In March, Erdenes TT registered Mongolian citizens, born before 2011, who now own its 1072 shares. According to the 2009 Human Development Fund Law, the company distributed its shares to all citizens.

According to plan, the company will trade its 20 percent of its shares internationally. Currently, Erdenes Mongol LLC owns 65 percent of shares of Erdenes TT, 14.5 percent is owned by Mongolian citizens and 0.05 percent by private enterprises.

Erdenes TT will start paying dividends to its shareholders from 2019.

At the meeting, Mr Trutnev promised that Russia will support Mongolia in signing the free trade agreement (FTA) with the Eurasian Economic Union. In return, Mongolian Deputy Prime Minister U.Enkhtuvshin proposed to increase the volume of exports to Russia, in particular meat products, leather, cashmere and wool. Mongolia is keen to attract more business investment from Russia.

It is hoped that today's roundtable with representatives from the Russian Far East will be the first of many.

The Barcelona and Argentina striker fought a seven-year fight to be able to use his name on sports goods.

His original application was challenged by the Spanish cycling brand, Massi, which argued that the names were too similar and would cause confusion.

But the EU's General Court ruled that the footballer was too well known for confusion to arise.

The ruling comes days after France Football magazine reported Mr Messi had overtaken Cristiano Ronaldo as the highest earner in football, with an income of €126m (£108m).

Mr Ronaldo is making €94m, the magazine said.

'Fame'
Mr Messi's application to trademark his name was made to the European Union Office for Intellectual Property (EUIPO) in 2011.

It ruled against the footballer, saying the names were similar, because their dominant elements, "consisting of the terms 'Massi' and 'Messi', are almost identical visually and phonetically".

EUIPO said that only some people would be aware the two were different.

But the General Court, the EU's second highest court, disagreed.

It said on Thursday: "The football player's fame counteracts the visual and phonetic similarities" with Massi.

"Mr Messi is, in fact, a well-known public figure who can be seen on television and who is regularly discussed on television or on the radio," the court said.

Widely considered one of the world's greatest soccer players, Mr Messi, 30, scored his 600th professional goal last month and is the all-time highest scorer for both Barcelona and Argentina's national team.

In his opening speech, Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia U.Enkhtuvshin expressed his commitment to give all-round support to deepen collaboration between all levels of institutes of the two countries, as a head of Mongolian side to the Mongolia-Russia Intergovernmental Commission.

During the business meeting, Russian officials provided information and answered to questions by Mongolian businessmen, who are interested in exporting goods to Russian market, especially the Far East.

Deputy PM U.Enkhtuvshin also informed Mongolian and Russian businessmen that Russia’s Trade Representative Office in Mongolia, Development Bank of Mongolia and the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry will co-organize the meetings namely, ‘Mongolia-Russia cooperation in investment and financial market’ and ‘Cooperation of Mongolia-Russia frontier provinces’ next month.

M.Unurzul

The Mongolian Expeditionary Task Force Seven has arrived at the New Kabul Compound and relieved Mongolian Expeditionary Task Force Six, following the latter's successful six-month deployment. During the hand-over ceremony, U.K. Army Brigadier Simon Humphrey, who is the Kabul Security Force commander highlighted the crucial importance of Mongolia’s participation.

Although the Kabul Security Force is officially comprised of six nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Finland and New Zealand, Mongolia is a key contributor.

Mongolia began to contribute troops in 2010 when it deployed an infantry platoon to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Regional Command-North. In addition to the Mongolian Expeditionary Task Force, its current contributions to the Resolute Support mission include infantry, artillery and air mentors, and trainers to the Afghan security forces.

“Drawing further attention to the group was the fact that more than 60 million shares were traded compared with average daily trading volumes of 2.5 million shares in March,” reported Proactive-Investors.

David Paull, CEO of Aspire Mining, previously informed that the management expects to have a feasibility study of Nuurstei project completed by the end of the second quarter of 2018, which will provide a significant insight into the project’s economic viability. “The market for coking coal remains robust with historically healthy pricing of hard coking coal of the quality that we expect Nuurstei can produce,” remarked Mr. David Paull.

The company will soon be transporting minerals directly onto rail for delivery to markets including People’s Republic of China (PRC), Russian Federation, Eastern Europe and North Asian countries. For instance, the company signed several documents and MoU with PRC during Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa’s visit to PRC. This includes an MoU with China Gezhouba Group on investment and cooperation, which includes to complete the feasibility of Erdenet- Ovoot railway within May.

