Regarding with ‘Asian Door 2018’ international fair (Ворота в Азию) to be opened today, November 20, industry, trade representatives at the Embassy of Russia held a press conference yesterday.

To be hosted for the 29th time in Mongolia, the Asian Door 2018 fair will be held by Irkutsk Oblast, being participated by business delegates from 5 districts led by Minister of Agriculture of Irkutsk Oblast. "More than 850 Russian companies and entities attended the expo in the past, of which over 20 percent started operating in Mongolia," said A.Sidorov, Director of Business Contact Company of Russia. He also cited Mongolian companies are collaborating with Irkutsk region by exporting foodstuff such as beer, sausage, and frozen buuz.

In addition, at the bilateral business meetings to be held during the expo, the sides will touch upon encountering problems.

After the decision of Mongolian People’s Party caucus on ousting the head of caucus Khayankhyarvaa Damdin last week, Mr. Khayankhyarvaa announced to submit the petition on Cabinet dissolution after collecting signatures from MPs.

MPs who signed the petition expressed their apology towards the public for going back on their promise to maintain stability in the Government. Initiated by Mr. Khayankhyarvaa, the petition highlighted six grounds to dissolve the Cabinet, which includes:

• Abuse of power to draw financing from the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) Development Fund;

• Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa announced his inability to work under the Constitution;

• Incited public demonstrations that created serious situation of national security;

• Granted special licenses to foreign nationals;

• Aside from the inability to demand accountability from ministers involved in SME Development Fund scandal, Prime Minister himself became a hostage to them;

• Ignored the President’s repeated recommendation on allocating budget for the development of industrial sector.

“Although he ignored the President’s recommendation, the PM is now demanding the caucus to accept the President’s veto on budget. He further ignored the actions on bringing assets from offshore zone. Moreover, the fact that a public servant murdered inside a State-protected organization and an attempted kidnap from within the territory of Mongolia are also the basis for the PM’s resignation,” remarked Mr. Khayankhyarvaa.

According to the Law on Procedure of Parliament Session, Standing Committee on State Structure must discuss the petition for Cabinet dissolution within 14 working days after submission, which will then be discussed by the Parliament. If the Parliament considers that it is unnecessary to dissolve the Cabinet, ousting of Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Sports could surface. Because the current minister Tsogzolmaa Tsedenbal was one of the MPs that signed the petition. On the other hand, the appointment of Ulaan Chultem as the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry is in line for discussion at the Parliament. The approval of Cabinet dissolution will annul the appointment.

Director of the Regional Division of the Bank of Mongolia (BoM) in Darkhan-Uul aimag B.Javkhlan said that the regional branch of BoM purchased a total of 33 kg of gold over the past month. “We purchase the gold from artisanal miners and cooperatives at the daily rate of the central bank without any intermediaries. The locals are grateful for the establishment of the precious metal assay laboratory, which removes the inconveniences of gold purchase,” he noted.

The laboratory operates in the whole Central region. Thus the laboratory is open to gold mining cooperatives, companies and individuals of Darkhan-Uul as well as other aimags.

The proposal was submitted to the speaker of the parliament Miyegombo Enkhbold after reports were made public late last month that some members of the Mongolian parliament and their relatives have obtained a number of loans with low interest rates from a fund aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises.

Issues relating to the fund were frequently discussed in the country this month.

"A total of 27 lawmakers signed the proposal on dismissing the government," Khayankhyarvaa, former parliamentary faction leader of the ruling Mongolian People's Party, told reporters after submitting the proposal.

He was dismissed from his post last Tuesday following his demand for the lawmakers involved in the financial irregularities be brought to justice.

According to the country's Constitution, a proposal on dissolving government should be considered within 15 days.

Ukhnaa Khurelsukh's government that formed a year ago will be dismissed if the proposal is supported by over 50 percent of lawmakers in the 76-seat parliament.

The sudden closure of the border crossings comes as an unwelcome shock in Mongolia; already 91 km long queues of coal trucks have formed since China suspended imports. A total of 86 coal trucks had already crossed into Chinese territory at the crossings, but Beijing is refusing to received the coal. A team has been working on the ground for providing health, food and assistance for the unfortunate truck drivers.

