Jonathan Addleton: Yoho’s initiative benefits Mongolia, US www.theledger.com

OPINION: Prior my service as an American diplomat in Mongolia, my knowledge of that country focused largely on Genghis Khan, Marco Polo and the Gobi Desert. As I later discovered, it sometimes also appears in international headlines as a land-locked country situated between Russia and China that emerged out of the Soviet shadow in the early 1990s to unexpectedly establish both a functioning democracy and vibrant free market economy.

In most respects, Florida and Mongolia could hardly be more different: Nearly 10 times the size of Florida in land area but with a population of only 3 million people, Mongolia is the least densely populated country on earth. It also has no beaches, few tourists and temperatures that in winter routinely drop to 40 degrees below zero.

Yet Ted Yoho, Gainesville’s representative in Congress, is on the verge of making an out-size contribution to Mongolia as a strategic ally and friend that regards the United States as its “third neighbor,” helping to balance the tremendous pressure it receives from neighboring Russia and China.

In the early 1990s, creative bipartisan policymaking in Washington supported Mongolia’s reengagement with the world as well as its emergence as a successful member of the world-wide community of democracies. For its part, Mongolia has supported the United States in a number of ways including with its deployment of soldiers as part of the international effort in Afghanistan.

Academic and other partnerships have also been established. For example, the National Institutes of Health and the University of Florida have partnered with Mongolia to train teams to mitigate zoonotic disease problem among animals in Mongolia, a welcome initiative given Mongolia’s nomadic tradition and the fact that sheep, goats, horses, camels and yak out-number its people by nearly 20-1. For Mongolia, healthy livestock truly means a healthy economy.

Against this backdrop, it is especially appropriate that Congressman Yoho — a large animal veterinarian who also happens to chair the House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific — has become the catalyst for gathering support for Mongolia as part of a special congressional session entitled “China’s Strategy to Accrue Global Power.” In his words, “The United States must stand up to China’s revisionism in mercantilist economics.”

As part of the Washington discussion on tariffs and trade, Yoho crafted innovative legislation that combines his interest and commitment to both foreign affairs and animals.

For Mongolia, tariff issues loom large, especially because of the dominant role that cashmere, a unique animal fiber combed from the soft underbelly of goats, plays as a source of income and employment in the country’s vast countryside. Indeed, Mongolia is the second largest producer of cashmere in the world, trailing only China.

U.S. imports from Mongolia are tiny. However, an increase in trade — including trade in cashmere and related products — would have a big impact on Mongolia in terms of the size and health of its economy, expanding economic opportunity to its herders while also strengthening its political and economic independence.

As U.S. ambassador to Mongolia between 2009 and 2012, I saw first hand the important role that economics can play as part of our broader strategic relationship. Mongolia buys aircraft from Boeing, locomotive engines from General Electric and heavy equipment from Caterpillar. But it also needs to sell its own products to other countries including the United States.

Yoho’s initiative will do just that, strengthening a U.S. ally in ways that do not jeopardize U.S. jobs, compete directly with U.S. products or require foreign aid. At the same time, it will significantly strengthen relations with a previously isolated country that has rejected dictatorship, asserted independence and actively cultivates global partnerships.

As the United States looks for ways to shape fair trading relationships in Northeast Asia while also advancing its own geo-strategic interests, Yoho’s legislation does both, offering targeted trade preference for Mongolian textiles (including cashmere) while deepening the political and economic partnership between the two countries.

If this legislation is approved, it will also constitute a remarkable achievement by “Congress’ only Republican veterinarian,” adding economic value to the tens of millions of livestock populating Mongolia’s deserts, steppes and grasslands in ways that help Mongolian herders, benefit American consumers and advance diplomatic engagement between Mongolia and the United States.

Jonathan Addleton served as U.S. ambassador to Mongolia during 2009-2012. A retired Foreign Service Officer, he teaches at Mercer University in Macon, Ga.; serves as executive director of the American Center for Mongolian Studies; and authored “Mongolia and the United States: A Diplomatic History” (Hong Kong University Press, 2013).

Mongolia ready to work with S. Korea to strengthen bilateral cooperation www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia is willing to work with South Korea to bring bilateral relations and cooperation to a new level in all sectors, Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh said Tuesday.

