IFC helps Mongolia strengthen investment-climate reform and restore investor confidence www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today on July 19, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of Mongolia. The MoU aims to improve investment policies, promote economic diversification, enhance investor protection — thus inspiring investors’ confidence — and further attract and retain private investments.

The Cabinet Secretariat will lead the reform efforts in coordination with various government agencies. Over the next three years, the Government of Mongolia will design a coherent investment policy and launch a Systemic Investor Response Mechanism (SIRM) to deal with investors’ grievances in a systematic manner. It will also promote the country’s agribusiness sector to domestic and foreign investors. IFC will provide policy recommendations and implementation support.

“Investing in agribusiness will help diversify Mongolia’s mining-driven economy, thus creating more job opportunities,” said Munkhbat Jamiyan, Minister, Chief of the Cabinet Secretariat, Mongolia. “However, attracting new investments is not enough. We also need practical tools to protect investments, ensuring that the investors stay on in Mongolia and scale up investments.”

In 2016, Mongolia’s economic growth slowed down to one percent amid declining exports and foreign direct investments. However, starting from the first half of 2017, growth has increased to 4.2 percent. The Government of Mongolia is committed to working with international partners, including the World Bank Group, to achieve economic stability and recovery, underpinned by fiscal reforms and foreign direct investment. Multilaterals such as the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank are also committed to support Mongolia toward sustainable recovery and growth.

“Stable investment policies — including early mechanism to effectively address investors’ grievances — are crucial for Mongolia to attract and retain private investments, which are both essential for sustainable growth,” said Tuyen D. Nguyen, IFC Resident Representative for Mongolia. “With the Government of Mongolia’s full support, IFC will continue to help implement global best practices, supporting Mongolia’s long-term development objectives.”

The SIRM will offer investors a one-stop channel to register and track resolution of complaints at an early stage. This mechanism will assure investors that issues are handled efficiently and resolutions are ensured without fear of retribution. With financial support from the Hungarian government, it will also use information and communication technology to make the process efficient, accountable and result-oriented.

“Supporting Mongolia’s development has been an important part of Hungary’s Trust Fund Partnership with IFC,” said Ákos Madari, Ambassador of Hungary to Mongolia. “Following the successful collaboration on food safety, we are also helping Mongolia improve its water management and investment promotion policy. We do hope our support will enable the country to attract more foreign investments and improve investment climate.’

This project will be delivered by IFC advisory services through the Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice of the World Bank Group.

Retail price of gasoline to remain unchanged www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ During its regular session, the Government reached a decision to increase excise tax on diesel fuel and gasoline with 90 or more octane imported through Sukhbaatar, Zamiin-Uud and Altanbulag border crossings.

Daimler to recall 3 mil. diesel cars www.nhk.or.jp

Mercedes-Benz's parent company Daimler has decided to voluntarily recall more than 3 million Mercedes-Benz diesel cars that were sold in Europe.

National Emergency Management Agency collects USD 203,991 donation www.gogo.mn

Cabinet meeting in brief www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ During its regular meeting on July 18, Tuesday, the Cabinet made following decisions.
The Cabinet appointed D.Zandanbat as the acting Director of General Agency of Taxation. D.Zandanbat has worked in the field for many years, including on leading positions in the General Agency of Taxation and Taxation divisions of Sukhbaatar and Khan-Uul districts.
The Cabinet dismissed B.Bayarsaikhan from her post as Secretary of State at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports on the ground of failure to exercise a professional leadership over public servants and the education sector. 
The Cabinet banned export of fodder and hay because of drought and poor summer conditions in most parts of the country. Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry P.Sergelen was assigned to take measures for proper distribution of the fodder and hay that have been and will be garnered. 
Kh.Aminaa

Government to purchase 40 percent of Mongolia Telecom Company www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ During its regular meeting on July 18, Tuesday, the Cabinet resolved to purchase 40 percent of the shares of ‘Mongolia Telecom Company’.

Speaker Tadamori Oshima briefs Mongolian press www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan Tadamori Oshima briefed journalists on the outcome of his visit to Mongolia on July 18, Tuesday.

Mayor of Berlin Micheal Muller meets President Kh.Battulga www.gogo.mn

On July 18, the President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga welcomed Michael Muller, the Mayor of Berlin, the Federal Republic of Germany, who paid courtesy call on the President of Mongolia.

Mongolia, Japan seek to increase trade www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Mongolian Parliament Speaker Miyegombyn Enkhbold met with the speaker of Japan's House of Representatives, Tadamori Oshimahere, on Tuesday to discuss a number of issues, including Japanese financial assistance and expanding trade ties.
Enkhbold said that Mongolia was pleased that Japan decided to provide Mongolia with more favorable financial assistance under the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s Extended Fund Facility Program.
Enkhbold stressed the importance of closer cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries, assuring that the State Great Khural, Mongolia's parliament, will pay special attention to the implementation of a medium-term development program on Mongolia-Japan ties.
However, he noted that Mongolia and Japan should work to implement the Economic Partnership Agreement concluded between the two countries.
Over the past year, trade between Mongolia and Japan has grown significantly, and Mongolia will take necessary measures to eliminate double taxation to expand bilateral business cooperation, Enkhbold said.
Enkhbold also hoped Japan would pay more attention to a coal-chemical complex project in Mongolia.
Oshima said that Japan considered the expansion of bilateral cooperation with Mongolia a priority.
He stressed that, to further the development of trade and economic cooperation, both countries should consider eliminating double taxation, simplifying transportation procedures, and creating a fair, transparent and secure investment environment.

