West coast of Khuvsgul lake will be connected to central electricity power www.gogo.mn

MP L.Munkhbaatar submitted a proposal to State Great Khural to supply electric power in West coast of Khuvsgul lake. The Parliament discussed the issue and set to connect Western coast users to the central electric power by 15th of June within the framework of works to improve the infrastructure in Western par of the Khuvsgul lake tourism zones. 
According to the action plan of the Parliament, the Government was obliged to support the establishment of historical and specialized tourism complex which is based on scenic and unique landscapes of Khuvsgul lake through its policies. 
In scope of the policy, the Government planned to construct wastewater treatment facility in the west coast of the Khuvsgul lake and conducted its feasibility study. 
 At first stage, over 80 tourist camps and nearly 200 users living on the Western coast of the lake will be connected to all-year-round power. 
More than 60 thousand tourists visit the Khuvsgul lake per year and the power supply is expected to increase the number, says Khuvdgul aimag authorities.

Prime Minister presents government's actions in light industry www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ During the Parliament’s plenary session held on May 26, Prime Minister J.Erdenebat presented the Government’s activities towards developing light industry.

Greece, Italy tensions hit euro, Asian stocks, lift yen, gold www.reuters.com

By Nichola Saminather | SINGAPORE
Concerns about a Greek bailout, early Italian elections and comments by the European Central Bank chief about the need for continued stimulus all kept the euro under pressure on Tuesday.

European geopolitical fears sapped risk appetite, weighing on Asian stocks and lifting safe havens including the yen and gold, though trading was thin with several markets closed for holidays.

The euro EUR=EBS slid 0.3 percent to $1.1129 in its fourth session of declines.

James Woods, global investment analyst at Rivkin Securities in Sydney, attributed most of the currency's decline on Tuesday to a German press report saying Athens may opt out of its next bailout payment if creditors cannot strike a debt relief deal.

"The bailout payments are necessary to meet existing debt repayments due in July, so if Greece were to forgo this bailout payment the probability of a default would spike, reopening the discussion around a Grexit from the Euro zone," Woods said.

However, he cautioned against reading "too much into it" without more details or confirmation, adding it was unlikely Greece would forego the bailout payment at this stage.

Euro zone finance ministers failed to agree with the International Monetary Fund on Greek debt relief or to release new loans to Athens last week, but did come close enough to aim to do both at their June meeting.

Comments by former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Sunday in favor of holding an election at the same time as Germany's in September also pulled the euro lower.

So did a statement by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi reiterating the need for "substantial" stimulus given subdued inflation.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.25 percent with U.S. and British markets closed on Monday.

China, Hong Kong and Taiwan markets are closed for holidays on Tuesday.

Japan's Nikkei .N225 dropped 0.3 percent, dragged down by a stronger yen.

South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 fell 0.5 percent as investors took profits following the market's record-breaking rally this month.

European blue-chip stocks .STOXXE fell 0.2 percent on Monday, with Italy's banking index sliding 3.4 percent, its biggest loss in nearly four months, after two lenders sought help to cover a capital shortfall.

Sterling GBP= retreated 0.15 percent to $1.2818 after British Prime Minister Theresa May's lead over the opposition Labour Party dropped to 6 percentage points in the latest poll to show a tightening race since the Manchester bombing and a U-turn over social care plans.

The dollar declined 0.4 percent to 110.815 yen JPY=.

The dollar index .DXY, which tracks the greenback against a basket of trade-weighted peers, however, advanced 0.2 percent to 97.659.

Markets are also awaiting economic indicators including French first quarter gross domestic product, German inflation data for May, and U.S. inflation for April later in the session.

In commodities, oil prices retreated, as concerns lingered about whether the extension of output cuts by OPEC and other producing countries will be enough to support prices.

U.S. crude futures CLc1 slipped about 0.1 percent to $49.77 a barrel.

Global benchmark Brent LCOc1 fell 0.4 percent to $52.09.

Gold XAU= advanced 0.1 percent to $1,268.34 an ounce.

China's coal-rich Shanxi province to halt or slow mines construction until 2020 www.mining.com

China's Shanxi province, the country's top coal producer, has decided to suspend or hold back the development of mines until 2020, which effectively will take out of the market about of 120 million tonnes of the fossil fuel.

