Japan wants to lead talks on TPP without US www.nhk.or.jp

Japan's chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks says he wants to lead working-level discussions toward the deal's implementation without the United States.

FM Ts.Munkh-Orgil to pay official visit to European Union www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia Ts.Munkh-Orgil is to pay an official visit to the European Union on May 2 and 3. He will be paying a courtesy call on Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, and hold official talks with Ms Federica Mogerini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission.

US probes car motor patent infringement www.nhk.or.jp

A US regulator will launch an investigation into electric motors used in automobiles for possible infringement of a US company's intellectual property.

France election: Macron says EU must reform or face 'Frexit' www.bbc.com

The front-runner in the French presidential election has told the BBC that the EU must reform or face the prospect of "Frexit".
Pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron made the comments as he and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen entered the last week of campaigning.
French voters go to the polls on Sunday to decide between the pair.
Ms Le Pen has capitalised on anti-EU feeling, and has promised a referendum on France's membership.
She won support in rural and former industrial areas by promising to retake control of France's borders from the EU and slash immigration.

*Polling results up to this date show how people said they would vote on 7 May, if Macron and Le Pen reached the second round

The polling average line looks at the five most recent national polls and takes the median value, ie, the value between the two figures that are higher and two figures that are lower.

"I'm a pro-European, I defended constantly during this election the European idea and European policies because I believe it's extremely important for French people and for the place of our country in globalisation," Mr Macron, leader of the recently created En Marche! movement, told the BBC.
"But at the same time we have to face the situation, to listen to our people, and to listen to the fact that they are extremely angry today, impatient and the dysfunction of the EU is no more sustainable.
"So I do consider that my mandate, the day after, will be at the same time to reform in depth the European Union and our European project."
Mr Macron added that if he were to allow the EU to continue to function as it was would be a "betrayal".
"And I don't want to do so," he said. "Because the day after, we will have a Frexit or we will have [Ms Le Pen's] National Front (FN) again."

Both Mr Macron - who is leading in the polls by 20 percentage points - and Ms Le Pen spent Sunday campaigning around France.
Mr Macron visited Paris's Holocaust memorial, where he paid his respects. Sunday was France's national day of remembrance for the French Jews who were deported to Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
The war has proved a difficult area for Ms Le Pen. She suggested earlier this month France was not responsible for a 1942 wartime round-up of 13,000 Jews, who were sent from France to Nazi death camps.
Meanwhile, Jean-François Jalkh - the man she named as interim president of the FN while she campaigned - was forced to step down on Tuesday amid claims he had questioned the reality of Nazi gas chambers, which is a crime under French law. He denies wrongdoing.
It was an unwelcome development for Ms Le Pen, who has worked hard to distance her party from past links with anti-Semitism.

She laid a wreath at the World War II monument in Marseille, after visiting an aluminium plant in the nearby town of Gardanne.
The plant is known for dumping toxic waste into the Mediterranean. It was given six years to reach compliance with EU norms last year, after improving its filtering process.
While there, Ms Le Pen said she would pursue a vision of "true ecology", saying she wanted to "make the link between the choice of economic model and environmental and health problems".

