In a directive sent to all schools last week, the education ministry said parents had complained in the past about their children trying to collect money and asking for Halloween costumes.

Stressing that Halloween was not an officially recognised holiday, it ordered all schools to put a stop to organised celebrations this year.

Halloween has become increasingly popular in the capital Ulaanbaatar.

"Our school has specialised classes in the English language, and that's why we celebrated Halloween in many different ways," said G Erdenechimeg, a social worker at the 23rd School in Ulaanbaatar, which focuses on foreign languages.

"Generally, it's all about the children's attitude," she added. "Some may get into their roles too deeply or misuse (Halloween) and have a negative social effect. For this reason, it has been decided not to celebrate."

Mongolia has undergone a rapid transformation since its Moscow-backed Communist regime collapsed in 1990, with a succession of governments trying to modernise the economy and open up to foreign investment.

In a bid to offset the impact of giant neighbours Russia and China, Mongolia has also courted "third neighbours" like the United States and Japan, leading to growing cultural ties.

But the rapid pace of change has stoked concerns that its nomadic and Buddhist culture is being left behind.

Halloween celebrations are still expected to continue in Ulaanbaatar, home to nearly half of Mongolia's population of 3 million.

"I haven't seen the decision have any impact or affect our sales so far," said D Purev, owner of the Party Shop, which stocks Halloween-related goods in Ulaanbaatar.

(Reporting by Suvdantsetseg Tsagaanbaatar; Writing by David Stanway; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: Reuters/na

The meeting was attended by representatives from AmCham member organizations and individuals from local and international businesses. The panelists included Mr. J.Delgersaikhan, economist and lecturer at the University of Finance and Economics; Mr. Ch.Ganhuyag, CEO at Ard Financial Group; and Mr. Jean-Pascal N. Nganou, senior economist and acting country manager at the World Bank. The panel discussion was led and moderated by AmCham Financial Services Committee Chair Mr. Erik Versavel, country representative of the ING Bank office in Mongolia. The panelists shared their perspectives and exchanged ideas with the meeting’s attendees about the future of Mongolia’s financial and economic outlook.

Ard Financial Group’s Mr. Ch.Ganhuyag stressed the need for collaboration between the public and private sectors, stating, “The private sector needs to become more proactive. The local and central governments need to establish channels to consult with researchers and the private sector, where our voices are heard in decision-making process.”

Mr. J.Delgersaikhan, economist and lecturer at the University of Finance and Economics, addressed Mongolia’s 2019 outlook, saying, “On one hand, the 2019 prospective is positive, since the budget deficit is projected to be lower than previous years’. However, the governance side of the IMF’s extended fund facility program’s implementation must improve in order to improve budgetary policies for the future and address the lack of debt management.”

The World Bank’s Mr. Jean-Pascal N. Nganou shared his thoughts as a member of the international community, and said, “The outlook for 2019 seems generally positive, but there are two types of risks to watch out for: domestic uncertainty, due largely to politics, and external pressure from demand. In order to navigate the uncertainties, Mongolia must stick to the reform program and ensure its close implementation.”

Source: amcham.mn

The 33-year-old Mongolian who came off with a perfect 15-0 record in September’s Autumn tournament, now has his sights set on a record-extending 42nd career title. Although he has only one championship to his name this year, Hakuho is an eight-time winner in Fukuoka and is the defending champion.

If Hakuho manages another title with a 15-0 record at the tournament starting on 11 November, it will be the first time he has gone 15-0 in two straight tournaments in over five years.

However, there are concerns over his fitness after he underwent endoscopic surgery on his right knee earlier this month.

The annual "Horses of Mongolian Steppe" festival will be held for the fifth year in eastern Khentii province starting Friday.

Co-organized by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Governor's Office of Khentii Province, the festival will feature multiple activities, including horse racing and lasso competitions.

Mongolia ranks among the top worldwide in terms of horse population.

According to the National Statistical Office of Mongolia, there were over 66.2 million livestock animals in Mongolia as of the end of 2017, of which almost six percent were horses.

However, the Mongolian herdsmen prefer to ride motorcycles and cars to look for livestock animals instead of riding horses, which makes the preservation of the horse-riding culture a necessity.

In the official letter, President Battulga condemns the Parliament and the Cabinets that were formed as a result of the 2016 General Elections over failures to fulfill their election promises and work in conformity with the law in exercising the State power.

The official letter reads, “…The Members of Parliament, having fully surrendered to the ways of treating the budget with a pre-election attitude based on narrow interests, trifling with the national economy, and using their power and influence for personal gains, are completely exploiting the constitutional principle: “A member of the Parliament is an envoy of the people and represents and upholds the interests of all the citizens and the state.” This has led to the loss of public support and trust in the highest organ of State power and further to the lack of guarantee that the forming of third and fourth Cabinets would result in national development and tangible outcome.

