On October 16, Chinese new energy automobile giant BYD officially unveiled the BYD ATTO 3 in Mongolia, through their local dealership partner, MSM Group.

BYD first entered the Mongolian passenger car market in 2020, selling many pure EVs such as the T3, Tang, Han, and Dolphin Models. BYD currently has an 87% market share of Mongolia`s new energy vehicles and a 58% market share of the country`s pure electric vehicles in it, according to the company.

Mongolian Energy Minister N.Tavinbekh said, “It is necessary to take measures this year to increase the popularity of electric vehicles as a way to combat climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions".

“It will work with Mongolia to promote green innovation for the sustainable development of human society and help cool the planet by 1°C,” said BYD.

BYD's new energy vehicles have now covered more than 70 countries and regions and more than 400 cities around the world, serving more than 2.6 million car owners. In September, BYD sold 7,736 new energy passenger cars overseas, exporting cars to Japan, Germany, Sweden, and other new countries and regions.

The Gobi Desert is home to Mongolia’s largest coal basins, which are critical to the country’s industrialization. Impossibly long and desolate stretches of road connect coal mines in the Gobi to China, and thousands of truckers travel along Mongolia’s coal highway ferrying precious carbon loads. One of these truckers is a woman named Maikhuu Sengee, otherwise known as the “Lady of the Gobi.”

Go watch this documentary on Aeon about her life on the road as one of the only women — if not the only one — who’s spent years away from family to drive a loaded truck across the desert. Set aside about 25 minutes to follow Maikhuu through the lens of filmmamer Khoroldorj Choijoovanchig. I swear it’s worth it:

The documentary, titled The Lady of the Gobi after Maikhuu herself, details how Mongolia has undergone massive migrations as it went from an agrarian society to an industrialized one. The country’s resources, including coal, have been exported to its southern neighbor China for decades.

This flow of goods and wealth pulled the people of Mongolia toward urban centers and the desert alike. Maikhuu’s family stayed behind in the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, while she went south to the Gobi Desert, then further still to the Chinese border. But the global pandemic made life almost impossible for many truckers, who abandoned their big rigs in the desert and moved on.

But Maikhuu stayed; the trucker lived out of her cab for days and weeks at a time, between stretches of living in quarantine camps as she made her way to and from the border of Mongolia and China. She’d been a hairdresser before becoming a driver, and the documentary follows Maikhuu even as she helps fellow truckers out with a haircut now and then.

The truck drivers eat, sleep, shower and wash clothes at makeshift truck stops like nomads who shepherd machines through the desert. Maikhuu’s journey sees her oscillate between the joy of driving through Mongolia’s coal highway — a road that’s brought life to many, and has been her own life for the last seven years — and the sadness of being far from home on a road that never ends.

Mongolian Government decided to dissolve General Agency for Specialized Inspection. Therefore, its functions will be transferred to the ministries. Therefore, some 300 jobs were cut. The Specialized Inspection Agency has 2200 inspectors in 21 provinces and capital city of Ulaanbaatar.

The General Agency for Specialized Inspection was established after uniting all 11 implementing administrative inspection agencies within ministries, by the 58th Resolution of the State Great Hural Parliament of Mongolia (passed in 2002). The Agency was responsible for overseeing the operations of all businesses across the country. By law, planned inspections are done on the basis of risk assessment, unplanned inspections on the basis of complaints and requests; or by the decision of the competent institution.

Shareholder advisory firm Glass Lewis & Co. is urging Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. investors to support a proposed takeover by Rio Tinto Group — dismissing criticisms of a top shareholder critical of the mining giant’s efforts to gain control of one of the world’s largest copper mines.

Glass Lewis recommended Turquoise Hill shareholders vote for Rio Tinto’s cash offer to acquire 49% of the shares it doesn’t own for C$43 a share, the proxy adviser said Wednesday in a statement. The deal values the stake in the Montreal-based miner at about C$4.24 billion ($3.1 billion).

The recommendation adds a twist in Rio’s efforts to gain greater control of Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi mine, which is expected to become the world’s fourth-largest copper mine, despite resistance from some of Turquoise Hill’s largest investors. Pentwater Capital Management and SailingStone Capital Partners, which combined hold about 14% of the Canadian miner, have said Rio’s offer undervalues the company.

