Head of the Cabinet Secretariat L.Oyun-Erdene was assigned to renew a composition of the Board of Directors, change the executives, who worked irresponsible, and put an experienced international team in charge of the bank’s management.

The working group, set up by the Government Resolution No:76, found 63 violations in the bank’s activities. Thus, the corresponding Minister and the Board of Directors were given a duty to take measures for eradicating the violations and oversee the implementation of the recommendations given during the inspection and report to the government within the third quarter of 2019.

The sides touched upon an issue of increasing the number of direct flight routes between Mongolia and China. The Chinese side expressed its willingness to take step-by-step actions in this regard while agreeing to give MIAT Mongolian Airlines the right to operate direct flight from Ulaanbaatar to Sanya city in Hainan, China between May 3 and December 31, 2019.

- Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry Ch.Ulaan was assigned to carry out preventive measures against the threat of field mice on a land of 645 thousand hectares.

- Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry D. Sumiyabazar obtained permission to set up a project unit responsible for developing the legal framework for exploration, mining and utilization of rare-earth elements and carrying out economic impact assessments. The World Bank estimated that Mongolia has USD 10 billion worth of rare-earth element resources.

- ‘National Geo-Information Database’ program was approved. The five-year program will be implemented with funding from the State Budget and loans and aids of foreign governments and international organizations.

- The Cabinet approved the proposal to open a Consulate in Manzhouli, China and the bill on ratifying the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement thus, decided to submit them to the Parliament.

- The Cabinet discussed and decided to submit to the Parliament bills on providing excise tax exemption on imports of equipment to be used for preparation of the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games and organization of the Children of Asia International Sports Games 2020 and the 2023 East Asian Youth Games, both of which will be hosted by Mongolia.

- Minister of Road and Transport Development B.Enkh-Amgalan was assigned to promptly carry out preventive railway maintenance works with commercial loans to prevent accidents that might occur following the increase in annual precipitation.

Furthermore, the officials believe that it is necessary to take several actions to ensure the preparation of dual-listing at the Mongolian Stock Exchange. A subsidiary will be established under the ETT in order to meet the international stock exchange standards. Shareholders will then be able to trade the company shares at foreign and domestic stock exchanges in December.

In addition, the National Program on Youth Development was adopted during the Cabinet meeting yesterday. The objective of the program is to develop a patriotic and healthy lifestyle among young people, to increase access to healthcare services, to improve the quality of training at all levels, to support employment and start-up businesses, to create youth-friendly and safe living conditions. Youth development in the world is measured by five indicators: health, education, employment, social and political participation, and Mongolia is listed at 71st out of 183 countries.

The Prime Minister and related officials visited several locations to select a place to rebuild a Museum of Natural History a few days ago. The Cabinet has been supporting the proposal to construct the museum at Ikh Tenger and has signed a law on land use agreements with relevant officials to cooperate. Minister of Finance and Governor of Capital City Amartsaikhan Sainbuyan gave the following technical and regulatory requirements to carry out the construction of the museum.

The fund will support the sustainable extraction and processing of minerals and metals used in clean energy technologies, such as wind, solar power, and batteries for energy storage and electric vehicles.

The World Bank is targeting a total investment of $50 million, to be deployed over a 5-year timeframe. The fund will focus on activities around four core themes: climate change mitigation; climate change adaptation; reducing material impacts and creating market opportunities, contributing to the decarbonization and reduction of material impacts along the supply chain of critical minerals needed for clean energy technologies.

The facility evolves out of a World Bank report “The Growing Role of Minerals and Metals for a Low-Carbon Future” which found that a low-carbon future will be significantly more mineral intensive than a ‘business as usual’ scenario. Global demand for strategic minerals like lithium, graphite and nickel will skyrocket by 965%, 383% and 108% respectively by 2050, according to the World Bank’s updated 2018 projections

Global demand for strategic minerals like lithium, graphite and nickel will skyrocket by 965%, 383% and 108% respectively by 2050, according to the World Bank’s updated 2018 projections, which are based on the assumption that countries will implement the Paris Agreement.

The multi-donor trust fund will work with developing countries and emerging economies to implement sustainable and responsible strategies and practices across the mineral value chain.

Partners include the German government and private sector companies, Rio Tinto and Anglo American. The Facility will also assist governments to build a robust policy, regulatory and legal framework that promotes climate-smart mining and creates an enabling environment for private capital.

Projects may include supporting the integration of renewable energy into mining operations, given that the mining sector accounts for up to 11%of global energy use and that mining operations in remote areas often rely on diesel or coal; supporting the strategic use of geological data for a better understanding of “strategic mineral” endowments; forest-smart mining; preventing deforestation and supporting sustainable land-use practices; repurposing mine sites and recycling of minerals and supporting developing countries to take a circular economy approach and reuse minerals in a way that respects the environment.