Influential emerging market investor is iron ore price bull www.mining.com

With Chinese and US traders on a break, the iron ore market took a breather on Monday after wild price swings saw the steelmaking raw material fall to a more than seven-month low on Friday.

National currency rate strengthened amid foreign exchange reserves increase www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Mongolian national currency rate against US dollar has been tightened in the last several days. According to the Bank of Mongolia, today, May 29, buy rate of one USD equals to MNT2395, and sell rate equals to MNT2406.50 on the interbank foreign exchange platform. A few days ago, for example on May 25, buy rate was MNT2405 and sell rate was MNT2411.

First ever project to target financial consumer protection underway www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Asian Development Bank established a memorandum of understanding with Bank of Mongolia on realizing financial consumer protection sub-component of Supporting Financial sector development and stability of Mongolia project. Within the project, a study on financial consumer protection was carried-out and a recommendation was released. The Bank of Mongolia organized a national consultation meeting ‘Current regulations and legal situation of financial consumer protection and recommendation on improvement’, where the recommendation was introduced. The recommendation indicated the necessity of having financial consumer protection regulations, forming audit structure, supervise and reporting.

Parliament reviews basic guidelines for 2018 socio-economic development www.theubpost.mn

During Thursday’s session of Parliament, MPs debated the operations of state-owned companies, health, and environmental projects.

Fitch: Mongolia's IMF Programme Staves Off Financing Risks www.reuters.com

Uvurkhangai aimag to establish meat factory jointly with Chinese and US companies www.montsame.mn

Uvurkhangai /MONTSAME/ Uvurkhangai aimag is going to establish a meat processing factory jointly with Hai Chuan Group of Guizhou province, China and Jarves Mongolia Company of USA. During Prime Minister J.Erdnebat's visit to China, Governor of Uvurkhangai aimag G.Ganbold signed a memorandum with the parties on establishing the factory and supplying its product to international markets. Governor G.Ganbold was interviewed on the matter.

-Why China has been chosen to collaborate and how is the work going?

Uvurkhangai aimag used to maintain cooperation with foreign countries in culture, health and tourism sectors. Therefore, the Governor’s action plan in 2016-2020 indicated to bring more economic activities in foreign relations, making beneficial to the aimag. China is the closest country, with which business could be profitable. We established relations with Guizhou province and put forward a request to support the aimag on establishing the meat processing factory and increasing green space. Guizhou province' authorities connected us with four of the largest meat factories, one of which was Hai Chuan group.

The group has a leading position in meat processing and production on the Chinese market. Jarvis Mongolia of USA is a company which supplies 85 per cent of global meat processing machinery and has built over 1000 meat factories in China in the last few years.

Hai Chuan Group and Jarvis Mongolia have a cooperation for a long period and we previously had talks with ‘Jarvis Mongolia’ Company about having a 'healthy livestock area' in Uvurkhangai aimag and agreed to develop trilateral cooperation. The cooperation issue was raised at the Government and Ministerial level and was solved within three months. During the PM’s visit, Mongolian and Chinese ministers in charge of agriculture talked about establishing the healthy animal area.

-When is the factory planned to start operations?

A meat processing factory building owned by Just Agro Company in Uvurkhangai aimag had been under collateral for MNT3 billion to the State Bank and the Government has freed the collateral, transferring the factory building to the local property. We will expand the factory, renovate equipment and start operations of thermal processing factory, producing ham, sausage and canned meat products. Further, when the healthy animal area is established, we will have a possibility to export fresh meat to the Chinese market. Hai Chuan Company will make marketing of fresh meat supply to the Chinese market with labels of the company. Therefore, there will be no problem concerning the sales and price.

-Will animal and meat be supplied from local herders, won't they?

Of course. As the meat factory is being built in Uvurkhangai aimag, which would be a healthy animal area, local herders will have more possibility to sell their animals and meat. Uvurkhangai aimag and surrounding 4-5 soums of other aimags have 35 per cent of the total livestock population of Mongolia.

What measures are being taken to make livestock healthy, free of animal diseases?

We vaccinated 70000 heads of livestock when smallpox spread in neighboring aimags in December. We are paying attention to use high quality medicine and vaccination and 20-40 veterinarians will be involved in 6-month to 1-year trainings in Guizhou province.
B.Ooluun