Glass Lewis said Turquoise Hill investors should vote for Rio’s offer because of the “relatively elevated risk profile” that would exist as a standalone company as well as its “significant near-term financing risks”.

“We are inclined to believe that Rio Tinto’s current offer represents a reasonable exit price and a compelling market premium for minority shareholders, on balance,” the firm said.

Rio already owns 51% of Turquoise Hill, but more than half of the remaining shareholders must back the acquisition for the deal to proceed. The Oyu Tolgoi mine is a joint venture between Turquoise Hill and the government of Mongolia.

Shares of Turquoise Hill rose 1.9% to C$40.12 at 10:37 a.m. in Toronto, giving Rio’s offer a 7.2% premium.

(By Yvonne Yue Li)

Prime Minister of Mongolia Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai and Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz held official talks.

They exchanged views on the implementation of the industrial revival policy in cooperation with Germany.

The parties also considered issues of selling rare earth semi-finished products, which are the main raw materials for copper processing plants and equipment for electric vehicles, and decided to start joint research work.

The government of Mongolia and the government of Germany are jointly implementing a phased training program for 1,000 engineers, including engineers in energy, transport, logistics, mining, information technology, urban planning, agriculture and forestry.

Mongolia shared the goal of bringing the reform of road transport and public transport to European standards, and concluded a formal agreement on passenger and freight transport between the two countries.

It was mutually agreed that a joint working group of the two parties, led by the Minister of Digital Transport, would work in Mongolia. The transfer of public transport in Mongolia to the European standard was discussed.

Mongolia’s environment and tourism minister said his country shares a common historical background with Türkiye, adding: "We invite the Turks to their ancestral lands."

Bat-Erdene Bat-Ulzii spoke to Anadolu Agency about relations between the two countries in the Turkish capital Ankara, where he came for the Türkiye-Mongolia Business Forum.

Saying that his visit is important for strengthening bilateral ties, Bat-Ulzii underlined that they want to increase the number of flights between the two countries.

He added that his country will work to start direct flights from Türkiye to the region where the monumental Orkhon inscriptions – the oldest-known Turkic writings, dating back to the eighth century – are located.

Some 2,600 people from Türkiye visited to Mongolia in 2021, the minister noted, pointing to how the two countries share a common historical past, as revealed through archaeological excavations.

"Almost everyone in Türkiye wants to visit Mongolia,” Bat-Ulzii said, adding that authorities frequently hold meetings to boost touristic trips between the two countries.

Munkhbat Jamiyan, deputy chairman of the Mongolia-Türkiye Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group, also said: "Historically, our relations are thousands of years old, not just a few years. We’re friends, our history is common, and there’s a 30-year inter-parliamentary relationship."

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1969, and gained new momentum with the opening of reciprocal embassies in Ankara, Türkiye and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 1996-1997. Over 100 bilateral agreements have been signed so far to strengthen the legal basis of bilateral cooperation.

In 2011, Mongolia honored Türkiye with “third neighbor” status, along with the US, EU, Japan, South Korea, and India.

* Writing by Seda Sevencan in Istanbul

The Secretariat of the State Great Khural of Mongolia today organized the “Budget-2023” public discussion at the State House.

Being held for the first time, the discussion brought together the members of the cabinet and the parliament and more than 700 online and in-person participants, including ambassadors, economists, and researchers.

At the beginning of the discussion, it was emphasized that citizens' opinions were taken for the 2023 budget through the "E Parliament" and "D Parliament" electronic systems.

Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene presented in detail the policies and concepts adopted by the government in developing the 2023 budget, the features of the 2022 budget year, the external and internal factors faced by the society and the economy, and the measures to be taken to avoid the economic crisis in the future.

The 2022 budget was mainly targeted at the recovery of the economy to overcome the pandemic crisis, highlighted the Prime Minister.

This year, the conditions have been created to carry out the budget reforms that have been talked about for many years. However, we have to take into account that the 2023 budget is being discussed at a time of geopolitical uncertainty and during a time when the acceleration of the post-pandemic economic recovery is most necessary.