During the discussion, authorities of the Cabinet Secretariat of Government, Governors of Bayan-Ulgii, Gobi-Altai, Khovd, Uvs and Zavkhan aimags, heads of citizens’ representatives meetings of the aimags, chairman of Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, representatives of the local chambers of commerce and industry, Asian Development Bank’s Country Director for Mongolia Yolanda Fernandez Lommen and specialists of corresponding ministries were introduced with the strategy to develop private sector in western region and some survey reports.

The Asian Development Bank has been implementing a technical assistance project ‘Fostering value-added activities in western Mongolia’ since 2016. Within the project, competitiveness assessment report and institutional readiness assessment report were carried out in five western aimags over the past three years and business plans were worked out for meat factory in Bayan-Ulgii aimag, ‘Narlag Khulemj’ in Gobi-Altai aimag, seed farm in Khovd aimag and grain farm in Uvs aimag. Moreover, information rooms of governor offices were furnished with required equipment and a series of trainings were provided to staffs of private and public organizations.

The ADB recommended the Cabinet Secretariat of Government that it needs to create favorable environment of governance, empower private sector and develop infrastructure within short period in order to foster local private sector.

Ms. Yolanda said, “The technical assistance project has implemented successfully. It fulfilled its objectives sufficiently. Long-term regional assessment on the state of public and private entities will be a baseline document for government policy to develop rural areas and be useful data for businessmen to find their directions of activities and choose future paths.”

U.Byambasuren, deputy head of the Cabinet Secretariat, said “This baseline document is very important for government to define its development policy that fits territorial and regional features. We have expressed our interest to the ADB to realize this project in other aimags.”

Enkh-Amgalan, also head of the Mongolia-Russia inter-parliamentary group in parliament, made the remarks while meeting with a visiting Russian delegation led by Andrei Klishas, chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building.

"The potential of trade, investment and economic cooperation between Mongolia and Russia is not being used at full strength. Thus, our two countries need to make more efforts and improve the business and legal environment in order to further strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation in these sectors," Enkh-Amgalan said.

Klishas expressed Russia's willingness to promote the development of Russia-Mongolia ties in all sectors.

He also stressed the important role of the Mongolia-Russia interparliamentary group in parliament in expanding cooperation between the two legislative bodies.

Last year, the trade volume between Russia and Mongolia amounted to 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 46.9 percent compared with 2016.

The Germany carmaker said Friday that it would invest €44 billion ($50 billion) by 2023 to develop electric cars, self-driving vehicles and other new technology.
Speaking at a press conference following a meeting of the company's supervisory board, CEO Herbert Diess described the company's strategy as an "electric offensive."
Diess acknowledged that increased spending on new technology could initially harm earnings growth. The investment is roughly €10 billion ($11.4 billion) above what the company set aside for new tech in last year's budget plan.
"Volkswagen must become more efficient, more productive and more profitable in order to finance the high expenditure in the future and in order to stay competitive," Diess said during the press conference.
Volkswagen's stock, which declined roughly 12% so far this year, dropped another 1.3% on Friday.

Volkswagen and Ford

Diess said that talks with US automaker Ford (F) about working together were "progressing positively."
So far the only alliance firmly in place between Ford and Volkswagen involves an agreement to work together on commercial vehicles. But Diess sees potential in more cooperation.
"We can solve the transformation of our business more easily with partnerships," he said Friday.
Automakers are spending billions of dollars as they try to develop the electric and self-driving vehicles they believe are the future.
They're also facing more competition from tech companies, including Uber and Google parent Alphabet (GOOG). Upstarts like Tesla (TSLA) have proved formidable too.
Production changes
Volkswagen said that the first model built under its new strategy, the ID, will begin rolling off the assembly lines in 2022. Diess said the car will have a range of up to 550 km (340 miles) and cost the equivalent of its current diesel Golf.
The car group, which owns the Porsche and Audi brands, said it would attempt to increase the productivity of its plants 30% by 2025. It plans to build vehicles from different brands on the same production lines as part of the effort.
It will also relocate production of the Passat from Germany to the Czech Republic.
Diess said that Volkswagen (VLKAF) was considering whether to build its own battery cells, a key component in electric vehicles.
China shift
The carmaker also announced leadership changes in China, the world's largest car market.
Diess now has direct responsibility for the China business, a move that Volkswagen said reflects "the growing importance of the Chinese market and the high pace of technological development in China."
Stephan Wöllenstein, who currently oversees the passenger car division in China, will handle business operations in the country going forward.