Mongolia: An unexpected bastion of democracy thanks to its youth www.theconversation.com

By some accounts, democracy is under pressure. Freedom House, the American think tank, entitled its 2017 report, “Populists and Autocrats: The Dual Threat to Global Democracy.”

As the events in the United States, Hungary and Turkey illustrate, populism has played a particularly prominent role in fears about the decline of democracy.

Mongolia, meantime, held two national elections in the past year, one just last month. Both demonstrated that despite the temptations of populism, the country continues to embrace democracy. That embrace requires the engagement of young democrats in Mongolia and around the world.

Kh Battulga, leader of the Mongolian Democratic Party, goes to cast his vote at polling station Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on June 26. The former artist and world champion in the martial art of sambo won the election. (AP Photo/Chadraabal Baramsai)
Some political transformations travel through geographic proximity or ‘contagion,’ even in an age of global communication. That holds true for democracy just as it does for the decline of democracy.

Proximity to the European Union reinforced democratic revolutions across eastern Europe in the 1990s. Pro-democracy revolutions in the Arab world spread from neighbour to neighbour. Setbacks to democracy in Thailand and recently, the Philippines, look like a regional pattern.

Exception to ‘contagion’ rule
Mongolia is an exception to such patterns since its democratic revolution in 1990. It has continued to build a democracy in a hostile region where its only neighbours are China and Russia, with North Korea and Kazakhstan just beyond those nations.

As populists, some with decidedly authoritarian tendencies, swept across the world’s democracies, there was a reasonable fear that Mongolia might fall victim to the temptation of anti-establishment rhetoric offering simple solutions to complex problems — the hallmarks of political populism.

In the aftermath of world-leading growth in 2011 on the back of investments in mining projects, Mongolia’s economic fortunes declined precipitously, requiring an IMF-led bailout earlier this spring. Mongolia’s dominant political parties have not developed ideological profiles, and are largely built around patronage.

Given the primacy of economic concerns in many elections and on Mongolians’ minds, it seemed an electorate ripe for the picking for populists.

In the 2016 parliamentary election, however, virtually all members of parliament who had built up a populist profile were defeated, even though the majoritarian election system should have given them an advantage.

Mongolians cast blank ballots in protest
In both the 2016 parliamentary election and the 2017 presidential election — the fifth election in Mongolia for which I served as an international monitor — voters shrugged off attempts by the respective ruling parties to buy their support.

In 2016, it was the surprise announcement by the Democratic Party (DP) that 49 per cent of the otherwise state-owned Erdenet Mine was sold by its Russian owners to Mongolian investors. In 2017, it was the equally surprising decision by the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP)-dominated parliament to reinstate child payments and distribute shares in Erdenet Mine.

No candidate received more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election on June 26, amid reports of widespread vote-buying. In the run-off that became necessary for the first time ever, voters revolted against two-party dominance by casting a “none-of-the-above” blank ballot.

The blank ballot option had only been created with revisions to the election law in 2015. More than eight per cent of the electorate submitted blank ballots — an apparent testament to their frustration with the candidates nominated by large parties.

But isn’t new President Battulga a populist?
Yes, of course, the DP’s candidate — Khaltmaa Battulga, who won the run-off with 50.6 per cent of the vote — is clearly a populist by the characteristics outlined above.

He’s not known for careful consideration of policy options, but instead for shoot-from-the-hip pronouncements. He parlays his sometimes odd projects — like the giant mounted statue of Chinggis Khaan just outside of the capital, Ulaanbaatar — into claims of business expertise. He certainly flirts with encouraging sinophobia. Battulga and his opponent also embraced patriotic symbolism in their campaign.

But these were not the reasons why he managed to win the election. Instead, many voters — beyond party stalwarts — elected Battulga to provide a counterweight to MPP dominance in parliament. This was a strategic choice to force a Mongolian version of cohabitation on the MPP-led government.

Building democracy from Mongolia
This overall rejection of populism speaks to the fact that while Mongolia may not have a long democratic history, it’s an evolving democracy that has popular support. More than a young democracy, it is a democracy that is carried by the young, as more than half of the population were born after the democratic revolution.

The biggest question for the fate of democracy, likely not just in Mongolia, is the engagement of a new generation of voters and democrats.

Will younger party members in Mongolia be able to force their parties to abandon a view of political office as an earning opportunity? Can they initiate discussions about an ideological positioning of their party, in part to give Mongolians a real voice in the future development of their country?

Some civil society activists will try to build on the success of the blank ballot movement as a basis for a new party aimed at redirecting political culture away from patronage to substantive debates. Along with any mobilization against corruption, that new party could transform democracy in Mongolia.

While Mongolians did not contract democracy from their neighbours, their political choices serve as an example to the other emerging democracies of Asia, like Myanmar and the Kyrgyz Republic. Mongolian voters turning away from populism could be a part of a global resurgence of democracy.