BoM President receives IMF Executive Director www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ President of Bank of Mongolia N.Bayartsaikhan met with IMF officials led by newly appointed Executive Director for Mongolia Hohyun Jang.

Shanghai's further opening-up attracts more foreign investors www.xinhuanet.com

SHANGHAI, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- At the forefront of China's opening-up drive, Shanghai is attracting more foreign investors with a spate of new measures in multiple sectors.

On July 10, authorities in Shanghai introduced a total of 100 new measures covering five areas, including the banking and securities sectors, in a bid to further expand the city's opening-up.

In less than a month, 74 of the 100 measures have gone into effect. The further opening-up is not only a choice of Shanghai, but also a showcase of China's determination to deepen reforms to embrace the world.

Since the central bank announced further opening up of the country's financial sector, Shanghai has rolled out 32 related measures to benefit many overseas banks, insurers and asset management firms.

ICBC-AXA Life, partly owned by French insurance giant AXA, has won regulatory approval to set up an asset management firm in Shanghai. Willis Insurance Brokers Co. and JLT Insurance Brokers. Co. have became the first two to benefit from business scope expansion.

A survey of Renminbi qualified foreign institutional investors by Standard Chartered Bank showed that investors are thinking when to make investment on the onshore market, rather than whether or not.

Many countries and regions along the Belt and Road are also issuing bonds on China's inter-bank bond market and the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

After increasing investment quotas for the Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect program, local authorities are making preparations to launch the Shanghai-London stock connect program within the year.

Shanghai's opening-up is also expanding into advanced manufacturing, and shipping and telecommunications sectors.

Also on July 10, U.S. carmaker Tesla Inc. announced that it will set up its first overseas plant in Shanghai, with a planned annual capacity of 500,000 electric cars.

With the largest foreign-invested manufacturing project, Tesla became the first to benefit from a new policy that allows foreign carmakers to set up wholly-owned subsidiaries in China.

Other foreign carmakers are also revving up expansion to get a larger share of the world's largest auto market.

In the aviation sector, Chinese and Russian engineers are working on the development of the CR929 wide-body passenger aircraft, a 280-seat jet with a range of 12,000 kilometers, in Shanghai.

Shanghai is scheduled to host the first China International Import Expo (CIIE), which signals a new round of China's high-level opening-up, from Nov. 5 to 10. Over 130 countries and regions and more than 2,800 companies have confirmed participation in the CIIE.

The country's financial and business center is also improving its business environment, including better protection of intellectual property rights and more efficient government services.

The efforts have yielded results. In the first half of the year, Shanghai's contractual foreign investment hit 21.5 billion U.S. dollars, up 18 percent year on year. Meanwhile, further 17 multinational firms set up regional headquarters in Shanghai, raising the total number to 642.

In addition, foreign-funded businesses in Shanghai saw revenues and profits up 10.3 percent and 17.6 percent, respectively, in the January-May period.

China's Didi to invest $1 billion in its auto services platform www.reuters.com

BEIJING (Reuters) - Didi Chuxing, China’s largest ride-hailing service, said on Monday it will invest $1 billion in its auto services business as part of a wider rebranding of the unit.

Russia Tasks Hollywood Actor Seagal With Improving Russia-U.S. Ties www.themoscowtimes.com

Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday it had made U.S. actor Steven Seagal its special representative for Russian-U.S. humanitarian ties, a role it said was meant to deepen cultural, art and youth ties between the two countries.

Mongolia Balance of Trade 1997-2018 www.tradingeconomics.com

Mongolia's trade surplus narrowed to USD 115.9 million in June of 2018 from USD 173.1 million in the same month of the previous year, as imports jumped 36 percent year-on-year to USD 580.3 million while exports grew at a softer 16.1 percent to USD 696.2 million. Considering the first six months of 2018, the trade surplus decreased 30.4 percent year-on-year to USD 822.2 million from USD 1181.3 million in the previous year. Imports soared 43.4 percent year-on-year to USD 2759.1 million, boosted by machinery & equipment & electrical appliances (44.2%); mineral products (34.9%); vehicles & parts (64.9%) and base metals & articles thereof (92.6%). Meantime, sales rose 15.3 percent to USD 3581.4 million, mostly driven by mineral products (18.5%); textiles & textile articles (16.3%) and live animals & animal’s origin products (94.6%). Balance of Trade in Mongolia averaged -7.81 USD Million from 1997 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 361.60 USD Million in December of 2016 and a record low of -369.80 USD Million in July of 2012

‘Khuvsgul Altan duulga" JSC to hold roadshow meeting for public www.mse.mn

‘Khuvsgul Altan Duulga’ JSC, a Tier 3 listed company, will hold a roadshow meeting for public on August 6, 2018 at the Blue Sky Hotel at 4 pm.

