On the first stage, wireless and landline internet service became accessible in 118 remote soums and on the second stage, wireless internet network was established in 136 soums, providing soum residents with inexpensive internet service. During the third stage, the project launched today is connecting some 80 soums and settlements with wireless internet. Therefore, now 21 aimags and 285 soums are having a wireless broadband internet connection.

PM J.Erdenbat delivered speech at the opening ceremony. “- Every Mongolian citizen has a right to receive services and information of state organizations transparently, promptly and independently on location and time, gaining access to the most reliable and universal communication service. We are working with an aim to make state service equally accessible and inclusive, reaching for citizens of remote soum, settlements and the countryside, changing the current situation that citizens move to bigger settlements to receive state services. We are launching a project to newly connect 73 soums with wireless and landline internet in 2017 within ‘E-soum” project. The project will give benefits to over 800 thousand people in remote soums and settlements and it is essential to improve their involvement of state policy development, access of state services as well as to make state organizations operate transparently and without bureaucracy ” PM said.

Executive Director of “Mongolia Telecom” company M.Altan-Ochir said “ – Internet connection becomes available in all over the soum center territory. State organizations of soums including Citizens representative meeting, governor’s office, hospital, police, kindergarten and schools are connected to internet. Moreover people can use any device to be connected to internet. A total of MNT2.5 billion was spent for it. Our company also made some funding for it. We are in charge of the internet operation and services further”.
“Mongolia Telecom” company is now working on introducing ‘E-soum’ application for administrative organization of soums to establish interior network between organizations, distribute information promptly and to make state service accessible to citizens through internet.

Mongolia has taken significant action in improving air traffic management infrastructure, through continued implementation of Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) routes.

Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) use PBN technologies to allow aircraft to travel as quickly and safely as possible, optimizing efficiency and reducing aviation’s carbon footprint.

IATA’s initial estimates show that Mongolia’s actions in implementing PBN routes have resulted in annual reductions of 240,000 nautical miles, 24,000 flight minutes, and 2,250 tons of fuel burn, compared to the previous infrastructure.

In a statement, IATA said it was "eager to continue its valuable collaboration with Mongolia, striving to continue to improve the efficiencies of the flights operating in the region—via Mongolia—most of which are long haul."

The Second Energy Sector Project was approved by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors last week, and will provide $54.4 million to address bottlenecks in Mongolia’s electricity supply by upgrading ageing assets and expanding distribution capacity.

Obsolete and inefficient distribution networks have led to significant distribution losses, which are as much as 25 per cent in many networks.

The World Bank detailed that regional distribution systems have reached their capacity limit and are in critical need of renovation and expansion.

The project will finance efforts to upgrade and expand the capacity of power distribution infrastructure in the Baganuur-Southeast and the Erdenet-Bulgan distribution network – which provide electricity to nine of Mongolia’s 21 provinces.

The project will also support the development of renewable energy through the installation of the nation’s first large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) 10 megawatt (MW) power plant outside the Central Energy System.

The solar energy plant will generate affordable and clean energy to the country’s western region, which currently imports 70 per cent of its power supply.

The project will be funded by a $42 million loan on concessional terms from the World Bank’s International Development Association and a $12.4 million grant from the Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Program under the Strategic Climate Fund.

James Anderson, World Bank Country Manager for Mongolia, said: “More reliable access to electricity will improve the lives of families and help businesses thrive. The World Bank is committed to continuing our partnership with Mongolia to strengthen the power sector and explore options for renewable energy to help the country pursue sustainable development.”

Peter Johansen, senior energy specialist of the World Bank, said: “We are encouraged by the government’s target to increase the share of renewables to 30 per cent by 2030. With its abundant solar and wind power resources, the country is now considering to more effectively and efficiently incentivize renewable energy investment to fully use its potential.”

Throughout the visit, the minister highlighted the UK is a significant economic and export partner for Mongolia. The UK is one of the largest investors in Mongolia in sectors ranging from mining and building infrastructure to financial services. Exports from the UK to Mongolia include a diverse variety of products.

During his visit, the minister met the Foreign Minister, H.E. Munkh-Orgil Tsend, Vice Minister of Road and Transport Development, H.E. Tsogtgerel Batchuluun. Discussions were held on many matters, including:

ways to further strengthen the bilateral trading relationship
exploring areas to maximise future opportunities for UK and Mongolian businesses
He also opened the securities trading session at the Mongolian Stock Exchange.

“During the drilling of the Tsentralno-Olginskaya-1 well from the shore of the Khara-Tumus Peninsula on the shelf of the Khatanga Bay of the Laptev Sea, three core samples were taken from depths of 2305 to 2363 m, which showed high oil saturation dominated with light oily fractions,” the company said in a statement.

