A regular meeting of the capital city authorities was held on June 20. In the previous regular meeting, the Mayor gave tasks in 12 areas, and the implementation rate was about 80 percent.

The Office of the Mayor of the Ulaanbaatar is planning to repair and renovate 19,629 square meters of public streets and areas to increase access to sidewalks and bike paths. In this context, the work on 5,220 square meters has been completed and the work on 10,904 square meters has been started. This year, 1905 meters fences were removed from 26 locations, out of the planned 8771 meters long fences in 111 locations. As a result, 5,032 meters of fences were removed in 66 locations, and the implementation rate is 61 percent. It is also planned to vacate 2355 garages in 132 locations. Last week, 117 garages were vacated in five locations, or a total of 1121 garages in 68 locations, and the implementation rate is 48 percent.

In addition, in order to ensure the normal and reliable operation of the final and mid bus stops, and to improve the appearance of the environment, it was ordered to develop and present a proposal for the transferring the maintenance, landscaping, and construction work into public-private partnership. According to this, within the framework of public-private partnership, a selection process was announced to select the companies to be responsible for the maintenance and operation of the final and mid bus stops.

The landscaping of 12 small parks started

General Manager of Ulaanbaatar City and Head of the Office of the Mayor M.Bayaraa said, "I am working as the head of the Sub-committee for landscaping, repair, trade and services of the Naadam Festival. Parking lots planning has been done. Moreover, relevant organizations are executing road repair and maintenance works. These will be completed by July 8."

In addition, in 16 locations of the ger areas, small parks with landscaping and green areas are planned to be established, while landscaping work has started in 12 locations, and preparations are underway in four locations. Landscaping of places where children play and former garbage dumps was highlighted. Moreover, there is a need to establish small parks not only in ger areas but also in residential areas. Therefore, research is being conducted.

Resource: Media and public relations department of the governor’s office of the capital city

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the electric carmaker will be in India "as soon as humanly possible".

His comments followed a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a state visit to the US.

The Indian government said it had invited Mr Musk to explore investment opportunities in electric mobility and the commercial space sector.

Mr Musk said he was "trying to figure out the right timing" to make that happen.

Mr Modi's meeting with Mr Musk, who also owns Twitter, came days after Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey accused India of threatening to shut down the platform for not complying with its orders to take down content from the website.

Mr Dorsey's allegations, made in an interview with an independent news show, were strongly denied by the Indian government, which called it "an outright lie".

Mr Musk commented on the episode on Wednesday and said that Twitter didn't have a choice but to obey local governments or "we will get shut down".

"We will do our best to provide the freest speech that is possible under the law," he said.

Mr Musk also called himself a "fan of Mr Modi" and said that India had "more promise than any large country in the world".

"He [Mr Modi] really cares about India because he's pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something we intend to do. We are just trying to figure out the right timing," he told reporters. "I am confident that Tesla will be in India and will do so as soon as humanly possible."

Tesla has been in talks with Indian bureaucrats and ministers as it looks to enter the domestic market.

Reuters reported last month that Tesla had proposed setting up a factory to build electric vehicles and was also looking at manufacturing EV batteries in the country. "They are very seriously looking at India as a production and innovation base," federal minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar had told the agency in May.

The company's original plans to open base in India were shelved last year after the Indian government insisted Tesla to make cars locally, while the carmaker said it wanted to export to India first so that it could test demand.

Mr Musk said that he also hoped also bring Starlink satellite internet service, operated by his company SpaceX, to India.

"We do not want to jump the gun on an announcement but I think it is quite likely that it will be a significant investment in our relationship with India," he told reporters.

Mr Modi arrived in New York on Tuesday for a three-day state visit which is being seen has a turning point for bilateral relations between India and the US.

He will be given a ceremonial welcome at the White House on Thursday before he holds direct talks with President Joe Biden.

On Tuesday, over 70 US lawmakers wrote to Mr Biden, urging him to raise human rights issues with Mr Modi during his trip. They said they were concerned about growing religious intolerance, press freedoms, and the targeting of civil society groups in India.

A total of 3.6 million heads of livestock died of natural disasters in Mongolia in 2023.

The figure is 19.2 times more than that of 2022.

The country’s National Statistics Office (NSO) made the disclosure on Tuesday.

Goats and sheep accounted for over 86 per cent of the death toll, which is attributed to extreme weather events, such as blizzards and intense dust storms.