Mongolia Inflation Rate 2007-2018 www.tradingeconomics.com

Inflation rate in Mongolia went up to 7.2 percent year-on-year in June of 2018 from 6.1 percent in the previous month. It was the highest inflation rate since June of 2015, as prices advanced faster for food & non-alcoholic beverages (10.8 percent from 7.1 percent in May); housing & utilities (14.9 percent from 13.8 percent); furnishings & household equipment (6 percent from 5.9 percent); recreation & culture (6.4 percent from 3.9 percent); health (10.7 percent from 9.7 percent) and miscellaneous goods & services (5.3 percent from 4.8 percent); while inflation was steady for transport (4.9 percent, the same as in the preceding month). Contrarily, cost slowed for clothing & footwear (2.6 percent from 3.2 percent); restaurants & hotels (5.1 percent from 5.8 percent); alcoholic beverages & tobacco (8.2 percent from 8.4 percent) and fell further for communication (-1.2 percent from -1 percent). On a monthly basis, consumer prices increased 0.5 percent from 0.6 percent in May. Inflation Rate in Mongolia averaged 10.23 percent from 2007 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 34.20 percent in August of 2008 and a record low of -0.20 percent in August of 2016.

Belt and Road fuels Northern Territory's innovation hub in Australia www.chinadaily.com.cn

In Australia, the Northern Territory's Darwin Innovation Hub is taking an active role in sharing the benefits of China's Belt and Road Initiative, said Harley Paroulakis, the hub's founder and chief executive.

"We would like to attract one Chinese innovation company to a Northern Territory industry sector in the next 12 months. We are planning to visit China and work with Austrade to find a suitable Chinese innovation company," Paroulakis said.

Austrade is the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, which helps companies connect to overseas markets, among other duties.

Paroulakis and his team members have had preliminary meetings with groups like the Shandong Investment Group venture capital team and Nanjing Development Zone.

To establish the right networks in China to find the right and most relevant Chinese company for the Northern Territory is the most challenging part of this project, which takes time, Paroulakis said.

However, China's Belt and Road Initiative gives him great confidence and a lot of assistance to build an Asia-Pacific ecosystem linking Darwin and Northern Territory industry to the region, especially with China.

The Belt and Road Initiative can certainly help build confidence and direction in our deal flow between China and North Australia and help the innovation hub work with the right business in China, Paroulakis said.

Meanwhile, the innovation hub also will back a Northern Territory innovation company to set up in China by developing partnerships with Chinese companies in the innovation and investment sectors, potentially via a parallel venture capital funding agreement that focuses on Belt and Road innovation investments between China and Australia, according to Paroulakis.

"We plan to visit China and meet with companies with technologies in solar, agricultural tech, mining tech and other industries relevant to the Northern Territory. We want to attract one company in the next 12 months to China and one to Australia consistent with the BRI," Paroulakis said.

DIH has raised the first venture capital fund in the Northern Territory and also established the first incubator in partnership with the Northern Territory government and Charles Darwin University, which involved winning a national tender, with the Australian Government getting the whole country to compete for grand funding for the Incubator Support Program. It was a historical first for the Northern Territory to won it, said Paroulakis.

The Northern Territory is a unique place to take advantage of China's Belt and Road Initiative to deepen China-Australian relations, as the Oceania region is the "natural extension" of the Maritime Silk Road, said Cheng Jingye, the Chinese ambassador to Australia, in mid-July at a high-level conference on the Belt and Road Initiative in Australia, as reported by NT News.

Active interactions between Chinese and Australian businesses would lead to further exploration of possible cooperation between China and Australia under the Belt and Road framework, as local cooperation is an integral part and important basis of China-Australia relations, Cheng said, according to the report.

The Darwin Innovation Hub aims at building an Asia-Pacific ecosystem linking Darwin and Northern Territory industry to the region, especially with China, and it would be a privilege to be part of the process in which China is becoming a world leader and standard setter of innovation in the world, Paroulakis said.

Developing an eco-farm and training center in Mongolia www.idealist.org

Since 2000, volunteers from all over the world have been participating in summer programs designed to improve the vegetable farm at Buhug River. During the last years, we focused more on improving the facilities, and not much on the farming methods. The way it's been done, farming and cultivating was not really productive and eco-friendly. Farmers in the area also face the same challenges. Despite the hard work farmers put in, the crop yields are low.

Eco ger kindergarten campaign commences www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ Over 150 kindergartens are reportedly in need in the capital city and about 40 000 children are still unable to get early education. Inadequate access to kindergartens has an adverse impact on children’s development, future learning process and pose significant risks to children.