Mongolian memory athletes share secrets of success www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's memory athletes have been very successful in international competitions in recent years, earning them the admiration of their fellow countrymen as well as international acclaim.

Xinhua has recently interviewed director of the Mongolian Intellectual Academy (MIA) Khandsuren Khatanbaatar and his student Enkhtuya Lkhagvadulam on secrets behind the success of Mongolia's national memory sports team.

The Mongolian team has won a total of 861 medals at 80 international competitions over the past eight years, according to the MIA.

And athlete Narmandakh Munkhshur was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the most playing cards memorized in an hour. She memorized 1,924 cards in an hour at the 2017 World Memory Championships held in Shenzhen, China, on Dec. 6-8.

The success of Mongolian memory athletes is related to many factors, said Khatanbaatar, who is known as the godfather of memory sports in Mongolia.

Observers say it can be attributed to the combination of talent and hard work.

"I have no doubt that success of our athletes is related to their IQ. Several IQ rankings have placed Mongolians in the top 10 nations," Khatanbaatar said.

He also mentioned approaches the athletes used to strengthen their concentration -- picturing themselves as world champions before every training and competition and using music alpha waves.

The MIA also contributes its due share to the success of the athletes.

"Success of our athletes is a result of good curriculum of the MIA that is suitable for characteristics of them," Khatanbaatar noted.

Established in 2010, the MIA has trained over 10,200 people in different mental sports.

Currently, the academy has five branches in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator and each one branch in five provinces, namely Selenge, Darkhan-Uul, Orkhon, Khuvsgul and Umnugovi.

The academy aims to open its branches in remaining 16 provinces of the country to further develop mind sports and increase access to its training program within 2019.

"I am confident that there are many children in the countryside who have hidden talents. So, we aim to open our academy's branches in all provinces of the country within next year," director of the MIA said.

"Memory sports are open to everybody. It is just a method and techniques that need to be learned," he said.

Lkhagvadulam, a 16-year-old girl, is one of the best memory athletes in Mongolia. She became the world memory champion in the junior category last year.

The teenager started as a memory athlete only about three years ago.

"Now, I am preparing to participate in the 27th World Memory Championship 2018 in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in December. I aim to defend my championship title and break my own world records," she said.

Currently, Mongolian athletes hold 14 out of 18 junior memory sports world records. 10 of them belong to Lkhagvadulam.

She set world records in 5 minutes binary and 10 minutes cards last year.

Mongolia may join talks on Korean Peninsula denuclearization: Russia www.newindianexpress.com

MOSCOW: Russia thinks it is possible that Mongolia might enter the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula denuclearization, comprising Russia, China, North and South Korea, the United States and Japan, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said in an interview with TASS.

Mongolia seeks support for eco-city during ASEM Summit www.zgm.mn

President of Mongolia Battulga Khaltmaa has attended the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit and held bilateral meetings with high-profile officials of ASEM members to seek support on upcoming projects including the new eco-city. At the opening of ASEM Summit, the President delivered a speech, highlighting the summit as a successful continuation of the Ulaanbaatar Summit in terms of its content, and addressed, “It has been widely comprehended and recognized that in the 21st century, every development aspect should be people-centered. Therefore, although it is important to develop mutually beneficial cooperation at all levels between Asia and Europe, I would like to emphasize the importance of promoting the people-to-people interactions and maintaining and developing the ASEM traditions that allow both cultural and business representatives to meet and develop their ties.” Later on during the first plenary session of ASEM Summit, the President stressed, “Mongolia strives to contribute to the activities and development of ASEM and on the other hand, we aim to intensify our cooperation with ASEM that has been significantly contributing to the implementation of our national development priorities.” After pointing out that Mongolia is planning to implement a number of projects within the framework of the Mongolia-Russia-China Economic Corridor program, such as conducting study on opportunities to build the natural gas pipeline from Russia to China through the Mongolian territory, and commencing the feasibility study for a Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, he promoted the North East Asian Supergrid project Mongolia initiated during the Eastern Economic Forum.

President Battulga spoke about Mongolia’s opportunity to enter the enormous market of neighboring China by using German technology to process materials of animal origin and noted that the establishment of a new eco-city is one of the most important steps towards resolving a challenge Ulaanbaatar faces. The Chancellor paid close attention to the President’s proposal on establishing an eco-city and decided to send Gunther Adler, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community, on a visit to Mongolia. Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her support for the project which aims to build a satellite eco-city near Ulaanbaatar based on designs of German architects and specialists.

Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban

President Battulga proposed and discussed some matters, including on building a film studio and a new eco-city in Mongolia, particularly about cooperating in urban water supply and establishing a museum for Attila. Mr. Viktor Orban suggested that the proposal can be discussed at a meeting of the two countries’ intergovernmental commission that will take place in Hungary next month.

Angela Merkel expresses support on German architecture eco-city project 
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway Erna Solberg

President Battulga took interest in Norway’s wealth fund and inquired into the possibility of learning from their experience and adopting in Mongolia, as well as Norwegian technologies in manufacturing products of animal origin. Ms. Erna Solberg briefed about the functions of the wealth fund and expressed readiness to share the experience with Mongolia.

Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc

Prime Minister of Vietnam spoke about the possibility of importing coal and main raw materials of textile products, including woolen threads and animal skin, from Mongolia and exporting sugar, coffee, vegetables, and fruits to Mongolia. Sides also exchanged views on the intensification of bilateral cooperation in all sectors.

Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland Leo Eric Varadkar

President Battulga emphasized the importance of processing its raw materials of animal-origin and manufacture value-added products, given the number of Mongolia’s livestock which is nearing 80 million, for Mongolia. Sides also touched upon the development of tourism industry in Ireland. President Battulga expressed Mongolia’s interest in learning from the tourism industry experiences of Ireland which receives around 16 million tourists annually.

President meets Norwegian Prime Minister on wealth fund experience www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On the sidelines of the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit, President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga met Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway Erna Solberg on October 19th.

Turquoise Hill announces third quarter 2018 production and provides underground development update www.gogo.mn

Turquoise Hill Resources (Turquoise Hill or the Company) today announced third quarter 2018 production for Oyu Tolgoi and provided an update on underground development. Ulf Quellmann, Chief Executive Officer of Turquoise Hill, said, “We continued to see the impact of higher gold grades during the third quarter as Oyu Tolgoi processed increasing amounts of Phase 4 ore. We are well positioned to meet the upper-end of our 2018 production guidance.

BoM calls to trade with neighbors in their national currency www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ At the time when Tugrug, Mongolian national currency weakened against the USD with 5.5 percent, but strengthened against CNY and RUB, the Bank of Mongolia (BoM) believes that Mongolia should trade with the neighbors in their national currency instead of USD.

Russian Defense Minister S.K.Shoigu pays visit to Mongolia www.montsame.mn

By the invitation of his Mongolian counterpart N.Enkhbold, Defense Minister of the Russian Federation, Army General S.Shoigu paid an official visit to Mongolia today on October 18. The delegation consisted of 14 officials and 12 press representatives including the Russian Deputy Minister of Defense and five generals.

Czech company to recieve workforce from Mongolia www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ As a result of the business meeting between Mongolia and the Czech Republic held during the ‘Expo Mongolia 2018’ international trade fair, entities of the two countries signed cooperation agreements.

Russia to expand military-technical cooperation with Mongolia www.tass.com

ULAN BATOR, October 18. /TASS/. Russia will expand military-technical cooperation with Mongolia, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.

Japan, North Korea intelligence officials held secret meeting in October in Mongolia www.japantimes.com

A top Japanese intelligence official close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had a secret meeting with North Korean counterparts in early October in Mongolia, sources familiar with bilateral ties said Thursday.

The meeting in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator could be consistent with Abe’s stated desire to arrange a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after he received assurances about progress on the long-standing issue of abductions of Japanese nationals by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s.

Among major countries dealing with the North Korean nuclear threat, Japan is the only one to have been kept at arm’s length since Kim began a string of diplomatic engagements this year. In addition to holding talks with Chinese, South Korean and U.S. leaders, Kim plans to hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin by the end of the year.

During his visit to Mongolia from around Oct. 6 to 8, Shigeru Kitamura, who heads Japan’s Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, met with North Korean officials, including a senior figure from the United Front Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea, according to the sources.

The department is an intelligence organ mainly focused on South Korean affairs.

Admitting that the meeting took place, a senior Japanese government official told Kyodo News that “I heard they discussed how the abduction issue should be solved between Japan and North Korea.”

It is believed that the contact between intelligence authorities representing Tokyo and Pyongyang is the first of its type in about three months.

Kitamura met with Kim Song Hye, head of the United Front Department’s tactical office, in Vietnam in mid-July.

The latest revelation sheds light on Abe’s increased reliance on behind-the-scenes communications with North Korea, using intelligence authorities rather than the Foreign Ministry.

His approach seems to be similar to that of U.S. President Donald Trump, who mainly employed the Central Intelligence Agency to set the stage for his first summit with the North Korean leader in Singapore in June.

Japan has sounded out North Korea about its plan to open a liaison office in Pyongyang in the hope of resolving the abduction issue, sources with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month.

Japan officially lists 17 nationals as having been abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s but alleges their involvement in many more disappearances. Five of the 17 were repatriated in 2002.

So far, it has been learned that Pyongyang, reversing an earlier claim, unofficially told Tokyo that one of the 17 abductees, Minoru Tanaka, had actually entered North Korea.

Kitamura, a former head of the National Police Agency’s intelligence department, might have discussed during the October meeting how to confirm the whereabouts of Tanaka and other abductees.

The Japanese government has publicly withheld information both about Tanaka’s entry into North Korea and the recent meeting in Mongolia.

Kitamura, seen as a trusted confidant of Abe, gathers and analyzes information on both domestic and international affairs and reports to the prime minister, who has said North Korea’s nuclear, missile and abduction issues should be resolved altogether.

The United Front Department is headed by Kim Yong Chol, a vice chairman of the ruling party who is a close aide to the North Korean leader. Kim Yong Chol visited the United States in May as the country’s highest-ranking official to do so in nearly two decades.