1 PRIME MINISTER OYUN-ERDENE VISITS EGIIN GOL HYDROPOWER PLANT PROJECT SITE WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/30      2 ‘I FELT CAUGHT BETWEEN CULTURES’: MONGOLIAN MUSICIAN ENJI ON HER BEGUILING, BORDER-CROSSING MUSIC WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM PUBLISHED:2025/04/30      3 POWER OF SIBERIA 2: ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY OR GEOPOLITICAL RISK FOR MONGOLIA? WWW.THEDIPLOMAT.COM PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      4 UNITED AIRLINES TO LAUNCH FLIGHTS TO MONGOLIA IN MAY WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      5 SIGNATURE OF OIL SALES AGREEMENT FOR BLOCK XX PRODUCTION WWW.RESEARCH-TREE.COM  PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      6 MONGOLIA ISSUES E-VISAS TO 11,575 FOREIGNERS IN Q1 WWW.XINHUANET.COM PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      7 KOREA AN IDEAL PARTNER TO HELP MONGOLIA GROW, SEOUL'S ENVOY SAYS WWW.KOREAJOONGANGDAILY.JOINS.COM  PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      8 MONGOLIA TO HOST THE 30TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF ASIA SECURITIES FORUM WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      9 BAGAKHANGAI-KHUSHIG VALLEY RAILWAY PROJECT LAUNCHES WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      10 THE MONGOLIAN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND FDI: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITY WWW.MELVILLEDALAI.COM  PUBLISHED:2025/04/28      849 ТЭРБУМЫН ӨРТӨГТЭЙ "ГАШУУНСУХАЙТ-ГАНЦМОД" БООМТЫН ТЭЗҮ-Д ТУРШЛАГАГҮЙ, МОНГОЛ 2 КОМПАНИ ҮНИЙН САНАЛ ИРҮҮЛЭВ WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     ХУУЛЬ БУСААР АШИГЛАЖ БАЙСАН "БОГД УУЛ" СУВИЛЛЫГ НИЙСЛЭЛ ӨМЧЛӨЛДӨӨ БУЦААВ WWW.NEWS.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     МЕТРО БАРИХ ТӨСЛИЙГ ГҮЙЦЭТГЭХЭЭР САНАЛАА ӨГСӨН МОНГОЛЫН ГУРВАН КОМПАНИ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     "UPC RENEWABLES" КОМПАНИТАЙ ХАМТРАН 2400 МВТ-ЫН ХҮЧИН ЧАДАЛТАЙ САЛХИН ЦАХИЛГААН СТАНЦ БАРИХААР БОЛОВ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     ОРОСЫН МОНГОЛ УЛС ДАХЬ ТОМООХОН ТӨСЛҮҮД ДЭЭР “ГАР БАРИХ” СОНИРХОЛ БА АМБИЦ WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     МОНГОЛ, АНУ-ЫН ХООРОНД ТАВДУГААР САРЫН 1-НЭЭС НИСЛЭГ ҮЙЛДЭНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29     ЕРӨНХИЙ САЙД Л.ОЮУН-ЭРДЭНЭ ЭГИЙН ГОЛЫН УЦС-ЫН ТӨСЛИЙН ТАЛБАЙД АЖИЛЛАЖ БАЙНА WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29     Ц.ТОД-ЭРДЭНЭ: БИЧИГТ БООМТЫН ЕРӨНХИЙ ТӨЛӨВЛӨГӨӨ БАТЛАГДВАЛ БУСАД БҮТЭЭН БАЙГУУЛАЛТЫН АЖЛУУД ЭХЛЭХ БОЛОМЖ БҮРДЭНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29     MCS-ИЙН ХОЁР ДАХЬ “УХАА ХУДАГ”: БНХАУ, АВСТРАЛИТАЙ ХАМТРАН ЭЗЭМШДЭГ БАРУУН НАРАНГИЙН ХАЙГУУЛЫГ УЛСЫН ТӨСВӨӨР ХИЙЖЭЭ WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29     АМ.ДОЛЛАРЫН ХАНШ ТОГТВОРЖИЖ 3595 ТӨГРӨГ БАЙНА WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29    