There were 71.1 million livestock animals in the country by the end of 2022, according to the NSO.

Animal husbandry is one of the biggest industries of the landlocked Asian country.

Chairman [Gary] Biondo, AmCham members, friends in the digital industry, thank you for joining this Regional Digital Economy Forum and thank you for the invitation to speak to you all today. I also want to extend a special thanks to AmCham’s ICT and Digital Economic Committee and the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications for organizing this important event.

The digital universe encompasses our families, our schools, our jobs, our businesses, our ability to express our politics—in short, every aspect of our lives. We cannot ignore how integrated our lives and our societies have become to technology and the power of digital. As responsible stakeholders, we must also be cognizant of the power of online collaboration, conversation, transactions, and community building, and harness them for the good of society, and for the diffusion of ideas and knowledge.

While I was in Washington, D.C. recently, joining some of your AmCham members on their annual doorknock, we spoke about the potential of Mongolia to cultivate its technology and digital industry to further contribute to Mongolia’s goals of diversifying its economy and strengthening ties with its third neighbors. Something that was raised in numerous conversations over the course of our trip was the assessment of how digital economies transform societies to make them more resilient, open, and transparent. We spoke about how technology creates digital democracies and sadly, digital authoritarianisms. Both use technology and digital tools to advance their policy goals. Both have visions of technology transforming their societies. Digital democracies use technology to make their societies more resilient, open, and transparent – all in the name of maintaining freedom. Digital authoritarianisms, as we have seen in many parts of the world, use technology to control, manipulate, and subvert – all in the name of maintaining order. So, I ask you all this question: Which one does Mongolia want to become? Obviously, that answer is very clear, and it forms the basis of our conversation today.

A government’s interest to protect health and safety, cybersecurity, intellectual property rights, political legitimacy, and financial stability are all legitimate. However, it is the obligation of every democratically elected government, every country that embraces rule of law and open market economy principles, to safeguard personal freedoms – the freedom of speech and thought, the freedom to worship or not worship as one pleases, the freedom to engage in commercial activities. As we are seeing now in many democratic countries, the desire by governments to create a safe digital space and the need to protect fundamental freedoms in that same space are in tension with one another. In order to resolve that tension, governments must be open and find partners with the business community, academia, and NGOs, to strike the right balance between protecting the digital space from harmful and malicious actors and nurturing the digital economy so it becomes an integral part of a country’s overall economic development.

To take advantage of all the possibilities of the digital universe, businesses and governments need to develop policies in consultation with each other in order to nurture digital environments while responsibly securing personal and economic freedoms.

Mongolia finds itself, like the United States and so many other nations, in the initial phases of walking this digital tight rope.

Governments and the public have a right to be protected from overt criminal activities—be they on- or off-line. Mongolia’s laws generally deal with this reasonably well. Political speech and commercial speech, however, are so intertwined that you cannot sacrifice one without compromising the other.

Concerns about potential restrictions of online speech have permeated recent discussions of Mongolia’s developing e-commerce sector. Mongolia and the United Nations, in concert with the ERBD and the Republic of Korea, have begun to address some aspects of these concerns in recent public discussions. Their soon to be released report assessing Mongolia’s e-trade readiness contain policy goals which align with longstanding efforts Mongolia and the United States have jointly pursued.

In digital policy, the United States has been and will remain committed to sharing cyber security knowledge and experience with our public and private sector partners in Mongolia. We have partnered with the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications, prosecutors and judges, and administrators, as well as private sector banking, mining, and technology companies to deliver in-person and online workshops on cyber security laws, regulations, and practices; and to learn how these different actors respond to the challenges they face.

We have brought experts from the U.S. Department of Justice, Carnegie-Mellon’s software engineering institute, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and American nongovernmental organizations to discuss developing human resources; creating and implementing laws and regulations; bringing the public and private sector together to protect our networks from malign actors; and aligning our practices without sacrificing essential freedoms upon which economic innovation and vitality depend.

E-trade also depends upon a digital infrastructure that is secure, interoperable, independent, and resistant to manipulation and disruption. this is a challenge we share with our partners.

Mongolia and the United States are working together to bring infrastructure options not bound by cables or wires to urban and rural Mongolia.

These new digital infrastructures—vast satellite networks, for example—are democratic in nature, offering access to all in the fullest sense; and they will require flexibility in the legal and administrative frameworks if we are to take advantage of their potential.