The Constitution of Mongolia declares that the State power is vested in the people of Mongolia. In this solid case where the highest organ of State power, the members of which are elected by the citizens, has clearly lost the trust and support of the citizens, it is no longer in a position to carry out its mandate.

The Section 2 of Article 22 of the Constitution of Mongolia states that “The Parliament may decide on its dissolution if not less than two thirds of its members consider that the Parliament is unable to carry out its mandate, or if the President, in consultation with the Chairman of the Parliament, proposes to do so for the same reason.” The Section 11 of Article 12 of the Law of Mongolia on President states that “If it is considered that the Parliament is unable to carry out its mandate, the President shall officially notify to the Chairman of the Parliament on the proposal to consult on self-dissolution of the Parliament. The Chairman’s disapproval of the proposal will not prevent the President from proceeding with his proposal in the Parliament.”

Therefore, I am hereby delivering a proposal to consult on self-dissolution of the Parliament.”

Source: president.mn

During his visit, former President Ts.Elbegdorj, together with INSPIRED+ local team, Aurat Foundation and WLA – CdM staff, will participate in a roundtable on ´Launching of Participatory Policy Assessment Report on the Socio-Economic Rights of Women Working in the Agriculture Sector in Punjab´. It is expected that the Mongolian politician will also meet the Governor of Punjab, Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, and the Chief Minister of Punjab, Sardar Usman Buzdar, at Governor’s House and Chief Minister’s Office respectively. Lastly, former President Elbegdorj will participate in a meeting with women MPs of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. A talk with Pakistani national TV and a dinner with Pakistani journalists have been scheduled too.

The World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid is the largest, worldwide assembly of political leaders working to strengthen democratic values, good governance and the well-being of citizens across the globe. As a non-profit, non-partisan, international organization, its network is composed of more than 100 democratic former presidents and prime ministers from over 60 countries, together with a global body of advisors and experts practitioners, who offer their voice and agency on a pro bono basis, to today’s political, civil society leaders and policymakers.

INSPIRED+ is an action that is funded by the EU through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR). The objective is to contribute through participatory and inclusive dialogue processes, to the effective implementation of the core UN and ILO conventions in nine beneficiary countries of the EU Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP+). The beneficiary countries of the action are: Armenia, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Paraguay and the Philippin

The parties had struck a non-binding agreement two years ago, when Rio said it could receive payments of between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion for the stake, dependent on the project being developed. Rio and its partner, known as Chinalco, will work with Guinea’s government “to explore other options to realize value” from the asset, Rio said Monday in a statement.

Development of Simandou, which holds an estimated 2 billion metric tons of iron ore, has been hampered by issues including infrastructure requirements. Rio said in 2017 it had decided the project’s estimated $20 billion development costs were too high.

London-based Rio is assisting authorities in three countries over investigations into a $10.5 million payment to an external consultant made in 2011 in connection with the project. The company in 2016 alerted authorities including the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office to the payment.

(By David Stringer)

The new railroad is a vital transport corridor necessary for delivering cargo, transporting oil and gas, and moving freight from the Northern Latitudinal Railway to the Northern Sea Route. The new line will extend the existing 1097km-long (682 miles) railroad which connects the small northern settlements of Obskaya, Bovanenkovo and Karskaya to Sabetta.

The existing railroad is owned by Gazprom. The projected cost to build the extension will total up to 115 billion rubles ($1.7 billion), according to sources cited by the media.

The new concession agreement is going to replace the existing public-private partnership that had been clinched in 2015 between the government of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and VIS TransStroy, a subsidiary of VIS Construction Group. The firm was expected to finish construction by 2019, but the work hasn’t started.

Asia will lead the pack with the highest planned and announced CDU capacity of 5.4 million bpd in 2022, followed by Africa and the Middle East with 3.2 million bpd and 2.7 million bpd, respectively. In capital expenditure (capex), Asia will again be the leader with expected capex for new build refineries of $194.9 billion, followed by Africa and the Middle East, with $126.6 billion and $87.1 billion, respectively, GlobalData has estimated.

Among individual countries, China is the leader, with ten new-build refineries expected to come on line by 2022, followed by Nigeria and Kuwait. The top ten also includes Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Saudi Arabia, GlobalData’s report shows.

“China’s ambitious refinery capacity expansion programme continues fuelled by the country’s industrial growth, and growing demand from the transportation sector. The capacity expansion program is powering China’s crude imports, and will transform the country to become a strong contender for exports of petroleum products globally,” Sumit Kumar Chaudhuri, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, said, as carried by East African Business Week.

Last month, Chinese refiners processed a record daily amount of crude oil. At a calculated 12.49 million bpd, the September run rate of Chinese refineries was more than 600,000 bpd higher than the August figure.

According to the GlobalData report, Nigeria is also planning a massive refinery expansion to meet growing domestic demand for petroleum products. The African OPEC member is expected to expand its CDU capacity by 2.003 million bpd, spending $57.6 billion. Kuwait will add 615,000 bpd of CDU capacity by 2022, and is expected to spend $7.5 billion through 2022.