Events

Name organizer Where
MBCC “Doing Business with Mongolia seminar and Christmas Receptiom” Dec 10. 2024 London UK MBCCI London UK Goodman LLC

NEWS

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Google fights EU price comparison case www.bbc.com

Google has again rejected the EU's objections to how it displays shopping links in its search results.
It said the investigation following complaints from price comparison websites had failed to understand the "reality" of online shopping.
It blamed a drop in traffic for price comparison sites on Amazon and others.
Europe's competition commissioner first accused the firm of abusing its dominance in search in April 2015 and made further claims in July 2016.
Prominence
Google's shopping results appear as a box of images and links displayed alongside other search results.
In 2015, the EU competition commissioner claimed these results gave prominence to Google's own services and advertisements, to the detriment of price comparison websites, which may have lost visitors.
Google responded that the EU had failed to take into account the significance of online shopping giants such as Amazon, which it said also competed against price comparison websites.
In its updated claim, the EU said Amazon could not be considered a rival to price comparison websites because it sometimes paid such sites to be included in search results.
Google's latest response says websites such as Amazon get a "tiny fraction" of their visitors from price comparison websites, "hardly enough to support the idea that they don't compete" with one another.
It also pointed out that Amazon provides its own price comparison tools for its customers.
"The commission's revised case still rests on a theory that just doesn't fit the reality of how most people shop online," the company said in a blog.
"It's not surprising that when Amazon and other new competitors arrived in European countries, traffic to sites offering only price comparison went down."
The company said it would "look forward" to continuing discussions with the commission.
FairSearch Europe - a lobby group that was one of the complainants against Google - said Google's actions were "anti-consumer".
In a statement, the group said: "We believe it is the European Commission that has the interests of consumers in mind, not a private company that makes money by using its market power to charge high prices to advertisers.
"When consumers look at Google ads they do not get the best, most relevant results. Instead, they get results from advertisers willing to pay Google the most money."
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IEA doubts electric cars will end oil age www.rt.com

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says it’s not likely electric cars could cause oil demand to peak anytime soon.
 
According to the agency’s Executive Director Fatih Birol, it is trucks, aviation and the petrochemical industry that drive oil demand growth, and not cars. “We don’t have major alternatives to oil products there. I don’t buy the argument that electric cars alone will cause a peak in oil demand at least in the short and medium-term,” Birol said at the Energy for Tomorrow conference in Paris.
 
The number of electric vehicles on the roads has risen six fold since 2014, the IEA said. 550,000 new plug-in cars were sold last year. Electric vehicles made up less than one percent of all new cars sold in 2015.
 
Analysts have been warning about the potential threat of electric cars for the oil industry.
 
Fitch Ratings agency said last month if recent technology trends continue the electric car revolution may drive oil into an ‘investor death spiral.’ According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the multitrillion dollar ‘big crash’ could start as soon as 2023.
 
Analysts from BHP Billiton called 2017 the year when “the electric car revolution really gets started.” According to them, 140 million cars on the road will be electric by 2035, displacing 2.3 million barrels of oil per day.
 
Oil demand will peak in the 2020s and then the industry will start to shrink, according to Statoil Chief Executive Eldar Saetre.
 
Royal Dutch Shell also forecasts oil demand to peak in as little as five years while renewable energy and disruptive technologies gain traction. “We’ve long been of the opinion that demand will peak before supply,” said Simon Henry, Chief Financial Officer for Shell. “And that peak may be somewhere between 5 and 15 years hence, and it will be driven by efficiency and substitution, more than offsetting the new demand for transport,” he added.
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Market hungry for yield sees big upside in ruble bonds www.rt.com

With low oil prices dragging down the Russian currency, and a US interest rate increase in the offing, experts are suggesting investors hang on to ruble bonds because of their high yield.
 
Traders, borrowing dollars at close to zero percent to buy assets denominated in rubles, have gained as much as seven percent in yields in the last three months, the most among 31 major currencies, Bloomberg reports.
 
