The Embassy of Mongolia in Austria, the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKO) will jointly organize Mongolian-Austrian Business Forum on March 16-22 in Vienna at WKO Building.

According to the organizers, the Austrian Economic Chamber functions as the federal parent organization for the State Chambers and trade associations of Austria. The representatives of banking and financial institutions, pharmaceutical, food, and technological companies from the Austrian side, on the Mongolian side, gold mining, wool, cashmere, and food-related enterprises side have registered to participate in this forum.

During the forum, the sides will exchange information on the development of business and economic relations and discuss the opportunities to cooperate in increasing the trade volume between the two countries.

The business forum for the business communities of our two countries has been paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic for the last two years. In 2019, Austrian health project implementer "AME International," railway, construction, and industrial technology company "Getzner Werkstoffe GmbH," paper and paper product manufacturer "IBS Austria GmbH," medical equipment and infrastructure company "VAMED Engineering GmbH" participated at the last Mongolian-Austrian business forum held in Ulaanbaatar.

In addition, the representatives of banks, financial institutions, and leading companies such as construction and installation bearing steel manufacturer "Waagner-Biro Austria Stage Systems GmbH," technology outsourcing "VACE Systemtechnik GmbH," rescue and firefighting machinery company "Rosenbauer International AG," "Raiffeisen Bank International AG" and "UniCredit Bank Austria AG" participated and introduced their activities and products during the last forum.

Mongolia has built around 900-km railway lines in 2022, local media reported on Saturday, citing the country's Ministry of Road and Transport Development.

"A total of 876.4 km of new railways, namely Zuunbayan-Khangi railway, Tavantolgoi-Zuunbayan railway and Tavantolgoi-Gashuunsukhait railway were built and put into operation last year," the ministry said in a statement.

Mongolian authorities believe that these strategic railways will provide high efficiency to the Asian country's economy and make a great contribution to the improvement of people's life and the development of the country.

Currently, the landlocked country's railways in service have stretched to a total length of 2,965 km, according to the ministry.

Mongolia further solidified their status as a team to watch out for in the region after sealing a place in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers following a 73-49 conquest of Singapore, Saturday night at the UG Arena.

A team that made their FIBA seniors debut only in the Pre-Qualifiers' First Round last November, the Blue Wolves have now become the seventh nation to enter the ACQ after submitting their most impressive performance to date.

Mongolia (3-1) are now the third team from Group F to make it to the next stage after Guam and Thailand, meaning that only one ticket is up for grabs.

Game heroes: All but two scored in the lopsided victory, with Delgernyam Davaasambuu leading the way with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting.

Battur Ganbold supplied 13 points while Enkhbaatar Onolbaatar finished with a double-double of 12 markers and 14 boards.

Turning point: Davaasambuu scored 10 in the opening period alone, where he presided over the home team's 18-4 start. He would go on to outscore the entire opposition as the quarter ended 26-8 in their favor.

That then proved to be the beginning of a one-sided show much to the delight of the appreciate crowd, who saw their bets lead by as many as 35 points, 45-10, following Tommy Bilguun's triple with under five minutes left in the second period.

Stats don't lie: In easily one of the most lopsided results of the ongoing Pre-Qualifiers, Mongolia shot 47-percent from the field thanks to their 25 assists, an output that's now the third-most in the tournament.

And aside from ruling the boards, 47-35, the Blue Wolves' bench truly made a difference as they outscored their counterparts, 52-34.

FIBA

131 elderly people aged 100 or over live in Mongolia as of February 1, the country's National Statistical Committee said.

83 out of 131 centenarians live in the regions, and 48 in the capital. The number of women is 114, and of men 17, the Committee noted.

China's Inner Mongolia region on Friday ordered an inspection of all open-pit coal mines, according to a government notice.

The move comes two days after an open-pit mine in the region collapsed, killing at least six and leaving 47 missing.

Reporting by Dominique Patton; Editing by Christian Schmollinger

Mongolia traded with 107 countries worldwide in January 2023, and the total trade turnover reached USD 1.8 billion, of which exports were USD 1.1 billion and imports were USD 688.0 million.

The total foreign trade turnover increased by USD 669.5 (61.1%) million, where exports increased by USD 538.1 (99.7%) million and imports increased by USD 131.5 (23.6%) million compared to the same period of the previous year. In January 2023, exports decreased by USD 318.0 (22.8%) million, and imports decreased by USD 145.1 (17.4%) million compared to the previous month. The foreign trade balance was in surplus of USD 389.7 million in January 2023, which increased by USD 406.6 million compared to the same period of the previous year, while it decreased by USD 172.9 million from the previous month. Trade with China reached USD 1.2 billion in January 2023, accounting 66.8% of the total trade turnover.

Bituminous coal and copper concentrates accounted for 59.4% and 19.7% of total exports to China, respectively, while gold accounted for 99.9% of the export to Switzerland. Exports increased by 538.1 million US dollars in January 2023 from the same period of the previous year, mainly due to the increase of coal exports by 427.6 million US dollars, the export of zinc ore and concentrate by 25.0 million US dollars, and the export of iron ore and iron concentrate by 23.0 million US dollars respectively. In January 2023, the average border price of gold increased by USD 3.2 thousand per kilogram, the average border price of copper concentrates increased by USD 65.4 per ton, and the average border price of crude petroleum oils increased by USD 1.7 per barrel compared to the previous month. However, the average border price of coal decreased by USD 6.2 per ton.

The Prime Minister of Mongolia L. Oyun-Erdene reported during his interview with MNB that the opening ceremony of the Oyu Tolgoi underground mine would be held on March 13, 2023.

Noting the investor side's letter to write off Mongolia's USD 2.3 billion debt, for its share (34 percent) of Oyu Tolgoi owned by the Government of Mongolia, the Prime Minister of Mongolia said that further developments had been impossible to accomplish due to this 34 percent debt. This bottleneck has held up for over ten years and become one of the hottest political topics.

The opening ceremony of the OT underground mine will be a milestone in the history of Mongolia and the underground mine. Furthermore, it will also provide an opportunity to increase Mongolia's GDP two times. In other words, our future is on the bright side.