At the invitation of Speaker of Parliament G.Zandanshatar, speaker of the lower house of the Indian Parliament Om Birla will pay an official visit to Mongolia on July 6 to 9. During the visit, bilateral relations, inter-parliamentary cooperation, and other issues of mutual interest will be discussed.

The purpose of the visit is to strengthen Mongolia’s third neighbor policy, enrich the strategic partnership with new content, maintain the frequency of high-level dialogues, strengthen the relationship between the legislative bodies of the two countries, and expand and develop relations and cooperation in the fields of government, security, defense, trade, economy, culture and humanitarian.

Diplomatic relations between Mongolia and India were established on December 24, 1955. India was the first country outside the Socialist Bloc to establish diplomatic relations with Mongolia. India supported Mongolia in having UN and NAM memberships.

Mr Stefano Sannino, Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) will be visiting Mongolia between 4-7 July. Secretary General Sannino will have the opportunity to meet with country’s senior government officials and representatives of civil society to discuss the way forward for expanding Mongolia and EU close partnership. The EU and Mongolia have developed strong bilateral relations over the past decades. This is the first high-level visit to Mongolia since 2018, after the outbreak of COVID-19.

EEAS SG Stefano Sannino

The objective of the Secretary General’s meetings is to take stock of relations between the EU and Mongolia, and to discuss global geopolitical challenges, peacekeeping and multilateralism.

Secretary General Stefano Sannino said “I am honoured and delighted for my first working visit to Mongolia. Mongolia and the European Union may be geographically distant, but close at heart. The two share the common values of democracy, human rights and rule of law. The EU is proud to be Mongolia’s third neighbour. I look forward to discovering more about the beautiful country and exploring opportunities to strengthen EU and Mongolia relations, especially in women in peacekeeping and security, and discuss on global geopolitical challenges and regional issues.”

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1989, EU and Mongolia have strengthened the partnership in various sectors and worked towards sustainable development together. Over the past years, EU-Mongolia bilateral relations have expanded exponentially, even more after opening the Delegation office in Ulaanbaatar in 2017.

The EEAS is the diplomatic services at the EU that carries out the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy to promote peace, prosperity, security, and the interests of the European Union across the globe. As the Secretary General of the EEAS, Stefano Sannino provides strategic direction to the work of the service and an effective coordination on foreign policy between headquarter and the Delegations, with the EU institutions, with Member States counterparts, and with third countries through political dialogue.

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 European countries. It is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. It acts globally to promote sustainable development of societies, environment and economies, so that everyone can benefit.

ROME – Missionaries in Mongolia have said locals are “shocked” by Pope Francis’s upcoming Aug. 31-Sept. 4 trip and see it as an opportune time to introduce Catholicism to the former Communist nation, where Catholics are a tiny minority and the faith is relatively unknown.

Speaking to journalists during a media roundtable, Salesian Father Jaroslav Vracovský, pastor of Shuvuu in Mongolia, said the people “are in shock” over the papal visit.

As a majority Buddhist nation, most people “don’t know who the pope is or why he is here. Most don’t know what’s going on or how important it is,” he said.

According to statistics by the Catholic nonprofit Aid to the Church in Need, Mongolia is 53 percent Tantric Buddhist, 39 percent atheist, 3 percent Muslim, 3 percent Shaman and 2 percent Christian.

“We are eager to have this experience, and to have the pope listen to missionaries and meet them face to face. This is our task, to introduce them to what is going on,” Vracovský said, saying he hopes to use the trip as “an occasion to introduce what is going on: Who is the pope, who is this pope? I am using this occasion to introduce what the Catholic Church is. We are looking forward to it.”

Similarly, Father Paul Leung, Salesian delegate in Mongolia, said it is not only Mongolia’s 1,500 Catholics who are surprised by the papal visit, but everyone is.

“People never thought the pope would visit, they never thought of that, so now they are preparing to meet the Holy Father,” he said, saying Mongolia’s nomadic culture is traditionally “very welcoming,” and people are “eagerly” preparing for the pope’s arrival.

Leung said the papal trip is an important moment for Mongolians, an is “a good opportunity to widen the vision of our Catholics here, because Mongolia is a completely closed country. It is enclosed by Russia and China.”

“It is a really positive thing for the Church here. For Mongolians here, even though they are not faithful, they are surprised and want to know who the Holy Father is…Even some Catholics ask, why is the Holy Father coming, for what purpose? It is a good opportunity to introduce the Catholic Church to them,” he said.

The formal itinerary of the trip has yet to be released, but it’s expected the pope will spend most of his time in the country’s capital city of Ulaanbaatar.

