The meeting, held on the sidelines of an economic forum in the Russian Far East port city of Vladivostok, is the leaders’ first since Battulga was elected president in July. Mongolia has diplomatic ties with North Korea, while Japan does not.

Abe told Battulga that North Korea’s nuclear test Sunday, which followed the launch last week of a ballistic missile that flew over northern Japan, poses an “unprecedentedly grave and imminent threat” and is “totally unacceptable,” according to the Foreign Ministry.

Prime Minister Abe underlined the need to strengthen pressure on North Korea, the ministry said.

The leaders confirmed the importance of strictly and fully implementing U.N. Security Council resolutions, it said. The resolutions impose sanctions on North Korea and ban it from conducting nuclear tests and testing ballistic missiles.

They also agreed to seek early resolution of the issue of past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents. Tokyo expects Ulan Bator’s help in resolving the issue with the country having served as a venue for Japan-North Korea talks over the long-stalled agenda.

“I attach importance to Mongolia as a crucial partner in the region. I hope to promote our bilateral relationship,” Abe said at the start of the meeting, which was open to the media. Battulga said, “I want to contribute to the development of East Asia and the Far East.”

Resource-dependent Mongolia aims to cooperate with Japan on rebuilding and diversifying its economy with a focus on agriculture, manufacturing and pollution control, based on a new medium-term action plan formulated in March.

Mongolia needs to implement fiscal reforms under an International Monetary Fund rescue program after its economy was hit by falls in commodity prices and a slowdown in the Chinese economy, according to the ministry.

Battulga thanked Abe for Japan’s support in developing the Mongolian economy under the IMF rescue program, the ministry said.

The Mongolian leader also told Abe that he has picked Dolgorsuren Dagvadorj, the former sumo grand champion Asashoryu, as his special envoy to promote cooperative ties with Japan.

Abe is on a two-day trip to Vladivostok, during which he will also meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Centerra's press release came after details of the proposed agreement contained in a government statement to a parliamentary committee, appeared in the Kyrgyz media. The proposed settlement agreement would end mutual lawsuits and calls on Toronto-based Centerra to pay $50m to a so-called Nature Development Fund and increase annual contributions to the fund to $3m from $300,000 before. A cancer care support fund set up by the government will receive a further $10m from the company.

Centerra will also invest $6m annually in a Kumtor reclamation fund based inside the country to a minimum of $69m. That figure matches the company's own estimate of the site's total rehabilitation costs.

Centerra cautioned however that the terms are still to be finalized and that its board has not yet formally approved a deal. The Kyrgyz government owns just under a third of Kumtor and the mine contributes nearly 10% of the country's GDP.

The miner, the largest Western-based gold producer in Central Asia, successfully sought international arbitration in May last year, following the Kyrgyz Republic’s string of penalties, fines, accusations of environmental damage and violation of business deals.

Last year a Kyrgyz court ordered Centerra's local subsidiary, Kumtor Gold Company (KGC), to pay about $98m in fines related to mine waste while another government body filed a $230m lawsuit against the firm.

Kumtor, which lies near the Chinese border at an altitude of 4,000 metres, has produced around 11m ounces since inception and remaining reserves are pegged at 5.6m ounces. In November Centerra said it was increasing its gold output guidance for the mine to 525,000 to 555,000 ounces and lowering all-in sustaining cost forecast to $751 – $795 per ounce.

Centerra has been shopping for assets in safer jurisdictions and last year acquired US-based Thompson Creek Metals (TSX:TCM), picking up the Mount Milligan copper-gold mine in British Columbia, Canada, in a $1.1 billion deal.

Shares in Centerra were trading up 8.2% early afternoon in Toronto after a halt on the stock was lifted. The company is worth $2.3 billion on the TSX and is sporting gains of more than 30% so far in 2017.

Abe arrived in the city by government plane on Wednesday for the Eastern Economic Forum. It brings together government and business officials from Asia-Pacific nations.

Abe met with Battulga at a university on Russky island. The Mongolian leader took office in July.

Abe said he believes President Battulga is familiar with Japanese culture as he was informed the president has a black belt in judo. He said he hopes to work with Mongolia to develop bilateral ties.

Abe regards the country as an important regional partner.

The Japanese leader will meet separately South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday morning and Russian President Vladimir Putin later in the day on the sidelines of the economic forum.

Abe plans to reaffirm with Moon that their countries will work together so that the UN Security Council can adopt a new sanctions resolution against North Korea for its latest nuclear test.

The prime minister will ask Putin to play a constructive role as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Abe hopes the international community will work together to boost pressure on North Korea.

The 2 are also expected to discuss planned joint economic activities on 4 Russian-held islands claimed by Japan.

Ksenia Mikhailichenko, attorney for a group of stewardesses, told RBC that the court had recognized Aeroflot's requirement banning employment by women who wore large sizes as 'unenforceable'.

Moscow City Court also obliged Aeroflot to pay 5,000 rubles ($87) as well as back pay bonuses to Yevgenia Magurina, a flight attendant who had originally filed a discrimination suit against the airline.

Aeroflot said it was happy with the court decision, noting that the company did not discriminate against employees on the bases of age, gender, race or other attributes.

Magurina and a group of other Aeroflot employees unsuccessfully sued Aeroflot earlier this year after they said company officials told them in 2016 that "only young and slender' women could be employed by the airline and that those with a size larger than 48 (XL) would not be allowed on international flights.

At the time of the fall, it appears the young Korean was doing work on the scaffolding.

Officials from the Police Department and General Agency for Specialised Inspection are on the scene investigating.

Organized by the Governor’s Office of Ulaanbaatar and the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI), the upcoming event will be attended by over 70 enterprises from six countries including, Mongolia, Russia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Czech Republic to advertize their over 120 kinds of products, said P.Ankhtuya, MNCCI Chair of Marketing Department.

"Any production and service business requires cooperation with many entities, such as purchasing and distribution of packaging, machines and equipment. During the exhibition, companies will have opportunities to get partner and hold talks on cooperation with other companies” she said. 

Exhibitors will offer discounts and promotions on their products. The best eco-friendly and healthy products will be selected and rewarded with awards from the capital city's Governor.

Taiwanese companies will introduce medical and electrical equipment, food product, cosmetics and wood processing equipment, while Czech companies will present their milk processing and dairy equipment. Also Hong Kong companies will promote their sale of pearls and jewellery, and Russian companies will bring honey and food products. National companies will take part with construction materials, medicine, cosmetics, cashmere and wool products, handcrafts and food products.

Copper touched $3.1785 a pound ($7,007 per tonne) in morning trade, the highest since September 2014. Copper is now up by more than 50% compared to this time last year.

The world's number one producer, Chile's Codelco, on Tuesday said first half production from its eight copper operations fell by 5.3% to 798kt from 843kt during the first six months of 2016. Falling grades were blamed for the decline which also added to the state-owned company's cash costs which went from $1.275 to $1.317 per pound of copper.

Despite the loss of output, the state-owned company announced profits just topping $1 billion during the period compared to a $97m loss in 2016 thanks to the recovery in the copper price. The company is pushing ahead with a $1.2 billion desalination plant for its mines in the Atacama desert of the South American nation.

Last week Codelco's chairman joined the chorus expressing doubts about the sustainability of the recent rally in the price:

"I'm a little skeptical…in the short-term," Oscar Landerretche said a mining conference in Chilean capital Santiago. "It's true that all of the fundamentals are good in the medium- and long-term…but I would be very cautious."
Codelco produced over 1.8m tonnes of the red metal for the full year 2016, which was also lower than the year before.