Human resource potential is also essential to digital development, both politically and commercially. This includes building English language capacity and supporting inclusive participation in the tech sector by all segments of society—so we can leave no one behind.

We conduct a variety of English language teaching and learning activities through methodology training and open access English teaching resources and materials, such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

We have brought women from NASA and Silicon Valley here to encourage women in STEM. In September, we will hold a Women in Clean Energy workshop here in Ulaanbaatar.

We will continue working with our local private and public partners in the digital landscape, including cyber security, digital law and regulations, entrepreneurship, and English language training.

If we can harness the power of public and private partnerships. If the government and the private sector see themselves as partners and not competitors, then the digital future looks bright for Mongolia. It can be a country that stands tall among other digital democracies, a model for others in the region to emulate; it can advance the vision that is shared by everyone in this room, of a Mongolia with a robust, diverse economy where investors come in confidence and aspiring young entrepreneurs know their innovation and hard work will be rewarded.

Thank you very much for allowing me to share my thoughts with you, and I look forward to hearing about some of the discussions during this regional forum and discovering new, innovative ways to collaborate.

The 8th meeting under the New Revival Policy of the government of Mongolia took place on June 20 with Minister of Environment and Tourism Bat-Erdene Bat-Olzii. The meeting discussed human resources and stability in the tourism industry with the participation of representatives of universities, employers and students.

Tour operators lost 78% of their human resources, tourist centers 68%, hotels 25%, and restaurants 50% due to COVID-19 in the tourism industry. 16 universities train specialists in this field. 7,251 students graduated from them in 2007, and their number was reduced to 979 in 2022. This is due to the fact that the tourism industry works only in summer, and there is no stable job, so most students from Ulaanbaatar prefer to study and work in foreign countries.

The choice of tourism profession has decreased by 87% since 2007. The tourism industry has announced a scholarship of 400,000,000 tugriks for students who have chosen this profession.

Tourism industry representatives said during the meeting that it is important to choose a tourism industry from the countryside, create a local identity and branding, and develop tourism based on local people. Tourism companies should receive tourists in all four seasons of the year, and create sustainable tourism and jobs.

Dave Lee is an entrepreneurial expat making waves in Mongolia. He is the CEO and Chairman of X-Meta exchange and IHC E-Sports team, boasts over a decade of global experience that spans commodities trading, business development, startup investments, and much more.

A strong advocate for technologies enhancing quality of life, Lee co-founded Singapore's first electric vehicle company, AVEVAI, and has contracted millions of carbon credits to combat climate change. His involvement in the Asia Pacific's blockchain and green energy sectors is well noted, as is his founding of a digital technology company leveraging blockchain and AI.

Since 2016, Dave Lee's expertise in crypto arbitrage trading has fostered relationships with industry heavyweights like X-Meta, Binance, Chainalysis, Huobi, Gate.io, Kraken, and KuCoin. An authoritative voice, he has shared his insights at international conferences, including Binance, Blockchain Week 2022, Chainalysis Links Conference, and Crypto Asia 2022. As Chairman of IHC Esports, a top-tier E-Sports team based in Mongolia, he fervently promotes Mongolian Esports on the global stage. Dive with us into Dave Lee's remarkable journey in this exclusive interview.

- Can you tell us about your background and what led you to create X-Meta Exchange?

- I always loved helping people. So I studied and graduated in the medical field. And my first job was working in a hospital before quitting, because I figured there's a better way to help people through other positive ways.

I think as an exchange, regulation is good. Since the crypto industry is very new in Mongolia, the regulation process was a little complicated. But it provides a sense of security.

What inspired me to create X-Meta? I saw the whole shift booming in the crypto sector, but these exchanges lacked the most important factors, which are security, liquidity, and transparency. So, I thought, why not leverage my network, bring the biggest players, work with the biggest player in the exchange and provide global standard exchange for the Mongolian users because it is a very sensitive sector.

People think crypto is a wild wild west, and I wanted to break that barrier and let them know that no one can be very systematic that provides the number one security, the biggest liquidity, for Mongolian users. The idea is - everything that I do in Mongolia - if I can't bring Mongolia to them, let me bring the world to Mongolia. This is what inspired me.

- How has your experience living and working in Mongolia influenced your perspective on the global cryptocurrency industry?