Bitcoin Sinks Below $6,000 as Almost Everything Crypto Tumbles www.bloomberg.com

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Mongolia to introduce Canada’s experience in forest sector www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Parliamentary and Government delegation led by Minister of Environment and Tourism N.Tserenbat and representatives of UN-REDD+ national program attended forest policy makers meeting took place in British Columbia province of Canada.

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Alibaba eyes revamp in food sector www.chinadaily.com.cn

After taking the lion's share of China's e-commerce sector, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is looking to revamp the food sector by addressing the imbalance between supply and demand.

Hema Fresh, its iconic fresh food chain that employs technologies to dispatch goods and manage inventory, plans to open stores across all first and second-tier cities in China and aims to reach at least 300 million consumers.

The goal was announced at last week's vendor conference in Shanghai, where Hema forged partnerships with over 500 merchants including agriculture produce bases, and pledged not to charge any fees as prerequisites for brands to access Hema.

Chief Executive Officer Hou Yi said the company was making more efforts in product development with merchants and targeting sales of tailor-made goods to account for half of Hema's overall sales in three years.

New Zealand-based diary giant Fonterra Co-op Group Ltd was among the early adopters of such a model. For instance, the pair are shortening the shelf life of milk sold in stores down to less than 24 hours from the usual seven to 10 days. The milk is produced and collected each day at Fonterra's dairy hub in Hebei province, one of the two the company operates in China.

Such a tie-up is part of Hema's "Daily Fresh" program, which sees a host of fresh produce and meat removed from store shelves at the end of the day and replaced with fresh products the following morning.

The model is likely to be extended to a wider variety of goods, with Hema signing direct procurement contracts with agricultural produce bases in Yunnan, Hubei and Shandong provinces.

"Under the project, consumers can buy the most comprehensive and fresh local produce at the lowest possible prices," said Wang Minzheng, head of the department of agriculture of Yunnan province.

"Eliminating middlemen can effectively trim costs and boost retail efficiency," said Gu Guojian, head of Shanghai Chain-Store & Franchise Institute. "The model is especially meaningful as China moves to increase imports and enhance circulation efficiency."

"They can totally leverage big data instead of third-party market research firms to get more precise customer insights and estimates of market size, therefore deciding what and how much (of the goods) to keep stock of," said Shi Jialong, head of China internet equity research at Nomura Securities Co Ltd.

The move aims to meet the evolving preferences of Chinese consumers who shun preservatives in their quest for a healthier lifestyle. According to Hou, Hema's typical consumers are middle-to-upper income earners who are willing to experience new things and shop on a daily basis rather than weekly.

Unlike conventional supermarkets that introduce a wide range of products for shoppers to compare, Hema has adopted the buyer model, where professional procurers are responsible for sourcing and hand-picking the right goods to sell.

"This model is 'win-win' as it revolutionizes the producer end by using customer data to predict their preferences and can tailor manufacturing to meet their needs," said Lao Guoling, a professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

New Manufacturing is one of the five "New"s that Alibaba founder Jack Ma proposed two years ago to reshape commercial technologies.

Ele.me, Alibaba's newly acquired food delivery arm, has integrated its membership system with Alibaba's e-commerce sites to tap into at least 500 million active users who could order food as they shop via their mobile devices.

Koubei, its offline local services platform, has also branched out by offering breakfast pre-ordering services via smart phones in a number of café and bakery chains in Shanghai.

Itools JSC presents its 2018 semi-annual report www.mse.mn

'I Tools’ JSC, a Tier 2 listed company, presented its semi-annual financial and operational report to the public on August 13th, 2018 at MSE. 

In the first half of 2018, sales of ‘I Tools’ JSC increased by 39.4 percent reaching MNT439.3 million and its net profit tripled reaching MNT62.4 million. 

During the reporting period, the company involved in the project introducing KHUR system, a information system of state organizations, to private organizations and offered blockchain technology services to some Japanese companies. 

According to the company officials, it will complete its modular data center construction using its proceeds raised from public, provide an integrated services of blockchain data center as well as offer services met standards of ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 to public and private entities.

Aspire mining: Mongolia extends railway study deadline www.miningbusiness.net

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Its rail concession deadline has been extended to Feb 2020, but Aspire aims to complete its studies in the June 2019 qtr.
Aspire has accepted Mongolia’s request to lift design capacity on the 574km railway to 30Mtpa, catering for higher expectations of transit freight demand. It says the increase in construction costs will be marginal, within its 10% contingency range.

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Gov’t expresses condolence and dismisses top officials of Road Ministry www.montsame.mn

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