In keeping with his attention to the global peripheries, Francis last year named the apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, then-Bishop Giorgio Marengo, as a cardinal, giving him a red hat and appointing him as a member to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization.

Beyond the pastoral interest in visiting Mongolia’s tiny Catholic population, many have speculated that regional geopolitics is another motive for the pope’s visit, given that Mongolia shares borders with both China and Russia, two countries currently of extreme interest to the Vatican.

For the past year and a half Pope Francis has been engaged in peace efforts for the war between Russian and Ukraine. He has repeatedly offered for the Vatican to serve as mediator, and his personal peace envoy recently closed visits to both Kyiv and Moscow.

China is also of keen interest to the Holy See, which signed a secret provisional agreement on episcopal appointments with the Chinese in 2018. Though that controversial deal has been fiercely debated, it has twice been renewed, with Vatican officials repeatedly stressing the potential long-term payoff of dialogue.

Asked about Chinese influence on Mongolia society, Leung said that traditionally, China and Mongolia were enemies, “so even today many Mongolians don’t like China.”

“Of course, they are neighbors, and economically Mongolia and China are together, especially Mongolia is reliant on China, that is true, but for Mongolians, many of them don’t like the Chinese,” he said.

Despite this lingering cultural distaste, China has a clear economic and political influence, yet when it comes to the faith, China holds no sway, Leung said, but voiced his belief that many Chinese Catholics will likely come to Mongolia for the pope’s visit.

“It’s an opportunity for Chinese faithful to meet the Holy Father, because to go to Italy is more difficult, but going to Mongolia is easier for them,” he said.

Speaking of Russia and the impact of the country’s war with Ukraine, Vracovský said traditionally Mongolians are friendlier toward Russia, and that the connection with the country “is still strong.”

The Ukraine war “is a bit distant” from their daily reality, but Mongolians want peace, he said, saying many “can’t understand what is going on.”

Despite Mongolians’ general support of Russia, “I can’t say they are going against Ukraine,” Vracovský said, saying, “their wish is, let there be peace in Ukraine. The topic is distant to them.”

Vracovský said he does not know whether Pope Francis will specifically address the Ukraine war while he is in Mongolia, but expects the pontiff to deliver a message of peace regardless, as he often does when he travels and because his voice holds weight in the international community.

Leung said he expects the pope’s visit to focus more on “pastoral things, it’s a pastoral visit.”

Politically, China holds more influence than Russia does, he said, but voiced his conviction that “the visit to Mongolia is more about pastoral than political things.”

Leung and Vracovský also spoke about Catholicism and relations with other religions in Mongolia, where there are just 1,500 local Catholics, with a small number of foreigners also present in the community.

Catholicism, Leung said, has been present in Mongolia since the 13th century, but it has experienced “many changes.” Currently, there are around 77 missionaries from 10 congregations serving the country’s Catholic population, three of whom are male communities and seven are women’s religious orders.

There is still a shortage of priests, as more are needed for the celebration of Masses and other liturgical events. The Salesians themselves, Leung said, number around 10 and have three community houses throughout the country.

In terms of relations with other faith communities, Leung said “There is never any conflict.”

Most Mongolians are atheist, he said, noting that for 70 years the country lived under the communist system, the effects of which can still be felt, especially when it comes to feelings about religion in general.

Those who are atheist “keep their distance from us…even other religions have the same problem,” Leung said, saying most who have faith are Tibetan Buddhists, but for many Mongolians, “religion is one thing, and social life is another thing. That is the influence of the communist system.”

Other religions generally hold the same position as Catholics, he said, saying they “have to cooperate, especially for some social issues.”

Vracovský said there are also many Mongolians who are Shamanists, and that the relationship between the various religious communities “is quite good.”

For the Catholic community, “we would like to be not only promoting Catholic faith and Jesus Christ, but also full human development. Helping the poor people with education, helping in the villages. Through social service we are accepted,” he said.

Many who receive assistance from the Catholic Church ask about the faith, he said, noting that religious practice is different for Mongolian Catholics than it is for Catholics in Europe or elsewhere in the world.

“Outside of Mongolia, Catholics only go for Mass. It’s not like Mongolia, because we must have something after that. If you show up to a small parish, you have some activities before the Mass: activities for children, even for adults, crafts. After Mass, a food program,” he said.

Many people don’t have lunch during the day, so the parishes offer soup after Mass and host activities for both adults and children, Vracovský said, noting that many people who come are not baptized, but they appreciate the assistance and the activities.