Tugsbilig.B

The Treasury said on Monday that “RUSAL has felt the impact of US sanctions because of its entanglement with Oleg Deripaska,” adding that the “US government is not targeting the hardworking people who depend on RUSAL and its subsidiaries.”

“It will really result in huge damage to Europe if this is not resolved,” said Rob van Gils, chief executive officer of Hammerer Aluminum Industries GmbH, as quoted by Bloomberg.

"It will probably result in more damage to Europe than it will to Mr Putin," he said this week at an aluminum conference in London.

The US actions this week have strengthened Deripaska's confidence that he can retain control over the company, Bloomberg writes, noting that RUSAL has been trying to bypass the sanctions and find new ways for delivery and alternative customers.

The MISI survey in China is based on the responses of 1,000 online interviews conducted from Jan 8 to Feb 20. Respondents are middle class to affluent investors, 25 years or older who are the primary decision makers for financial matters in the household and have investment products.

Chinese investors' overall positive sentiment increased to 40 points this year, compared to 33 points in 2017, according to the survey. The reasons behind the investors' sunny outlook include their belief in new opportunities brought out by China's economic reform, on top of a positive forecast for the global economy.

The 2018 MISI data also showed Chinese investors' positive opinion of property went up 15 points to 32, while that for cash jumped 10 points to 38, and fixed income rose 6 points to 54. Bullishness for equity increased marginally, due to a volatile stock market earlier this year.

In general, Chinese investors expecting a total investment return climbed to 8.8 percent in 2018, up 1 percentage point from the previous year, according to the survey.

Andrew Wang, chief investment officer of Manulife TEDA Fund Management Co Ltd, said the company is cautiously optimistic toward the Chinese equity market, underpinned by China's resilient economy, solid growth and moderate inflation.

"We are also seeing positive reforms in the financial industry to achieve deleveraging as well as increase financial transparency, which will be beneficial for the banking sector," he said.

The index also showed insurance products make up 11 percent of the Chinese people's investment portfolio on average this year, slightly up from 2017 — a 1 percent increase. In addition, the number of investors with insurance saving plans rose 5 percent, reaching 50 percent. The number of interviewees who have bought personal health or medical insurance policies went up 8 percent, hitting 46 percent.

Zhang Kai, chief executive officer of Manulife-Sinochem, said Chinese investors are putting more emphasis on insurance products, given their protective value in one's overall financial plan.

The agreements were signed by Batkhuu Idesh, Director General of the Development Financing Department of the Ministry of Finance, and Yolanda Fernandez Lommen, ADB Country Director for Mongolia, at a ceremony in Ulaanbaatar. First Secretary Hiroshi Fukasawa from the Embassy of Japan in Mongolia witnessed the event. Representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Ministry of Construction and Urban Development also participated.

“Mongolia’s future development rests heavily on how it manages its resources and achieve sustainable development driven by a multisector economy and ecological balance,” said Ms. Fernandez Lommen. "Both projects are aligned with ADB’s Country Partnership Strategy for Mongolia, which supports the government’s efforts to foster inclusive growth, improve people’s access to services, and strengthen environmental sustainability.”

The USD1 million water governance TA grant aims to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of investments in the water sector and infrastructure in the country to provide socioeconomic benefits. The project will assess the current status of water governance standards, provide policy recommendations for legislative and institutional reforms, and develop and update management plans for river basins. It will strengthen and build capacity among government agencies, and assess the potential scale-up and replication of water security approaches for river basins.

The regional development TA grant for the aimag and soum centers is worth $1.5 million. It will help the government develop an investment program to improve basic urban services and promote the local economy in selected aimag capitals and soum centers. The program will focus on regional urban clusters that have the potential to build a more resilient and diversified economy to deliver inclusive and sustainable growth. The TA will support the preparation of the investment program, such as the formulation of economic and urban development strategies, feasibility studies, and measures that will enhance aid effectiveness and project readiness.

The two projects are funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction. Over the past 19 years, the fund has supported projects in Mongolia in poverty alleviation, community development, improving livelihoods, and safeguarding the environment.
Source:ADB

G.Tuguldur