Mongolia Hosts Eighth International Mining and Oil Expo www.plenglish.com

Ulaanbaatar, Apr 4 (Prensa Latina) Mongolia's 8th International Mining and Oil Expo opened Wednesday at Buyant-Ukhaa sports complex, an event that showcases the latest technologies in the sector and seeks new investments.

Ambassadors with dual accreditation present credentials www.president.mn

Non-resident ambassadors of Nigeria, Spain, Iceland and Uzbekistan presented their letters of credence to the President of Mongolia, Mr. Khaltmaagiin Battulga on April 4th.

Mongolia established diplomatic ties with the Federal Republic of Nigeria on September 21st of 1971. Nigeria is the largest economy in southern Sahara.

The non-resident ambassador of Nigeria Baba Ahmad Jidda said “It has been 46 years since our two countries incepted diplomatic relations. Nigeria ranks at 1st in Africa and 6th in the world by oil production. Therefore, I think, Mongolia and Nigeria can cooperate on resource governance.”

President Battulga said Mongolia will be happy to learn practices of Nigeria which leads the world in oil exports.
Mongolia and the Kingdom of Spain established diplomatic ties on July 5th of 1977. Upon meeting the ambassador, Mr. Alberto Carnero Fernández, the President noted “When I had been working as the Minister for Agriculture, I visited your country and developed several agricultural projects in collaboration with Spanish specialists. A feasibility study was conducted on processing some 10 million pieces of hides using Spanish technologies and exporting the products,” and wished the Ambassador to attach importance to agricultural cooperation and seek opportunities to increase bilateral trade.

In response, Mr. Alberto Carnero Fernández thanked for the warm hospitality. He said “I will work actively to improve economic and commercial cooperation. I have met with several authorities on this matter. It is possible to cooperate in introducing Mongolia to Spanish technologies.”

Diplomatic ties were established with Iceland on June 4th of 1974. Within the scope of friendship and close cooperation, Iceland has been training Mongolian professionals in geothermal studies in the United Nations University (UNU) in Reykjavik, Iceland, on its own expense.

The Ambassador, Mr. Gunnar Snorri Gunnarsson said “Iceland has more than a hundred years of experience in exploiting its hotsprings, in other words, geothermal resources. It can probably be the most important aspect of cooperation between Iceland and Mongolia. Producing power using geothermal energy helped Iceland to become almost pollution-free. This is something that we can develop together.”

In response, President Battulga said “We are familiar with Iceland’s expertise in hotsprings and their management. There are about 300 hotsprings in temperatures from 40 to 98 degrees of Celsius in Mongolia. However, the management of hot springs hasn’t been developed adequately,” and wished the Ambassador to take initiative in exchanging practices and enhancing cooperation in this area.

After presenting his credentials, the Ambassador of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Mr. Bakhtiyor Saidov paid a courtesy call on the President of Mongolia, Mr. Khaltmaagiin Battulga. The Ambassador conveyed greetings of the President of Uzbekistan to the President of Mongolia, his family and the people of Mongolia. Noting that there are sufficient potential of enhancing bilateral cooperation, Mr. Saidov pledged to put maximum effort on improving cooperation. “Uzbekistan is interested in imports of processed and unprocessed meat products from Mongolia, and exports of dried fruit and other goods to Mongolia. This way, we can increased the bilateral trade turnover,” added the Ambassador.

President Battulga wished the Ambassador success in their works.

Innovation projects to receive grants www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Cabinet adopted a Procedure on Innovation Grant at its April 4 meeting.

Child Allowance to reach 80 percent of all children www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Cabinet decided to grant Child Allowance benefit to 80 percent of children aged 0-18, registered in the household database.

Turkish Prime Minister to visit Mongolia www.news.mn

Binali Yildirim, the Prime Minister of Turkey will make an official visit to Mongolia on 6-8 April, at the invitation of his counterpart U.Khurelsukh.

Exploration license bidding to commence this month www.gogo.mn

Open bidding for mineral exploration license grants to commence in April, according to Mineral Resources and Petroleum Agency of Mongolia. A total of 8.6 million hectares of area, approved by the resolution of the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry, have been discussed in each respective aimags and submitted to the Cabinet.