Since September, when Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina promised to keep the key rate unchanged into 2017 and OPEC promising to reach an accord on a production freeze, hedge funds have almost tripled net long ruble wagers.
 
The Russian currency has been significantly affected by the fall of oil prices as well as probable rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
 
However, these risks are temporary, according to Jan Dehn, the head of research at London-based investment manager Ashmore, who recommends buying the ruble until the end of the year.
 
“I don’t expect strong directional movements this year barring major surprises, but I expect the ruble to gradually appreciate against a backdrop of a weaker dollar next year,” he told Bloomberg.
 
While ruble-denominated assets have such high yields, selling them is unreasonable, according to analysts.
 
“What are the sellers going to buy in this environment after selling ruble assets? It’s not wise to sell, because ruble bonds still pay a nice carry,” said Lutz Roehmeyer at Landesbank Berlin Investment, advising investors to adopt a “buying-on-dips mentality.”
 
The monetary policy of central banks around the globe aimed at boosting economies by reducing interest rates is encouraging traders to gobble up high yield assets where they find them.
 
“The market is yield hungry,” said Tom Levinson, senior foreign exchange and interest rate strategist in Moscow at Sberbank CIB. He expects the ruble to climb toward 61 to the dollar by the New Year.
 
The carry-trades might provide investors with returns of nearly 15 percent by the end of next year, according to forecasts compiled by Bloomberg.
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Paris Agreement to take effect on Friday www3.nhk.or.jp

The Paris Agreement on climate change will take effect when the clock strikes 12 AM on Friday in New York, where the UN headquarters are based.

The agreement is the new international framework to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. It was adopted by more than 190 countries and territories at the UN climate conference in France last year.

The parameters of the framework say that it takes effect 30 days after more than 55 countries representing more than 55 percent of global emissions have ratified it. The requirements were met on October 5th.

The agreement aims to cut global emissions as quickly as possible and bring them to virtually zero in the latter half of this century.

Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, which mandated only advanced nations reduce emissions, the Paris Agreement covers all nations, including developing countries.

Each nation must submit reduction targets every 5 years and implement measures to achieve them.
The targets are up to each participant. Their commitment will be examined.

Delegates from around the world will gather in Morocco to begin this year's UN climate conference on Monday. They will discuss concrete rules to ensure emission cuts, including ways to verify whether nations have met their goals.

Parties to the Paris agreement will hold their first meeting on the sidelines of the conference. Japan will participate as an observer due to a delay in ratifying the agreement.

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Sumitomo Chem certifies products for UN sustainability goals www.asia.nikkei.com

TOKYO -- Sumitomo Chemical is linking such mainstays as auto battery materials to goals of the United Nations by creating its own certification system for them.

With the Paris Agreement on climate change now coming into force, the Japanese company has devised ways of responding to the growing international importance of such metrics in evaluating products. It aims to double sales of items related to the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals within the next five years.

The SDGs set 17 goals in such areas as clean energy, environmental protection, waste reduction and hunger. Governments, businesses and nongovernmental organizations are called upon to work together to meet the targets by 2030.

Sumitomo Chemical carried out the first round of reviews using the new certification system to find 21 products that qualified, such as lithium ion battery components and special membranes for separating carbon dioxide from gases.

Sales of the now-certified products totaled some 280 billion yen ($2.72 billion) in fiscal 2015, accounting for more than 10% of all sales. Through such efforts as broadening its selection of certified products, the company aims to lift the tally to 560 billion yen in fiscal 2020.

(Nikkei)

 
 
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New Pussy Riot Song Tops Spotify's Viral Charts www.themoscowtimes.com

Something unprecedented happened on Spotify this week: a song by a Russian artist topped the music service’s “Viral 50” charts globally and in the United States. The tune belongs to none other than Pussy Riot, the political punk rock group that made international headlines after a February 2012 “performance” inside a Moscow Cathedral landed three band members in jail for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.”