Budget deficit forecasted to be 9.5 per cent of GDP www.montsame.mn

What to expect from Belt and Road Forum www.xinhuanet.com

Editor's note: The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation will be held May 14 to 15 in Beijing. To give readers better knowledge of this international meeting on the Belt and Road Initiative, Xinhua will release a series of reports.
BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation scheduled for mid-May is a high-profile international meeting on the Belt and Road Initiative, a China-proposed trade and infrastructure plan connecting Asia with Europe and Africa.
China will use the forum to build a more open and efficient international cooperation platform and a closer, stronger partnership network as well as to push for a more just, reasonable and balanced international governance system.
Here is what you need to know about the initiative and the upcoming forum.
-- NEW VISION
The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which takes the theme "strengthening international cooperation and co-building the 'Belt and Road' for win-win development," will be held from May 14 to 15 in Beijing. President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony and host a round-table leaders' summit.
The forum has been designed to pool more consensus, identify cooperation directions, push forward the implementation of projects, and improve supporting systems.
-- HISTORIC LEGACY
The Belt and Road comprises the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, which were put forward for the first time by President Xi in September and October 2013 in his subsequent state visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia.
Building upon the spirit of the ancient Silk Road -- "peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning, and mutual benefits" -- which continues to this day, the initiative targets a modern transnational network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa, with the aim of promoting common development among all parties involved.
-- INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
More than 100 countries and international organizations have already joined the initiative, of which more than 40 have signed cooperation agreements with China.
The United Nations General Assembly, the UN Security Council and APEC have all incorporated or reflected Belt and Road cooperation in their resolutions and documents.
-- FACILITIES CONNECTIVITY
A series of major transport, energy and communication projects, including the multi-purpose road-rail Padma Bridge in Bangladesh, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and China Railway Express trains to Europe - have witnessed breakthroughs over the past three years and more.
-- UNIMPEDED TRADE
Trade between China and countries along the Belt and Road totaled 6.3 trillion yuan (about 913 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, more than a quarter of China's total trade value.
Chinese businesses have invested more than 50 billion U.S. dollars in countries along the Belt and Road, and helped build 56 economic and trade cooperation zones in 20 of those countries, generating nearly 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in tax revenue and 180,000 local jobs.
-- FINANCIAL INTEGRATION
China has dedicated 40 billion U.S. dollars to a Silk Road Fund and set up the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in 2015 to provide financing for infrastructure improvement in Asia.
So far, the AIIB has seen its membership increase to 70, with the multilateral development bank's total lending amounting to over 2 billion dollars.
-- ECONOMIC CORRIDORS
China is also pushing forward six economic corridors in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, namely, the New Eurasian Continental Bridge, the China-Mongolia-Russia corridor, the China-Central Asia-West Asia corridor, the China-Indochina Peninsula corridor, the China-Pakistan corridor, and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar corridor.
Together, the six corridors form a trade and transport network across Eurasia, laying a solid foundation for regional and transregional development plans.
-- PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE BOND
While the "hard connection" of rail lines and ports brings countries closer through ease of travel and logistics, "soft connections" will bring their people together.
On June 22, 2016, during a speech at the Legislative Chamber of the Uzbek Supreme Assembly in Tashkent, Xi called for building a green, healthy, intelligent and peaceful Silk Road, laying out the future of the initiative.
-- GLOBALIZATION
The significance of the forum is especially timely given the rise of anti-globalization.
At a time when certain Western powers are retreating into protectionism and isolation, China has been promoting the globalization of the economy in a spirit of openness and inclusiveness. China will unswervingly continue to open up and push globalization with Chinese wisdom.
-- WIDE PARTICIPATION
More than 1,200 people will attend the forum scheduled for mid-May, including officials, scholars, entrepreneurs, representatives of financial institutions and media organizations from 110 nations, as well as representatives from more than 60 international organizations.
They include heads of state and government from at least 28 countries, as well as UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, and managing director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde.
-- CONCRETE OUTCOMES
Results of the forum are expected to range from consensus building to specific measures on implementation. China expects to sign cooperative documents with nearly 20 countries and more than 20 international organizations at the event.
China will also work with countries along the routes on nearly 20 action plans concerning infrastructure, energy and resources, production capacity, trade and investment.
The round-table leaders' summit, to be held on May 15, will issue a document defining goals and principles and refining cooperative measures.
During the forum, all parties will identify major cooperative projects, set up working groups and establish an investment cooperation center. They will sign financing agreements to support their cooperative projects.
China will work with all parties on a set of measures, including an improved financial cooperation mechanism, a cooperation platform for science, technology and environmental protection, and enhanced exchanges and training of talent.

Twitter partners with Bloomberg for streaming TV news www.reuters.com

Twitter Inc is partnering with Bloomberg Media for a round-the-clock streaming television news service on the social networking platform, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Raised three taxes come into effect today www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Amendments to the 2017 State Budget laid out to raise seven types of taxes as the Government agreed with the International Monetary Fund in the scope of a three-year Extended Fund Facility. The measure to increase three types of taxes is coming into effect starting today, May 01.

IMF delays Mongolia`s request on Extended Fund Facility Program www.gogo.mn

The board of International Monetary Fund held a meeting on Apr 28th. However, IMF delayed Mongolia`s request on Extended Fund Facility Program. 
IMF office in Mongolia explained that it was delayed due to the Parliament`s resolution linked to the approval of state budget 2017 which states major companies such as Oyu Tolgoi LLC to transfer their all payments and transactions through banks only operating in Mongolia. 
IMF noted to consider Mongolia`s request after studying the resolution whether it violated the law on investment and harmful to investors. 
Delegations led by the Minister of Finance B.Choijilsuren, the President of Bank of Mongolia N.Bayartsaihan attended IMF`s spring meeting that was held in Washington DC, USA on Apr 18th. 
At the meeting, Mongolian delegations met Managing Director of IMF Ms. Christine Lagarde and World Bank Group President Jim Kim and introduced Mongolia's socio-economic situation as well as expressed Mongolia`s request on Extended Fund Facility Program. Meanwhile, they have given the recommendation to review the resolution approved by the Parliament. 
Delay of the IMF`s Extended Fund Facility Program may draw back the large loans that will be granted from the World Bank, Japanese Government and the Asian Development Bank.

Mongolia Constraints Analysis Report has been launched www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Produced by National Secretariat for the Development of the Second Compact Agreement between the Government of Mongolia and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of the USA with technical assistance from the MCC, "Mongolia Constraints Analysis Report" was disclosed on April 28.