Non-Catholics who come are able to “grasp a bit of the faith,” Vracovský said, so as pastors, “we accompany them to baptism, accompany them in school, but to accompany them all the way is not easy” given the sparse population of Mongolia, which is home to around 3 million people and where livestock outnumber humans at a ratio of nearly 20 to 1.

Leung said the papal trip will also be a good learning experience for the Mongolian government and its political leaders, as many are unfamiliar with the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis was invited to visit Mongolia during last year’s consistory, when Marengo received his red hat. A small delegation from the Mongolia government met with the pope privately at the Vatican for the occasion and presented an official letter of invitation to visit, he said.

“Of course, for them, maybe they are not really so clear that they are inviting the Holy Father also as a religious leader…they invited the Holy Father mainly as the leader of a country, the president of the Vatican country, to visit,” he said.

To this end, he said that amid preparations, as the Vatican commission arranging the logistics of the visit met with Mongolian officials to find a location for a public Mass, initially “they didn’t know what Mass was,” and it had to be explained.

Now, government officials are more informed, he said, saying, “I think this is a fairly big change for the leaders in the government. This will also have a very positive impact for people here, I’m very convinced of that.”

Vracovský said that in terms of how the pope is seen by Mongolian politicians, Francis is “considered a man of dialogue, a man of peace and fraternity” and as a “democratic partner” with whom they can “move forward in some cooperation and collaboration.”

Yet despite the political implications of the visit, Vracovský said that ultimately, “the target group of the church is the ‘last ones’.”

“I am among the poorest of the poor people here,” he said, saying this is the community that Pope Francis is coming to meet.

Follow Elise Ann Allen on Twitter: @eliseannallen

Mongolia, a vast and sparsely populated country in East Asia, has long been known for its nomadic lifestyle. For centuries, the Mongolian people have roamed the steppes, herding livestock and living in traditional gers, or yurts. However, in recent years, the introduction of satellite internet has begun to change the way of life for many Mongolians.

Satellite internet has brought connectivity to even the most remote corners of Mongolia. In the past, nomadic herders would often have to travel long distances to access basic services such as healthcare and education. Now, with satellite internet, they can access these services from the comfort of their own gers.

One of the most significant impacts of satellite internet on Mongolia’s nomadic lifestyle is in the field of education. In the past, children of nomadic herders would often have limited access to formal education. They would have to travel to boarding schools in larger towns or cities, leaving behind their families and traditional way of life. However, with satellite internet, these children can now receive a quality education without having to leave their homes.

Satellite internet allows them to connect with teachers and classmates online, participate in virtual classrooms, and access educational resources that were previously unavailable to them. This not only provides them with a better education but also allows them to maintain their cultural identity and connection to their nomadic heritage.

In addition to education, satellite internet has also had a significant impact on healthcare in Mongolia. In the past, nomadic herders would often have limited access to medical services, especially in emergency situations. With satellite internet, they can now connect with healthcare professionals remotely, receive medical advice, and even have virtual consultations.

This has been particularly beneficial during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it has allowed herders to receive medical guidance without having to travel to crowded healthcare facilities. Satellite internet has not only improved access to healthcare for nomadic herders but has also helped to bridge the gap between urban and rural healthcare services in Mongolia.

Furthermore, satellite internet has also opened up new economic opportunities for nomadic herders. In the past, their livelihoods were primarily dependent on livestock farming and traditional crafts. However, with satellite internet, they can now access online marketplaces, sell their products to a wider customer base, and engage in e-commerce.

This has allowed them to diversify their income sources and improve their economic well-being. It has also helped to preserve traditional crafts and skills, as herders can now market and sell their handmade products to a global audience.

Overall, the impact of satellite internet on Mongolia’s nomadic lifestyle has been transformative. It has brought connectivity and access to essential services to even the most remote areas of the country. It has improved education, healthcare, and economic opportunities for nomadic herders, while also helping to preserve their cultural identity and way of life.

As satellite internet continues to expand in Mongolia, it is likely to further revolutionize the nomadic lifestyle and bring even more benefits to the people of this unique and beautiful country.

As part of the Official Visit, Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene attended the “Mongolia-China Trade and Economic Cooperation” Forum, which was jointly organized by the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade in Beijing, and delivered the opening remarks.

In his opening remarks, Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene said, "In pursuit of the principle of being a 'Trustworthy, Reliable, and Long-Term Partner,' the Government of Mongolia has been carrying out legislative and institutional reforms to protect the interests of investors and improve the investment environment. There are over 7500 companies with Chinese investment in Mongolia. The Ministry of Economy and Development, along with the Foreign Investment Agency under this Ministry, has been established to gather complaints from investors, register them online, and promptly resolve the issues. All of these commitments aim to make the Mongolian investment policy clear and consistent." Lastly, the Prime Minister stated that the Government of Mongolia is ready to maintain mutually beneficial cooperation with investors in large development projects, valuing the long-term partnership.