The potential of the newly-discovered deposit has yet to be verified, the company said.

“On the basis of primary studies, it can be concluded a new oil field has been discovered, the volume of the resource potential of which is increasing as the drilling continues. Core sampling continues at the moment,” a statement from Rosneft said.

Russian Minister of Natural Resources Sergey Donskoy congratulated the company on the discovery and said this could be the largest oil deposit in the Russian Arctic.

"Now we expect more discoveries from our colleagues. They promise to cheer up the sector soon," Donskoy posted on Facebook.

Russia’s largest private oil company – Lukoil – is also operating in Khatanga. Lukoil has been developing the Eastern Taimyr sector. The area’s coastal resources are estimated at 4.5 million tons of oil, 9.3 billion cubic meters of gas and 0.5 million tons of condensate.

PM J.Erdenebat opened the summit with a speech and said “Foreign trade turnover of Mongolia steadily increased to USD 8.3 billion in 2016, while reached USD 4 billion in the first quarter of this year. Around 80 percent of the total exports consists of mining products. The Government is aiming to create multi-pillared economy by diversifying export products and manufacturing final products from the agricultural raw materials”.

After discussing the Economic Corridor program agreement, which was signed between Mongolia, China and Russia, PM J.Erdenebat noted “We perceive that an opportunity for increasing transit shipments and trades exists in Mongolia. Therefore, Mongolia is interested in cooperating with Russia, China and other countries in the region to increase rail freight transports, create power grid and develop pipeline transport. Also, the positive outlook of the Mongolian mid-term macro economy can be observed from the reports of international banks, financial institutions and experts. Therefore, we encourage foreign investors to invest in Mongolia”.

Within the framework of the summit, several world-leading companies, such as The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and SoftBank Group, are attending to present cooperation opportunities. Accordingly, Shigeki Miwa, General Manager of SoftBank's CEO Office, delivered a presentation on Asian Super Grid and highlighted the possibilities of joining the project.
B.Tugsbilig

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by MP N.Tserenbat, local officials led by Governor of Uvs aimag D.Batsaikhan and representatives of local residents and herders.

The construction of the factory is expected to continue for 11 months in total. Once the operation starts, around 40-50 big and 120-150 small livestock animals will be processed through a single shift, producing thousand tons of livestock meat and 6 hundred tons of raw and pre-cooked meat products annually.

The current issue for the company is to establish a pre-contract with herders to register cattle with livestock branding, bar code systems and conduct preventive maintenance in order to provide healthy food to the consumers.

Secondly, the company is aiming to manufacture and export frozen meats, variety of sausages, meat products, meat preserves and offal products with HACCP and ISO standards. Furthermore, the factory is expected to create 70-80 jobs once the operation begins.
Source: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry
B.Tugsbilig

Iskander Azzizov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Mongolia said that Russia and Mongolia reached an agreement to upgrade the Ulaanbaatar Railway Joint Venture Company.
Haiming Xing, Ambassador of People`s Republic of China to Mongolia emphasized "There are six economic corridors between Mongolia and China. China is ready to invest in order to develop those corridors.
Og Song, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Mongolia stated that "Korea and Mongolia are discussing to establish Economic Partnership Agreement and I hope that it will enable Korean investors to turn their attentions to Mongolia. However, we must remember that stable policy is very significant.
Moreover, a technological fund of Korea and Japan agreed to invest in Mongolia. A meeting of the fund was held in Tokyo and the next meeting is planned to be held in Ulaanbaatar on 18-19th of July, involving delegations of major technological companies of the two countries; namely Hyundai, Samsung and Mitsubishi etc". 
 Heads of Russia, Mongolia and Chine agreed to implement 32 projects in scope of the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic corridor. Due to high number of projects, there is a necessity to choose the essential six projects that are needed to be implemented in near future. V.Enkhbold, Director of Foreign trade and Economic Cooperation Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that Mongolia chosen the priority six projects and submitted the proposal. 
The next meeting of Presidents of Russia, China and Mongolia is scheduled to take place in Ulaanbaatar city and the new President of Mongolia will attend. Panelists noted that the President T.Elbegdorj played a key role in establishing the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic corridor.

Electricity connection from Khatgal village to Toilogt allows 73 tourist camps and 110 ger camps surrounding the lake and local households access to electricity supply and following benefits including comfortable toilet and hot shower, internet access and new jobs. New electricity lines continue up to 40 km, reaching the most remote tourist camp.

Construction work costs MNT1.6 billion and three companies, namely, Infrastructure, Selena and Plus and Minus have executed the work.

B.Ooluun