstorms make the Darkhan road even more deadly.

So, by the time, Mongolians celebrate the Year of the Dog, at the beginning of next year, the road should be, if not completely pothole free, certainly a lot safer for travellers.

The project aims to contribute to the sustainable development of technical vocational education and training /TVET/ system in Mongolia. Funded by the governments of Germany, Australia and Korea, it will be implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in partnership with Ministry of Labour and Social Protection in the duration of March 2019 through February 2022.

Attendees of the cTVET launch event were, Mongolian Vice-Minister of Labour and Social Protection, Ms. S. Mungunchimeg, Federal Republic of Germany’s Ambassador to Mongolia, H.E Mr. Stefan Duppel, Australia’s Ambassador to Mongolia, H.E Mr. Dave Vosen, Country Director of KOICA Mongolia, Mrs. Haeng Lan JO, representatives from project beneficiary TVET intuitions as well as private sectors’ representatives. At the launch event, the project was introduced to the guests and best practices on the private sector involvement in the quality TVET were shared.

The cTVET project supports the Ministy of Labour and Social Protection in the sustainable development of total seven TVET schools to evolve into Capacity Development Centres (CDCs) with enabling framework to fulfill the role as training hubs in western, eastern, central, southern and Ulaanbaatar regions in Mongolia. Additionally, the project supports the establishment of pre-service and in-service qualification system for TVET teachers.

The CDCs will offer high quality training in selected trades: industrial mechanics, welding, mechatronics, electrics-electronics, car mechatronics, carpentry and construction. In Mongolia’s TVET system the CDCs will act as multiplier and innovation hub. On top of offering high quality training to students, CDCs will provide training for TVET teachers from other TVET schools, skill-upgrading courses for workers from industry, short term skills training for unemployed people and act as skills assessment centre as well as preparation facility for World Skills Competition participants.

Within the project, UB construction polytechnic college, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Mongolian Korean Polytechnic College, Zavkhan Polytechnic College, Dornod Polytechnic College, Southgobi Polytechnic College and Darkhan-Uul Mining and Engineering Polytechnic College will be developed into CDCs.

The purpose of the agreement is to create a legal framework for facilitating trade and transport, coordinating transport types, promoting cooperation in road transport and jointly implementing international standards and recommendations.

Mongolia has established intergovernmental agreements on international road transport with Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, DPRK, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Latvia, and Hungary since 1993.

Officials reported that transit transportation reached 3.4 million tons a year. In recent years, exports and imports are continuing to increase and transportation volume is on the rise, railway transportation has grown by 15 percent to MNT 616 billion as of 2018.

However, the capacity of Mongolia’s transportation has reached its peak and the spokesman of the Ulaanbaatar Railway JV said “Our capacity to receive and transport reached its peak. Now it is time to make technological innovations”. The international delegations also acknowledged this. “The transit route was relatively slow in 2017 but increased sharply after the 2018 Beijing meeting. However, we are worried that there will not be enough capacity to receive this while the freight is increasing. The volume of transit cargo from Russia to China is rapidly rising,” said the Secretary-General of the International Railtransport Committee.

Certain proportion of trade turnover has to come to Mongolia
In 2018, the number of transit transportation routes from Russia to Asia to the port of Erlian via Mongolia hiked; Mongolia accounts for 90 percent of the total transit shipping order. It is expected to increase continuously.

The length of the railway line connecting Mongolia to Russia and China is 110 km long. It is 533 km shorter than the Kazakhstan transit railway and 748 km closer than the Trans-Manchurian corridor. Therefore, a certain proportion of trade turnover has to come to Mongolia, which has led to the peak load.

Khaan Quest is a multinational exercise co-sponsored by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and hosted annually by the Mongolian Armed Forces. Khaan Quest 2019 is the latest in a continuing series of exercises designed to promote regional peace and security. This year’s exercise marks the 17th anniversary of this training event.

Khaan Quest 2019 consists of a UN peacekeeping operations command-post exercise, a company training event, a staff training event, a field training event, and a critical enabler capability enhancement event at the Five Hills Training Area, all of which will focus on UN and international peacekeeping and stability operations. During these portions of the exercise, Mongolian, U.S., and multinational forces will work to enhance interoperability and mission effectiveness in common tactics, techniques, and procedures in accordance with UN doctrine for peacekeeping operations.

Approximately 220 U.S. personnel and 900 MAF personnel are expected to participate in Khaan Quest 2019, along with approximately 750 personnel from various other nations. This year, the MAF has invited military personnel from various nations including Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Cambodia, Canada, China, Croatia, El Salvador, Fiji, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Moldova, Nepal, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Togo, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vietnam and Zambia to participate in Khaan Quest 2019.

The purpose of Khaan Quest is to gain UN training and certification for the participants through the conduct of realistic peace support operations, to include increasing and improving UN peacekeeping operations interoperability and military relationships among the participating nations.

Tsedenbal's spot-kick two minutes into the second half meant Mongolia held on to claim a 3-2 aggregate win over Brunei, who had initially cancelled out the visitors' first-leg advantage thanks to a first-half brace from Razimie Ramlli.

The Mongolians are joined in the draw for the next phase of qualifying by Bangladesh, Guam, Malaysia and Cambodia after they came through their respective second-leg encounters on Tuesday.

Cambodia were given a scare when Hassan Bashir netted a first-half penalty to give Pakistan hope of overturning their 2-0 first leg deficit with 45 minutes remaining.

Malaysia, meanwhile, made easy work of Timor-Leste, with Shahrel Fikri scoring a hat-trick in a 5-1 win that completed a 12-2 aggregate success over the two legs.

Jason Cunliffe also scored three as Guam overturned a first-leg loss to oust Bhutan with a 5-0 victory on Tuesday as the United States territory secured a 5-1 aggregate win.

And Bangladesh advanced despite being held to a 0-0 draw by Laos in Dhaka, with their 1-0 win in the first leg last week enough to ensure they go through to the second round.

Sri Lanka will have to wait to learn their fate after their scheduled meeting with Macau was cancelled due to a refusal by the team from the former Portuguese enclave to travel to Colombo for the second leg of their meeting.

Macau, who won the first leg 1-0 in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai last Thursday, cited security concerns for their refusal to travel and the matter has been referred to FIFA.

The second phase of Asia's four qualifying rounds for the 2022 World Cup will commence in September, when 40 nations will compete for one of 12 berths in the third phase of the competition.

Asia has four guaranteed places at the finals while Qatar, who are the current Asian champions, qualify automatically as hosts. Another spot at the finals is available via an inter-confederation playoff.

(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Toby Davis)

The KRW 564 million-worth project will devise a master plan for strengthening the capability of Mongolia's tourism workforce and a training program based on the master plan, and organize a pilot training session as per the training program.

An international standard system for preparing and upskilling the tourism workforce including hotel staff, guides and others will be created as a result of the project, improving the services provided for tourists and making the tourists contented.

Under the project, South Korean tourism and hospitality professionals will work in Mongolia to formulate the training program and master plan for 2020-2025.

The project is greatly significant to implement the National Tourism Program passed by the cabinet and will make a remarkable contribution to the development of Mongolia’s tourism industry.