Before joining Kinross, Giardini served as senior vice president and CFO at Capstone Mining. Between 2006 and 2012, he was CFO of the original Ivanhoe Mines (now Turquoise Hill Resources), which was advancing the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia. Prior to that, he spent 10 years at Placer Dome (now Barrick Gold).

"It is a great privilege to once again work alongside Robert and the rest of the Ivanhoe team to lead Ivanhoe into our next chapter of growth," Giardini commented.

In addition, the company has announced that CEO Lars-Eric Johansson will retire by the end of June.

Johansson has been at the helm of Ivanhoe Mines and its predecessor since May 2007. He led the company through its $300 million initial public offering in 2012, which now has the assets to become a major producer of copper, zinc and nickel.

This significant decline was directly related to the expiration of the effective period of low royalty taxes on gold with the 2014 amendments to the Minerals Law.

The 2.5-percent of discounted royalty on gold mining ended on 1 Jan. Since then until 7 April, 5 to 10 percent royalty taxes on gold mining have been imposed on miners.

In March, the Mongolian parliament decided to set the gold royalty at a 5-percent rate to revive the central bank’s gold purchase.

Purchasing gold is said to be one of the key instruments for the Mongolian Central Bank to revive its official foreign exchange reserves.

Minister of Environment and Tourism N.Tserenbat said, “Without being disheartened by the gobi region, its water shortage and dust storms, the project team of the Greenbelt Plantation Project has worked on the restoration of 500 hectares of forest area and 1540 hectares of saxaul forest, alongside establishing a tree nursery for rare plants and a training center, through which they gave ecological knowledge to thousands of citizens and children, and provided 848 citizens in Dalanzadgad and Bayanzag soums with jobs until 2017. As the Greenbelt Plantation Project is one of the major projects being successfully implemented in Mongolia, I hope that the local authorities give more priority to the project, further strengthening the trust between the two countries.

With project financing, the Government of Mongolia established the inter-soum forest unit in Umnugobi in 2013, training them in the protection of an area of 50 hectares. The Ministry planned to allocate the forest area to forest units, professional forestry organizations, environmental NGOs, and citizens for protections.”

Comprehensive irrigation systems, infrastructure and equipment, which have total worth of MNT4.4 billion, have been installed at the forest area, training center and tree nursery. The project will also finance MNT250 million for the first year’s maintenance of 624 hectares area, which will be allocated from the state budget or local financing afterwards.

The second phase of the Greenbelt Plantation Project is to focus on developing green spaces in Ulaanbaatar, and establishing recreational green space until 2022.

Head of the department in charge of child protection at the National Police Agency (NPA) Davaasambuu Budzaan made the declaration in Ulan Bator.

According to the NPA head, "we are there launching a year-long national campaign called 'Child Protector' to protect children's rights."

Parents ought to play a role in safeguarding their kids from crimes, the chief affirmed, highlighting their significant part.

Budzaan further added that the national project looks to reduce crime through boosting parental supervision and attention.

First quarter growth in the 19 countries that use the euro was 0.4% compared to the previous three months, according to preliminary data published Tuesday. That's double the rate posted in the final quarter of 2018.
The strength of the performance surprised economists, who said it was fueled by lower unemployment, rising wages and stronger consumer demand.

The results are the latest piece of evidence to suggest that the world's largest economies are in better shape than many analysts feared.
China had lost momentum due to a government crackdown on risky lending and the drag exerted by the US trade war. Beijing responded with stimulus measures including business tax cuts, infrastructure projects and looser monetary policy. The country's economy topped expectations in the first quarter with growth of 6.4%.
The US economy grew at a better than expected rate of 3.2%, thanks to stronger state and local government spending, lower imports and business inventories.
Brexit, which could have derailed the UK economy and harmed its neighbors, has been postponed, most likely until the end of October.
Florian Hense, an economist at Berenberg bank, said the developments suggest that 2019 may not be as gloomy as some expected.
"Over the past few weeks, US-China trade tensions have eased, news from China have suggested the Chinese stimulus may have started to work and the risk of an immediate hard Brexit has receded," he said.
Europe on track
Additional data on big European economies published Tuesday bolsters the thesis.
Spain's GDP increased 0.7% over the previous three months, an improvement on the 0.6% rate posted last quarter. France maintained growth of 0.3% while Italy picked up pace slightly to 0.2%.
Data on the region's largest economy, Germany, has not yet been released. But survey data suggest a positive trend after the country narrowly avoided a recession at the end of 2018.
The United Kingdom said earlier this month that GDP grew 0.3% in the three months to the end of February. While that was stronger than expected, economists said some of the growth was caused by businesses stockpiling ahead of the original Brexit date of March 29.

Statistics published Tuesday showed that unemployment across the European Union dropped to 7.7% in March, the lowest since September 2008.
"We can say that calls for a eurozone recession were certainly premature," said Peter Vanden Houte, ING's chief economist for Belgium and the eurozone.
Yet he cautioned against complacency.
"Not much has to go wrong to bring GDP growth to a standstill," said Vanden Houte.