According to the Prime Minister, the government also paid attention to achieving four major policy results. First of all, it is the most important thing for Mongolia in the coming years to ensure the macro balance of the economy and keep the economic growth stable at 5-6 percent. The government also paid particular attention to bringing the inflation rate, which currently stands at 15 percent, to single digits and limiting price increases. Emphasis was placed on changing the way budget deficits created debt, reducing unnecessary spending, gradually reducing welfare, and balancing the balance of payments, or inflows and outflows of foreign currency. In particular, the next year's budget was developed to take concrete policy measures against the increase in the prices of goods and products, currency reserves, and the depreciation of the MNT.

During the discussion, the Government Head also presented in detail the implementation of the Austerity Law and the intensification of the "New Revival Policy". He also expressed his views on the measures being taken by the government to bolster the revitalization of priority sectors, and major projects planned to dramatically reduce traffic congestion.

Minister of Economy and Development Ch.Khurelbaatar informed the participants about the pre- and post-pandemic economic situation, the factors affecting the increase in the exchange rate and decrease in reserves, and the possible risks. Due to the slowing down of economic growth, rising inflation, and decreasing employment, conditions for stagflation have been created today, and inflation is expected to be higher than the target level in the next year as well. Therefore, next year, in order to intensify economic growth, the government will implement policies to ensure macroeconomic stability and support exports and the private sector, and it will be possible to increase GDP growth to 5 percent.

Finance Minister B.Javkhlan presented the external factors that will affect the economy in 2023, the results of the Austerity Law, the tax policies that are going to be supported, the possibilities to introduce a "results-based" salary system, and the fact that the government's external debt will be paid with no difficulties according to the schedule.

The Finance Minister underscored that it is estimated to save MNT 1 trillion in 2023 by implementing the Austerity Law. He further informed that the budget deficit will be reduced from 5.1 to 2.8 percent.

In terms of macroeconomics, we aim to increase quality exports, increase economic growth by 5 percent, reduce inflation to below 10 percent by the end of the year, and maintain our credit rating, said the Finance Minister.

This week marks the 30th anniversary of the declaration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty – a day devoted to reaffirming our commitment and shared responsibility to end poverty.

Mongolia, like many other countries, has made great strides in reducing poverty and improving standards of living. But what stands out in the case of Mongolia is how much the pace of poverty reduction has fluctuated in the past decade.

The Mongolia 2020 Poverty Report: a Decade of Progress and Stagnation in Poverty Reduction, a joint report released last month by the National Statistics Office of Mongolia and the World Bank, shows that poverty in Mongolia fell by 17 percentage points between 2010 and 2014. But after the 2016 recession, the pace of poverty reduction decreased significantly and has since stagnated. The pandemic-induced economic downturn had tangible impacts on employment, incomes, and poverty especially in late 2020 and into 2021.

Many countries in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region have emerged from the pandemic on a robust economic recovery trajectory, but Mongolia stands out as having made slower progress. Following a sharp decline in 2020, the economy made a strong rebound in early 2021. But it has since shown signs of stagnation. In EAP countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia, exports, driven by buoyant external demand, have been an important engine of growth during the post-pandemic era. Yet, exports in Mongolia continue to be muted since China reinstated border restrictions in mid-2021, which have persisted into 2022.

See the full article with the graphics at the link

After a more than two-year absence due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, 27 Peace Corps trainees arrived in Mongolia on October 18, 2022. They will complete 14 weeks of pre-service training (PST) before being sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers. During PST, trainees will participate in an intensive program focused on the development of a variety of language, technical, and cross cultural competencies necessary for successful Peace Corps service. Upon their successful completion of PST, these trainees will become English Education and Community Development Volunteers.

Peace Corps Volunteers are an important way the United States and Mongolia continue to build strong people-to-people ties. Since 1991, over 1,500 Peace Corps Mongolia Volunteers have served in education, environmental, health, agriculture, community enterprise development, and youth development sectors. In support of Mongolia’s strong partnership with Peace Corps, Volunteers will collaborate with secondary schools, universities, colleges, vocational schools, and a host of organizations and stakeholders while working and living in their communities of service.

Mongolia confirmed 14 new COVID-19 cases on October 19.

12 of them were contacts in Ulaanbaatar, and 2 were recorded in the regions. No imported cases were found.

2,131 people have died from coronavirus in total.