Success in Asian Qualifiers crucial for Mongolia's progress www.the-afc.com

Mongolia have never advanced beyond the first phase of qualifying for either tournament and take on Brunei Darussalam over two legs on Thursday and Tuesday hoping to notch up a victory that secures the country a place in the draw for Qatar 2022 and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.

The winners will join the likes of Australia, Japan, Korea Republic, Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the second phase and the prospect of facing one of the Continent’s giants, believes Souissi, will give the game a much-needed boost in the landlocked East Asian nation.

“If we can qualify for the next round then we will try to bring top teams so that the crowd can come and see them,” said the Tunisian, who was recently appointed by the Mongolia Football Federation.

“We need to make the sport popular and bring big names. Then it doesn’t matter about the results, we need to promote football by bringing good names and to be able to bring people to play. And we will find that hard if we don’t qualify for the next round.

“We have to qualify because if we don’t qualify, we won’t be able to find friendly games, or strong ones anyway.”

Growing the sport – from enhancing coach education and providing more opportunities for players at all levels – are among the tasks taken on by the 64-year-old in his role as technical director and Souissi is focused on laying the foundations for future success.

Key among those is increasing the number of coaches working within the game and introducing a licensing system for teams playing in the country’s first and second divisions.

“The biggest challenge is to make football really popular so that there is more practicing of the sport because football is not that popular, to be honest,” Souissi told the-AFC.com. “It is number one in the world but it’s not in Mongolia. It maybe comes seventh or eighth in the rankings, so for the time being it’s important to have a broader base.

“And we have started already with those who are going to teach the kids, doing a lot of coach education to upgrade the level and broaden the base and try to expose them to the international game. They lack that kind of exposure. This is a lengthy process and we have started already."

“I don’t see it starting to bear some fruit for two years, and I’m being a little bit optimistic when I say this. Talent-wise there is plenty of talent, contrary to what many people think. I was pleasantly surprised, but it is at a young age. We have to work systematically at a young age.

“We don’t have many coaches. All-in-all we have something like 120 coaches, which is nothing. So now we have done some refreshers and we now have another 40, so we have about 160. It’s a big job, but that’s what tempted me.

“The progress will be quick in the beginning and then it will slow down, but at the minute we’re progressing by leaps and bounds.”

In the meantime, national team head coach Michael Weiss and his side will host the first leg of the two-game play-off on Thursday at the MFF Football Centre in Ulaanbaatar, with the return in Bandar Seri Begawan five days later.

And, with so much potentially on the line for the future of the game in Mongolia, Souissi believes playing the first leg at home will give the Blue Wolves the upper hand.

“There’s a slight advantage for us playing the first game in Mongolia,” he said. “The good thing for us is that we are in competition, because the league has started already. The players have some competition in their legs, which is really important. They have had enough time to work together and I rate our chances as really good.”

Seoul-based Rhinos Asset Management launches Mongolian subsidiary www.theinvestor.co.kr

Seoul-based investment company Rhinos Asset Management said on June 4 that it had opened a wholly owned overseas subsidiary in Mongolia a day prior.

Fiscal Framework Statement predicts www.zgm.mn

Mongolia’s legislative body approved the Fiscal Framework Statement last week, approving the economic prediction of next year, draft fiscal framework for 2020 and 2021-2022 budget. The key indicators of the next year’s fiscal policy are written below.

Ulaanbaatar- Nur-Sultan flight commences www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. ‘SCAT’ Airline of Kazakhstan made its first-ever Nur-Sultan - Ulaanbaatar flight today.

Mongolia-Russia Sub-Commission on Regional Cooperation meets www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The 14th Sub-Commission meeting on Regional and Cross-border Cooperation between Mongolia and Russia was held in Ulaanbaatar on May 29.

Turquoise Hill appoints Jo-Anne Dudley as Chief Operating Officer www.turquoisehill.com

Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. (“Turquoise Hill”) today announced the appointment of Jo-Anne Dudley as Chief Operating Officer, effective June 3rd, 2019.
Ms. Dudley has 25 years of experience in the mining industry. For the past nine years she has been a key member of the
Oyu Tolgoi technical team that manages the development of the world-scale Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia in
consultation with Turquoise Hill. Most recently she led Oyu Tolgoi’s 30-person Strategic Mine and Resources Planning
unit.
“Jo-Anne’s extensive experience in underground mine development, at Oyu Tolgoi and elsewhere, will be of great value to Turquoise Hill and its shareholders,” said Ulf Quellmann, Chief Executive Officer. “She will be an excellent addition to our executive team as Oyu Tolgoi grows into one of the world’s largest copper mines.”
Prior to commencing her work on Oyu Tolgoi, Ms. Dudley spent five years working with Rio Tinto’s technical group on
mines in South Africa and the USA. Before that she worked in underground mines across Australia as an Underground
contractor and spent nearly ten years in Operations and Studies roles at the Northparkes copper and gold mine in central New South Wales, Australia. During her time at Northparkes, it developed from an open pit operation to an underground mine using block caving, similar to the development path at Oyu Tolgoi.
Ms. Dudley graduated from the University of New South Wales as a mining engineer in 1994. She holds a New South
Wales Below Ground Mine Manager’s Certificate of Competency, and a Graduate Certificate in Technology Management.
A Chartered Professional engineer, Ms. Dudley was awarded Fellow membership in 2016 from the Australasian Institute
of Mining and Metallurgy, was selected as the 2018 Exceptional Woman in Queensland Resources, and was also honoured to be named as one of the WIM 2018 Global 100 Inspirational Women in Mining.