- The Mongolian community is extremely strong and extremely rare versus other global markets. A lot of the global industry is more of pump and dump. When they think of crypto, they think more of how to get rich. They think that they buy their first Bitcoin and they're millionaires. Mongolia did have that as well, but looking back now at the community and the support and the love I think the Mongolian community - investors, users , crypto traders, holders - are much more loyal and supportive. So there's a lot of upside potential to bring these projects overseas.

- How has the regulatory environment in Mongolia affected the growth and development of X-Meta Exchange?

- I think as an exchange, regulation is good. Since the crypto industry is very new in Mongolia, the regulation process was a little complicated. But it provides a sense of security. And I think the beginning is tough, but it's part of the learning curve. Again, one of the main inspirations that I brought to X-Meta was for these reasons. Transparency, security, safety.

I think blockchain can be an extremely valuable asset that the government as well as the private sector should explore and develop. And I believe that there's a huge amount of potential in that sector.

- Mongolia is known for its rich mineral resources, but how do you see the country’s potential in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry?

- Not necessarily crypto, but I believe blockchain as a technology can be utilized in many ways for Mongolia, from government level to private sectors. What is blockchain? Something that cannot be copied. It's done on a contract basis between peers, without requiring any third party, etc. Utilizing blockchain in a lot of natural resources from import-export, from the mining process, from refining the goods, value-added products and exportations and so forth, brings transparency. Regulation from the government's point of view on, you know, how much tonnage has actually been mined and has been processed. I think blockchain can be an extremely valuable asset that the government as well as the private sector should explore and develop. And I believe that there's a huge amount of potential in that sector.

In terms of the cryptocurrency, sure, there can be an exchange that is a commodity exchange that's run on its own cryptocurrency, hedging, etc. But before that, I believe in order for it to become highly successful, focus on the technology, build around it before linking it with these business models. I think it's very critical. As long as they do it that way and do it properly and built around it - a system, rather than a business - it has a huge upside. That's very important, not as a business but actually utilizing the technology to build its core operation.

- Can you share your thoughts on the future of cryptocurrency adoption in Mongolia and the surrounding region?

- It's been a tough year in the crypto sector. But I think definitely what blockchain and crypto offers, it's here to stay. It's not going to go away, that's for sure. In terms of adoption, like I said, Mongolian community members, holders, traders, people that are adapting to crypto are none like I've seen in different countries. So as long as a lot of these projects are actually utilizing its benefits rather than for getting rich, scheme fast kind of thing, I am very positive on the future of adoption in Mongolia. And I believe Mongolia could be an extremely great hub, kind of like what I advocate in a lot of the speeches that I gave overseas, why I believe in the transformation of Mongolia. And I believe that it'd be a great proof of concept country to be able to affect all the other surrounding regions

My conviction is to make X-META into the best, most reliable, and the most trustworthy exchange in Mongolia.

- How do you maintain a work-life balance as an expat in a new country, and balance your hobbies with a busy schedule?

- It's very difficult. Technically, it's one or the other. But as a startup, leading the new generation, my life has been all work, mostly, which forced me to give up my hobbies and give up a lot of things. But I believe that in order for you to become the top 1%, 10%, and as a leader, and owning and running the top exchange in a country, comes with responsibilities and consequences. And especially as a startup, I believe that everything in my life is negotiations. There's never a right or wrong. Yet, there's one thing I never negotiate, which is my conviction. And my conviction is to make X-META into the best, most reliable, and the most trustworthy exchange in Mongolia. And throughout that process it's not a balance. For me, it was to give up certain things to be able to provide that.

- What is one piece of advice you wish someone had given you before moving to Mongolia?

- Spend more time with your family. Being overseas, the toughest part is I was already born in a family where my parents were not so young. Living abroad and so busy, you're lucky if you could go back to the States, because it's so far, its once a year. If I have 15 years left with them, that equates to I have 15 more times to be able to see my family, my parents. Only 15 more. So one true advice that I wish someone gave me before moving is to spend more time with your family before you go or manage your time is my biggest regret that I have.

- Given the limited availability of food options in Mongolia for people with specific dietary needs, how do you manage your diet as a diabetic while still being able to enjoy a variety of foods? Are there any specific diabetic-friendly recipes or restaurants that you particularly enjoy?