The focus of the Prime Minister's official visit lies not only in the political sphere but also in elevating cooperation among investors, enterprises, and business communities to a new level. Within the scope of this focus, the Prime Minister held meetings with managements of Chinese state-owned companies, such as China Energy, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Power China, China State Construction Group, and Norinco, to discuss the improvement of the Mongolian investment environment and maintenance of the long-term cooperation.

Twitter has applied a temporary limit to the number of tweets users can read in a day, owner Elon Musk has said.

In a tweet of his own, Mr Musk said unverified accounts are now limited to reading 1,000 posts a day.

For new unverified accounts, the number is 500. Meanwhile, accounts with "verified" status are currently limited to 10,000 posts a day.

The tech billionaire initially set stricter limits, but he changed these within hours of announcing the move.

Mr Musk said the temporary limits were to address "extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation".

He did not explain what was meant by system manipulation in this context.

"We were getting data pillaged so much that it was degrading service for normal users," Mr Musk explained on Friday, after users were presented with screens asking them to log in to view Twitter content.

The move was described as a "temporary emergency measure".

It is not totally clear what Mr Musk is referring to by data scraping, but it appears he means the scraping of large amounts of data used by artificial intelligence (AI) companies to train large language models, which power chatbots such as Open AI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard.

In simple terms, data scraping is the pulling of information from the internet. Large language models need to learn from masses of real human conversations. But the quality is vital to the success of a chatbot. Reddit and Twitter's huge trove of billions of posts are thought to be hugely important training data - and used by AI companies.

But platforms like Twitter and Reddit want to be paid for this data.

In April, Reddit's chief executive Steve Huffman told the New York Times that he was unhappy with what AI companies were doing.

"The Reddit corpus of data is really valuable," he said. "But we don't need to give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free."

Twitter has already started charging users to access its application programming interface (API), which is often used by third party apps and researchers - which can include AI companies.

There are other potential reasons for the move too.

Mr Musk has been pushing people towards Twitter Blue, its paid subscription service. It's possible he is looking at a model where users will have to pay to get a full Twitter service - and access to unlimited posts.

Signalled by a blue tick, "verified" status was given for free by Twitter to high-profile accounts before Mr Musk took over as its boss. Now, most users have to pay a subscription fee from $8 (£6.30) per month to be verified, and can gain the status regardless of their profile.

According to the website Downdetector - which tracks online outages - a peak of 5,126 people reported problems accessing the platform in the UK at 16:12 BST on Saturday.

In the US, roughly 7,461 people reported glitches around the same time.

Initially, Mr Musk announced reading limits of 6,000 posts per day for verified accounts, 600 for unverified accounts, and 300 for new unverified accounts.

In another update Mr Musk said "several hundred organisations (maybe more) were scraping Twitter data extremely aggressively".

He later indicated there had been a burden on his website, saying it was "rather galling to have to bring large numbers of servers online on an emergency basis".

A server is a powerful computer that manages and stores files, providing services such as web pages for users.

Adam Leon Smith from BCS, the UK's professional body for IT, said the move was "very odd" as limiting users' scroll time would affect the company's advertising revenue.

Mr Musk bought the company last year for $44bn (£35bn) after much back and forth. He was critical of Twitter's previous management and said he did not want the platform to become an echo chamber.

Soon after taking over, he cut the workforce from just under 8,000 staff to about 1,500.

In an interview with the BBC, he said that cutting the workforce had not been easy.

Engineers were included in the layoffs and their exit raised concerns about the platform's stability.

But while Mr Musk acknowledged some glitches, he told the BBC in April that outages had not lasted very long and the site was working fine.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi paid a working visit to Mongolia on Friday and Saturday, as she met with Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh and also paid a courtesy visit to Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh.

Overall, Retno's visit to Mongolia highlighted the increasing of bilateral relations between the two countries.

"The Mongolian government has provided confirmation regarding plans to reopen the Mongolian Embassy in Jakarta. This commitment was conveyed directly by the President of Mongolia," Foreign Minister Retno said in a video statement on Saturday, July 1, 2023.

Retno and Batmunkh have also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on increasing cooperation between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the two countries. The signing of this MoU will be a strong foundation for the two countries to enhance bilateral relations.

In the economic field, Indonesia and Mongolia agreed to continue to seek cooperation, including in trade and investment.