Chinese tech titan Huawei buys Russian facial recognition technology www.rt.com

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has purchased the intellectual property rights to facial recognition systems designed by a Russian developer and manufacturer of high-tech security technology.
Some employees of Moscow-based Vokord will also be transferred to Huawei as part of the $50-million agreement, according to sources close to the deal, as quoted by Vedomosti.

Donald Trump to arrive at Stansted Airport for UK state visit www.bbc.com

US President Donald Trump will arrive in the UK on Monday morning for a three-day official state visit.

Energy prices crash in Europe as old, new fuels vie for share www.bloomberg.com

Gas and coal prices are plunging in Europe, hurt by the relentless threat of ever-cheaper clean energy that’s gaining market share and pushing out the fossil fuels in the process.

India is a massive business opportunity for America www.cnn.com

New Delhi (CNN Business)The United States has been tightening the screws on several allies in an escalating global trade battle. India is its latest target.

President Donald Trump on Friday announced the South Asian country's removal from a special trade program, saying it had "not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets." The program, known as the Generalized System of Preferences, exempted Indian goods worth more than $6 billion from import duties in 2018, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Here's what's at stake, and why the two countries still need each other.
Why India needs the United States
One of President Trump's biggest priorities has been reducing the United States' trade deficits with countries around the world, and its $142 billion trading relationship with India is skewed in favor of India.
India exported goods worth around $54 billion to the United States in 2018 and bought $33 billion worth of American goods, according to US government data.
And the goods that do come into India are subject to duties that can be as high as 150%. Trump has repeatedly slammed India's tariffs on products like motorcycles and whiskey, and his decision to revoke trade privileges for India followed complaints from American dairy farmers and medical device manufacturers that tariffs were hurting their exports.
Another source of friction is the Trump administration's crackdown on H-1B work visas used by the US tech industry, the majority of which go to Indian workers. The crackdown has impacted companies like TCS, Infosys (INFY) and Wipro (WIT) in India's huge outsourcing industry, which is another big driver of bilateral trade. Trade in services between the two countries totalled $54.6 billion last year.

But India still needs the United States, currently its second-largest trading partner behind China. It has postponed tariffs on US goods worth more than $200 million several times in recent months — a retaliation for US tariffs on Indian steel and aluminum imposed last year — as it continues to try and find a resolution.
The Indian government on Saturday called the US move to end its trade exemptions "unfortunate," but said it would continue to try and fix bilateral ties.
"In any relationship, in particular in the area of economic ties, there are ongoing issues which get resolved mutually from time to time," it said in a statement. "We view this issue as a part of this regular process and will continue to build on our strong ties with the US."
Why the United States needs India
While India is only the United States' 9th largest goods trading partner, its massive market presents a prize that US businesses can scarcely afford to ignore.
Access to India's population of 1.3 billion people is crucial for American businesses, with big names like Amazon (AMZN), Walmart (WMT), Google (GOOGL) and Facebook (FB) investing billions of dollars in the country in recent years. India's 600 million internet users — more than any country except China — are also a big draw for Netflix (NFLX), Uber (UBER) and Disney (DIS). As part of its recent deal with 21st Century Fox, Disney recently acquired India's biggest streaming platform Hotstar.
But the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, imposed restrictions this year that will make it harder for many of those companies to do business in the country.
Other stringent requirements on foreign retailers have hurt firms like Apple (AAPL), which continues to struggle to sell iPhones and open its stores in India. But CEO Tim Cook has said he remains "very bullish" on the Indian market.
US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross criticized the latest regulations during a recent visit to New Delhi, saying that "trade relationships should be based on fairness and reciprocity."

Modi's government attracted record levels of foreign investment during his first five-year tenure as India's leader. That inflow of funds tapered off recently, however as Modi courted local business owners that form a key part of his political base ahead of the country's national election last month.
The ploy appears to have worked, and the Indian leader won re-election by a huge margin. Overseas investors and companies will be waiting to see whether the country's growing protectionism persists in his second term.
Fixing the relationship
With Trump now fighting trade battles on multiple global fronts, most notably with China and Mexico, analysts say friction with India risks alienating a key ally.
"Leaders on both sides must keep in mind that these are short-term bumps that must be avoided, even if they incur some level of political cost," Richard Rossow, a senior adviser and India expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a recent note.
"It is imperative that our two governments convene quickly to assess these roadblocks on the horizon and work hard and effectively to ensure the relationship succeeds," he added.
US business groups are also urging the two sides to resolve their differences, with the US-India Business Council speaking out against the decision to remove India from the GSP.
The preferential trade program "provides important benefits for both India and the United States," Nisha Biswal, the council's president and a former State Department official, said on Twitter Saturday.
"These issues can be better resolved through continued dialogue and engagement," Biswal added.