In August 2012, when Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich were convicted and sentenced to two years in prison, they were more activists than musicians. Today, the same is true for Alyokhina and Samutsevich, while Tolokonnikova has leveraged her fame and good looks to remain in the spotlight, spending much of her time in the United States. Last month, she released three new political songs as “Pussy Riot.”

One of those tracks, an attack on Donald Trump that borrows his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” is now enjoying viral success in the U.S. and around the world.

On Wednesday, Nov. 2, Tolokonnikova’s husband, Pyotr Verzilov, announced on Twitter that the song had topped Spotify’s “Viral 50” charts globally and in the United States. “It seems this is the first time in history that a Russian group has taken Spotify’s top spot,” he wrote.

Speaking in somewhat awkward English slang, Pussy Riot’s official Twitter account also celebrated the moment, tweeting, “Vagina gonna top the charts.”

In 2013, Spotify launched its “viral charts,” which the company describes as a “a new metric for a new age” to define successful music. Like traditional measures, the viral charts take into account the number of plays a song gets on Spotify, but they also consider what users do “after they discover a song.” To generate these charts, Spotify studies how often songs are shared and rated after people listen to them. It is in these categories that Tolokonnikova’s “Make America Great Again” has been so popular.

On social media, some have questioned how Pussy Riot managed to release a song that is more popular than tracks like Shakira’s “Chantaje” and Drake’s “Fake Love,” which currently enjoy the number two and three spots on the “Viral 50” global chart. “We believe the most exciting power of the chart is its ability to showcase unknown artists organically,” Spotify explained when it introduced its lists of viral songs.

Of Tolokonnikova’s new songs, the first release, “Straight Outta Vagina,” is actually the most viewed of the three on YouTube, where a colorful music video features women dancing around in pantyhose and exposed menstrual pads, men urinating decumbently while wearing high heels, and more. “Make America Great Again,” where Tolokonnikova’s character is tortured and ultimately murdered by a Trump-controlled U.S. police force, has 639,000 views — about 400,000 fewer than “Straight Outta Vagina.”

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Air France-KLM to launch lower-cost airline www.bbc.com

Air France-KLM is creating a more "competitive" long haul airline to win back customers from Gulf carriers.
The company said it was "going on the offensive" because "the status quo is not an option".
The new brand does not have a name yet, but Air France plans for it to offer economy and business travel on new and reopened routes.
To compete with lower-cost rivals, its pilots and cabin crew will be employed differently to the main company.
"We are battling on all fronts," said Air France's new chief executive, Jean-Marc Janaillac.

Jean-Marc Janaillac was appointed Air France chief executive in May
"The status quo is not an option. We must launch a new dynamic to return to a leadership position in our markets," Mr Janaillac added.
The plan is a sign that Air France's new boss is determined to win back market share after years of painful job losses and clashes with trade unions.
But the SNPNC cabin crew union expressed concern that the new airline's staff would not have the same work benefits and would end up being "low cost" for its workers.
Air France plans for the new airline to have 10 long haul planes by 2020.
It will "constitute the group's response to the Gulf State airlines which are developing at low production costs", the firm said.

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Glencore to reopen yet another coal mine in Australia www.mining.com

 
Miner and commodities trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) will reopen its Integra coal mine in southeastern Australia next year thanks to an ongoing ​rally in coal prices and increased demand for the commodity.
 
"The Integra underground mine has been on care and maintenance since July 2014 and Glencore has continued to assess options for a restart against global coal market conditions," said the company according to Reuters.
 
The move comes only a few days after the company resumed operations at its Collinsville mine in Australia's Queensland state.
 
Integra, formally called Glennies Creek, became part of Glencore’s portfolio last year after its previous owner, Brazil’s Vale (NYSE:VALE), mothballed it.
 
The underground operation is expected to generate about 1.3 million tonnes of coal in 2017.
 
At least seven other coal mines are expected to resume operations in Australia before 2016 ends — four in Queensland and three in New South Wales. These include Collinsville and Isaac Plains, which Vale and Sumitomo sold last year to Stanmore Coal (ASX:SMR) for only $1.
 