For investment, after a bilateral meeting with the Foreign Minister of Mongolia, an MoU was signed between Modena Indonesia and Nomin Holding Mongolia regarding the distribution channel for household appliances made by Modena Indonesia for the Mongolian market. This is Indonesia's first investment in Mongolia with a value of around USD 22 million.

"For trade, I conveyed the importance of agreeing on trade facilitation and reducing trade barriers, especially pharmaceutical and electronic products. The two Foreign Ministers also agreed to increase the intensity of KADIN relations between the two countries," said Foreign Minister Retno.

The fourth point, said Retno, is increasing collaboration in the tourism sector, including the promotion of Indonesia's five priority tourist destinations. Also discussed was the capacity building and participation of women in UN peacekeeping operations or in peace missions under the UN.

Indonesia has offered cooperation with a UN peacekeeping training center. In the sense that in Indonesia, there is a training center for UN peacekeepers which is quite good. Therefore, Retno offered this cooperation with Mongolia.

Indonesia and Mongolia are two major and active contributor countries to UN peacekeepers, including women peacekeepers.

"I also convey the priority of Indonesia's chairmanship in ASEAN. Mongolia is a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). I convey the hope that the Mongolian Foreign Minister will be able to attend the ARF meeting on 14 July 2023 in Jakarta," said Retno.

"We encourage the focus of ARF to be expanded from confidence building measures (CBM) to preventive diplomacy to ensure regional peace, stability and security, especially in the Indo-Pacific region," she said.

(WIL)

The copper price rose on Friday despite slow demand recovery in China and concerns over global economic growth.

Copper for delivery in September was up 1.89% on the Comex market in New York, touching $3.76 per pound ($8,272 per tonne). Since the beginning of the year, however, the metal is down 1%.

The most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 2.4% on a quarterly basis.

“China’s economic recovery after covid-19 has disappointed with hopes for a demand boost now fading,” said ING analyst Ewa Manthey.

“We remain cautious heading into the second half of the year with sluggish demand from China pointing to lower prices.”

China factory activity declined for a third straight month in June and weakness in other sectors deepened, official surveys showed on Friday, adding pressure for authorities to do more to shore up growth.

“There is no end in sight in the near future to the gloomy sentiment surrounding China’s economic recovery,” Commerzbank said in a note.

(With files from Reuters)

The Khaan Quest 23 multilateral military exercises conclude in Mongolia today.

Peacekeeping was the focus of these exercises with over 1,100 military personnel from 25 countries, including China, India, the US, and South Korea; with Laos participating for the first time. Participating personnel obtained certification for deployment on UN peacekeeping missions through these exercises.

Russia is notably absent from these exercises, likely due to the presence of Western countries as the Eurasian strategic environment becomes increasingly fraught. Amid this tension, China and Russia continue aligning closer to each other against the West. A Sino-Russian bloc potentially threatens Mongolia’s traditional post-Soviet ‘balance-of-power’ policies which call for the landlocked nation to maintain strategic relations with ‘third neighbors’—the US, India, Japan, and others. It aims to prevent an over-reliance on Beijing and Moscow—China buys 82% of Mongolian exports while Russia supplies almost 100% of its gas. While Mongolia enhances its UN credentials through these exercises—which are now touted by Ulaanbaatar as one of the signature UN training exercises in the world, Khaan Quest 23 also serves to maintain bilateral relations with the US and other ‘third neighbor’ countries.

These exercises are likely to grow in medium-term importance as Mongolia seeks to balance China and Russia with the West.

On June 30, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia B. Battsetseg held a meeting with the Federal Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany Annalena Baerbock and exchanged views on bilateral cooperation and international relations.

The Parties discussed the mutual goal to bring the current Comprehensive Partnership to Strategic Partnership, and effective and timely implementation of the issues agreed during the Official Visit by the Prime Minister of Mongolia to the Federal Republic of Germany in October last year.

The 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and Germany will mark in 2024. In this regard, the Parties agreed to reciprocate high and highest-level visits to advance the level of the bilateral relations and intensify the cooperation between the two countries in anticipation of the anniversary.

Noting the intensified dialogues with aims to increase trade and investment, and implement large projects and programs between the two countries, the Ministers explored further opportunities to develop joint factories in order to ensure economic independence and improve the livelihood of citizens of the two countries.

German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) plays an important role in training Mongolian students in German higher education institutions. Thus, the Ministers agreed on accelerating the negotiation process to revive the Government scholarships.

Mongolia and Germany have been actively cooperating within the framework of the United Nations and other international organizations. In this context, the parties reaffirmed their intention to further strengthen the cooperation and collaborate on common goals aimed at ensuring peace, security, and sustainable development for the people of the world, including protecting the environment, mitigating climate change, and ensuring food security.