"Air Service Agreement between Mongolia and Qatar" signed on March 7, 2023, in Doha, Qatar was approved at the Cabinet session on April 26.

Upon the Agreement coming into force, airlines of the two countries are able to conduct direct flights, unveiling a wide range of opportunities to expand relations in tourism, business, trade, and economy between the countries.

The national flag carrier MIAT State Owned Joint-Stock Company has been designated as the air carrier for direct flights between Ulaanbaatar and Doha. Now, it is possible to transport passengers and freight from Ulaanbaatar to the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf States, as well as Mongolians can travel by Qatar Airways.

Qatar Airways currently flies to more than 160 destinations in 90 countries. As of the fiscal year of 2022, the airline carried just over 18.5 million passengers on its flights.

Moreover, the Agreement has laid the foundation for cooperation between Mongolia and Qatar Aeronautical Academy (QAA). The QAA was founded in 1977 as the Civil Aviation Academy of the Gulf States. QAA offers full-time, approved courses for Pilots, Aircraft Maintenance Engineers, Air Traffic Controllers, Meteorologists, Airport Operations Management Personnel, and Flight Dispatchers, as well as short courses in a wide variety of aviation-related disciplines.

Minister of Education and Science L. Enkh-Amgalan, who is on a Working Visit to Germany, held official talks with Sebastian Gemkow, the Saxon State Minister for Science, Culture, and Tourism on April 24.

Mongolia has long established relations with the Saxon state of Germany in sectors of culture, education, and economy. Estimates show that Mongolia needs about 30 thousand engineers and technical personnel in achieving its goals set in the mid and long-term development policy and planning. In this regard, the Ministers discussed the possibility to train at least one thousand of them in Germany, especially in the Saxon state.

Mongolian universities work in close cooperation with some universities of Saxon. One of them is the German-Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology. During the meeting, the parties exchanged views on expanding the cooperation between universities and introducing university management, and implementing sandwich programs in the field of higher and vocational education of Mongolia, in cooperation with the University of Freiburg.

Other issues covered during the talks were introducing and localizing the German technologies through our professionals studied in Germany, and training teachers and practitioners in Germany.

Mongolia and Germany will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2024. On the occasion of this anniversary, the Minister of Education and Science L. Enkh-Amgalan officially invited Minister Sebastian Gemkow to visit Mongolia at his convenience.

Mongolia's coal shipment through railway was registered at 1.27 million tonnes in March, up 34.04% compared with the preceding year but falling 2.04% from a month earlier, down for the second consecutive month, showed data from Mongolian statistical authority.

Rail-carried iron ore shipment stood at 427,400 tonnes, surging 57.74% from the preceding year and rising 2.54% from a month earlier, marking the fourth month of increase, data showed.

Mongolia's rail coal shipment totaled 4.03 million tonnes during the first three months of 2023, up 31.73% from the preceding year. Iron ore shipment was 1.21 million tonnes, up 107.38% year on year.

(Writing by Rebecca Liu Editing by Harry Huo)

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Mongolia is an important partner with great potential - we want to cooperate in the future, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Tuesday after meeting his Mongolian counterpart Uchnaagijn Chürelsüch in Ulaanbaatar.

Earlier, the presidents signed a number of agreements on economic cooperation, including in the fields of natural resources and science.

During the briefing, President Duda expressed hope that his visit will lead to a revival of Polish-Mongolian relations. He estimated that the signed agreements will bring tangible benefits to both countries.

He stressed that Mongolia is a very important partner, with great potential and is rich in natural resources. “We want cooperation with Mongolia in the future,” he declared.

Duda reported that his conversation with the Mongolian president also concerned political cooperation and the difficult international situation, which has been complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian aggression against Ukraine.

He also thanked the Mongolian president for the humanitarian assistance provided to Kyiv and announced the opening of a Polish embassy in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar.

source: PAP, IAR

The expansive desert region in northern China and the southern Mongolia is the second cause of the sandstorms. According to the Desertification Survey of Mongolia in 2015, 77.8 percent of Mongolia’s land is degraded, with 35.3 percent slightly degraded, 25.9 percent moderately degraded, and 6.7 percent and 9.9 percent severely and extremely degraded respectively.

The survey’s results also show the overall area of desertification in Mongolia has not decreased, and the degree of desertification varies from region to region.

As of today, desertification is particularly serious in the Dundgovi, Uvurkhangai, Govisumber, Dornogovi, Bayankhongor, Tuv, Govi-Altai and Umnugovi provinces.

Although the most important measures to combat desertification in China over the past two decades, such as the environmental protection plan as part of the Three-North Shelterbelt Project, have produced remarkable results, the frequent occurrence of sandstorms this spring shows ecological protection needs to be further strengthened, especially through deeper cooperation between China and Mongolia on desertification control.

During Mongolian President U.Khurelsukh’s visit to China in 2022, the two heads of state agreed to strengthen cooperation on environmental protection and desertification control. And President Xi Jinping expressed support for Mongolia’s “One Billion Trees” campaign, which is aimed at combating desertification, yellow dust storms, and land degradation. This is a good start for the two countries’ high-level exchanges and cooperation on environmental protection and desertification control.