These operations have benefitted from an increasing demand for Australian coal because of restrictions on production in China. They are expected to provide work for hundreds of people and lead to a jobs growth able to keep mild downward pressure on Australia’s unemployment rate.
 
But the potential multibillion-dollar windfall could be short-lived, economists have warned.
 
NAB’s chief economist, Alan Ostler, believes that global production peaked in 2014, which together with action on setting a carbon price after the Paris climate accord will continue to suppress demand, inevitably affecting prices.
 
Liberum analyst Ben Davis agrees. He said in a report last month that thermal coal may start a downward trend soon as Chinese policymakers decided to temporarily reverse limits on thermal-coal production until December.
 
“We expect the hedging loss to shrink as thermal-coal prices drop faster than what is currently being implied by the forward curve,” he wrote.
 
There also are still plenty of major companies including Peabody Energy, Anglo American and Rio Tinto that are trying to sell its coal assets. Meanwhile, BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, warned last week that coking coal supply could grow “more quickly than demand” in the near term.
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ADB and UNICEF sign cooperation agreement to improve water, sanitation and hygiene in schools www.mongolia.gogo.mn

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and United Nations Children Funds (UNICEF) signed a cooperation agreement to improve water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in schools and dormitories located in rural remote areas of the western region of Mongolia.
This operational cooperation seeks to expand and sustain WASH in schools and dormitories to be supported under the ADB-administered Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) grant for Improving School Dormitory Environment for Primary Students in Western Region Project and a WASH program by UNICEF.
“ADB and UNICEF have, in recent years, initiated a partnership for improving WASH in schools and dormitories in Mongolia,” said Yolanda Fernandez Lommen, ADB’s Country Director in Mongolia. “Poor condition in schools and dormitories has been one of the critical barriers to ensuring equal access to quality education in rural remote areas. By working together, we can use our comparative strengths and develop innovative solutions in remote rural areas where access to water supply, sewerage, and heating remains a challenge.”
“Improving sanitation and hygiene practices for children, their parents and teachers is a priority area for UNICEF’s work in Mongolia,” said Roberto Benes, UNICEF Mongolia Representative. ”By partnering with ADB we will maximize potential to ensure that children in remote areas have equitable, sustainable access to safe water and basic sanitation services in their schools and dormitories, thus, improving their health and learning performance too.”
As part of the cooperation, ADB and UNICEF will support the repair, installation, operations and maintenance of WASH facilities that meet the minimum requirements set by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports and the Ministry of Health in 2015. ADB and UNICEF will also develop and disseminate knowledge and build local capacity for better designing, planning and maintaining WASH facilities in schools and dormitories and for promoting hygiene, safe drinking water, and sanitation.
ADB approvals in Mongolia amounted to $297.5 million in 2015, including 4 sovereign loans for $275 million, 2 project grants for $6 million, and 17 technical assistance grants for $16.5 million.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB in December 2016 will mark 50 years of development partnership in the region. It is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In 2015, ADB assistance totaled $27.2 billion, including cofinancing of $10.7 billion.
UNICEF promotes the rights and well-being of every child and works in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere. For more information about UNICEF Mongolia and its work visit: www.unicef.mn
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Sea buckthorn factory opens beside Khaan Jims resort www.en.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The “Khuba Khaya” sea buckthorn factory opened on November 2. The factory was built with help of German engineering and outline and meets the European standards. It is expected to produce high quality products from seaberry for youthening and relieving stress, as well as beauty and nutritional products.
 
Sea buckthorn, which is proclaimed by Mongolians as the “King Berry”, is richer in Vitamin E than grist, three times in Vitamin A than red carrot, and four times greater content superoxide dismutase than ginseng. The sea buckthorn oil is the only phytogenic source of fatty acids Omega 3,6,7 and 9.
 
The factory is located next to the “Khaan Jims” (King Berry) resort, the site supposedly was under a winter place of Chinggis Khaan.
 
Present at the opening ceremony were some members of parliament, heads of diplomatic missions, famous artists and athletes and businesspeople.
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