- I'm extremely poor at managing my diabetes, so I'm always on medicine, but I started working out, going to the gym to offset that. It's very difficult to find the proper foods for someone like me, especially in Mongolia. I'm Asian but I'm American and I grew up on pasta pizza burgers, so that's something that I just can't give up; Mongolia is big on bread and big on pasta, right? So it's very difficult, but nowadays a good thing is there are good keto restaurants popping up. There are a lot of these food delivery services for keto and the good thing is Mongolians are becoming extremely healthy, a lot of them are going to the gym. A lot of them are living this healthy lifestyle.

So that kind of helped me manage it, I guess. And how am I able to enjoy a variety of foods? Cheat day. Are there any specific diet-friendly recipes? So I love tofu. So I'm actually not a big meat eater. So I actually love tofu. I could eat tofu and seafood. I'm a big seafood eater. So my best is just tofu, and eggs are where my sweet spot is. And when I go to restaurants, anything Japanese, sushi, sashimi, there are a lot of good places, but in particular, I enjoy dining in Ikigai for their fresh sashimi.

- You’re interested in extreme sports. Can you tell us about a particularly memorable experience you had while participating in an extreme sport?

- Broke a few bones. So I love skydiving, I love scuba diving, I'm both certified. I have been a heavy snowboarder since high school. Middle school, I was a big skateboarder. And then in high school, college, I started to ride motorcycles. I was a big racer. So a particularly memorable experience, just adrenaline. I just love the adrenaline. And where in racing, the speed. And in the sky, it's just your world. Scuba diving in particular, being able to wake up in the middle of the ocean watching the sunrise, sunset, on a boat and there's nothing to do but scuba dive. When you're below water, it's the most amazing feeling because there's so many undetected, unexplored things that you get to see. It's one thing I love about going underwater.

The idea is - everything that I do in Mongolia - if I can't bring Mongolia to them, let me bring the world to Mongolia. This is what inspired me.

- Can you tell us about a person who has had a significant impact on your life or career?

- That's my father, by far. What my father has taught me to be where I am is, since a young age, making me do that one extra hour to surpass my peers. 10 years later definitely set a different tone in my life.

The sense of responsibility, never giving up, to stay positive, from these roles to leadership skills to problem solving I had to learn from someone, and everything is all from my father. He is my biggest hero, for my mom he gave up his entire career. For his family, every day for him was about sacrifice not taking, but giving. I wish I could become half the man that he was, I think I would be pretty happy too, especially now that I'm a father.

- How do you effectively lead and motivate a team of mostly young individuals at X-Meta to achieve their full potential and meet the company’s goal?

- By sharing your goal and the vision and the plan, it allows them to understand that. With the new generation, the new young individuals with lack of experience, even if they have the heart, if you don't understand it, it's extremely tough. By giving all the resources, from supporting them to materialistic things to all the above. That's how you offset the young individuals with lack of experience again, by giving that. And motivation and being able to reach those goals, potential. And the third thing is getting out of the way, giving them the trust and allowing them to reach their potential.

And I believe how you earn that respect is by allowing them to understand the goals and the vision. And throughout the way, supporting them and teaching how to achieve those things with the resources that they need. And it balances out the trust and the respect to ultimately bring up the full potential as a team, but also allows us to reach those goals. And it's not just the company, this three-rule applies with personal relationships with them as well as the company.

Rio Tinto Group intends to invest about $920 million at its Kennecott copper operations in Utah as part of a plan to increase its supply in North America. Demand for the material is set to surge in the coming years due to the global energy transition.

The company said it will invest $498 million to develop an underground mine and infrastructure in an area known as the North Rim Skarn, which will deliver about 250,000 tons of additional mined copper over 10 years next.

Production from the additional operation will begin in 2024 and will ramp up over two years, the company said in a statement.

“We are investing to build a world class underground mine at Kennecott and strengthen our processing facilities to meet the growing demand for copper in the United States,” Clayton Walker, the chief operating officer of Rio Tinto Copper, said in a statement.

In addition to the new supply, Rio said it will invest $300 million to rebuild the smelter, including a furnace, and another $120 million to upgrade Kennecott’s refinery tank house structure and to update its molybdenum flotation circuit.

(By Joe Deaux)

Prime Minister of Mongolia L.Oyun-Erdene will pay official visit to China next week. He will take part in the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin at the invitation of PM of China Li Qiang.

Previously, L.Oyun-Erdene visited in China in February, 2022 and held official talks with Chinese government officials including President Xi Jinping.

In the past two years, China and Mongolia reported remarkable cooperation in combating the pandemic, particularly including the widely praised “gifting one another with sheep and tea”, which built up the friendship ties.