China and Mongolia should establish a special fund to jointly deal with regional environmental issues such as desertification control. This is important also because of the high environmental similarity between northern, central and western Inner Mongolia in China and the Gobi region in southern Mongolia. Also, the joint fund should support Chinese universities and environmental research institutions to provide necessary technical and program support for Mongolia’s environmental protection and sustainable development.

Besides, China should encourage researchers to visit Mongolia and spread knowledge about desertification and teach the people how to control desertification.

I hope that the Polish embassy in Mongolia will be an accelerator of economic relations between the two countries - it will perform all consular functions, such as issuing visas to those who want to go to Poland, Polish President Andrzej Duda said during the opening of the Polish embassy in Ulaanbaatar.

“It is a great satisfaction for me,” Duda emphasized, also expressing hope that his visit to Mongolia will contribute to the development of economic contacts between the two countries.

“We are very much counting on Poland to appear here in Mongolia as the country that has significant experience in the geological, mining industry. There are powerful deposits of natural resources here, especially rare metals… I hope that the international agreements signed today will result in the development of relations precisely in this area,” he went on to say.

The president has been on a visit to Mongolia since Monday, where, among other things, he met with President Uchnaagijn Chürelsüch.

Poland and Mongolia established diplomatic relations back in 1950.

The official restoration of Poland’s permanent diplomatic presence in the country took place on March 18, 2021, with the arrival in Ulan-Bator of Ambassador Krzysztof Bojko. Until that time, the embassy had remained closed since 2009.

source: PAP, IAR

The Chilean government’s plan to demand a controlling stake in all future lithium projects will deter investment and risks stalling the clean energy transition, according to Canadian mining billionaire Robert Friedland.

The announcement, which sent share prices of Chilean lithium companies tumbling on Friday, would be “quite challenging for international capital, and it makes it harder to invest in Chile,” the chairman of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. said in an interview.

“Money is a coward — it runs away at the first sign of trouble.”

Demand for lithium, a core ingredient in electric vehicle batteries, is set to soar in the coming decades as automakers move away from gasoline and diesel powered models. Chile is the world’s second-biggest producer of the metal, and President Gabriel Boric is seeking a bigger role for the state in the sector, while also trying to build a domestic processing industry and protect the environment.

The policy bears some similarities to what President Joko Widodo is trying to do with nickel in Indonesia.

Santiago’s move will undermine Chile’s reputation as one of the safer places for foreign investors in Latin America and amounts to “nationalization” of the country’s lithium sector, Friedland said. The mining magnate has been involved in developing some of the world’s biggest copper deposits including Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia and Kamoa-Kakula in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It’s “likely to set the government back a long ways – denying companies like Rio Tinto and Teck and BHP to come in there and invest,” Friedland said. “That will not end well, in my estimation.”

Governments are inefficient miners, and it was “much more efficient” to encourage the private sector to invest, he said, adding that “ill-considered” nationalist policies risked derailing the clean energy transition.

Santiago’s new policy comes as proposed mining royalty hikes in Chile, social unrest in Peru and the threat of tax increases in Panama have delayed copper projects in those countries and spooked investors. Copper, like lithium, is a core ingredient in clean energy applications and Chile and Peru are the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 producers of the metal.

(By James Fernyhough)

President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh and President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda took part in the ceremony of signing cooperation documents in the Great Hall of State Ceremonies and Honors. Afterward, President of Mongolia U. Khurelsukh and President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda briefed the media representatives in the Baganat Hall.

President of Mongolia U. Khurelsukh spoke,"… I consider the official talks with the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda to be of high significance and important outcomes.

The heads of state of our two countries have been visiting each other every 5-10 years. I believe that President Andrzej Duda's visit, 10 years after the last visit will be plainly written in the history of relations between the two countries, and it will be a historically significant and solid basis for further development of traditionally friendly relations and cooperation between our two countries.

During the talks, we discussed the consequences, conditions and solutions of major social and economic challenges caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic, and complicated international relations and geopolitical situation faced by the countries in the world in the last three years, and agreed to overcome the difficulties with joint efforts and determination. The Republic of Poland is one of the third neighbors and close partners of our country, and relations and cooperation between the two countries have continuously and actively developed even in hard times. I am happy that upon its decision to open Polish Embassy in our country, officially opening it as part of this State visit.

The relations between the Parliaments, Governments, state institutions, citizens, entrepreneurs, and wealth creators of the two countries are in active motion, and the trade turnover of the two countries has doubled in the last three years. We always remember and are grateful that before 1990, Poland constructed many factories and plants, such as a silicate-lime factory in Darkhan, a silicate brick factory in Choibalsan, a lightweight concrete block factory, and a wood processing plant in Ulaanbaatar, and thermal power plant in Kharkhorin. We agreed to further increase the trade and investment of the two countries, expand and develop cooperation in the areas of road, transport, education, geology, mining, culture, and environment, and in implementing major construction projects for sustainable development.