ADB agrees $207m deal with Mongolia www.publicfinanceinternational.org

The Asian Development Bank and the government of Mongolia have signed agreements worth $207m to help improve air quality, education and inclusiveness.

Sick Perth businessman in Mongolia jail hell appeals for aid from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop www.thewest.com.au

The family of a Perth businessman facing seven years in a Mongolian jail are looking to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to intervene as they fear he may not survive due to ill health.

Ambassador of UK to Mongolia presents Letter of credence www.president.mn

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to Mongolia, Mr. Philip Malone presented his credentials to the President of Mongolia, Mr. Khaltmaagiin Battulga on April 3rd.

US proposes tariffs on 1,300 Chinese goods www.cnn.com

The Trump administration on Tuesday published a list of about 1,300 Chinese exports that could be targeted for tariffs.

The United States plans to apply the tariffs to about $50 billion worth of goods to punish China for its theft of trade secrets, including software, patents and other technology. A 25% tariff would be applied to all the products, according to the US Trade Representative, a wing of the White House.

Many of the tariffs would target the Chinese aerospace, tech and machinery industries. Others would target medical equipment, medicine and educational material, such as bookbinding equipment.

In a statement, the Chinese embassy in the United States said that China "strongly condemns and firmly opposes" the proposed list.

"As the Chinese saying goes, it is only polite to reciprocate," the embassy said, adding that China intends to pursue the matter with the World Trade Organization and enact "corresponding measures of equal scale and strength against U.S. products."

The tariffs won't go into effect immediately. The administration will hold a public hearing for US businesses on May 15. Even after that, it's not clear when the tariffs would be applied.

China tariffs: Artificial teeth, flamethrowers and other things on the list

US business advocates said the administration diagnosed the problem with China correctly, but had the wrong remedy.

"The administration is rightly focused on restoring equity and fairness in our trade relationship with China. However, imposing taxes on products used daily by American consumers and job creators is not the way to achieve those ends," said Myron Brilliant, executive vice president of the US Chamber of Commerce, an advocacy group that has long been opposed to Trump's trade policy.

A lobbying group for US farmers pleaded with the administration not to go forward with the tariffs, fearing retaliation by China, one of the largest buyers of US crops.

"We continue to urge the administration to listen to farmers across rural America who can't afford new taxes on their exports," Max Baucus, a former Democratic senator from Montana and co-chairman of Farmers for Free Trade, said in a statement.

Related: China to US: We'll match your tariffs in 'scale' and 'intensity'

The list came hours after China's Foreign Ministry insisted it would respond with equal measure to any US tariffs. China said it has its own list of American exports that it will target if the United States goes through with its plan.

"We have been saying that China wouldn't start a trade war," a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in Beijing. "But we are not afraid of it, and we will resolutely fight to the end if someone insists on a war."

Leaders from both countries have been in talks for more than a week to try to make compromises and provide US companies more rights in China.

After a months-long investigation, the USTR concluded that China forces US tech companies that want to operate there to enter joint ventures with Chinese businesses and share their technology. Chinese firms often steal patents and software from the American firms, the investigation found.

Related: How much has the US lost from China's IP theft?

There is little dispute in the United States that China does not play by the rules when it comes to tech trade. The debate in Washington is about the best way to punish China without hurting American consumers.

The United States had promised that the proposed tariffs would hit Chinese tech, aerospace, communications and machinery. But the list released Tuesday includes some unexpected items, such as malaria test kits, hearing aids, defibrillators, flame throwers, syringes, artificial teeth and X-ray machine equipment.

The USTR also proposed tariffs on Chinese-made military rifles, shotguns and grenade launchers. Turbo jet engines and certain helicopters are among those slated in Chinese aerospace to be hit with a duty. Several drilling machines are on the list as well.

The Trump administration has already imposed a 25% tariff on imported steel and a 10% tariff on imported aluminum. Those tariffs apply to most countries, including China, though some have been exempted.

China responded to the metal tariffs with its own tariffs on $3 billion of US exports to China, including fruits, wine, nuts and pork.