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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UN Youth Delegate program starts in Mongolia www.akipress.com

The Office of President of Mongolia, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, the United Nations and UNA Mongolia are launching the UN Youth Delegate - Environmental Leadership program in August 2022 to enable youth to participate in biodiversity and to bring their voices to the national and global decision-making levels.
The program will select 30 young people aged from 18 to 30 who will be able to attend seminars on various environmental issues for two months and implement an environmentally friendly project. The top two participants will have the opportunity to represent Mongolian youth at UN international conferences in Egypt and Canada.
Once the UN Youth Delegates attend the conferences, they jointly organize a National Youth Dialogue to share their knowledge and identify opportunities and next steps for youth participation in protecting the environment.
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Chinese Foreign Minister to pay visit to Mongolia www.montsame.mn

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Wang Yi will pay an official visit to Mongolia in August. During today’s press conference to present the decisions made at the Cabinet meeting, Minister of Foreign Affairs B.Battsetseg briefed on the upcoming visit.
The visit is expected to mainly focus on strengthening Mongolia-China comprehensive strategic partnership and holding talks on economic cooperation and operations of border checkpoints.
The exact date of the visit will be decided by the two countries in the near future, said the Minister.
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Vacancy notice of Shunkhlai Group www.mongolianbusinessdatabase.com

MBD's official partner, one of the leading taxpayers (TOP 10) of Mongolia, Shunkhlai Holding LLC welcomes potential candidates to the following open positions at the group companies.
Shunkhlai LLC was established in 1993 with its first operations in the area of vehicle repair services and petroleum product import and distribution, it later diversified its operations into the food industry, information technology, telecommunication, real estate, convenient store chain, media, automobile distribution, and technology and it employs more than 5000 people in its over 30 main and sub businesses.
Please visit the following link for TOR and information in detail about each position. http://mongolianbusinessdatabase.com/base/jobs
Graphic designer (Media Group LLC)
Video Editor ("Media Group" LLC)
Project administrator (SD Engineering and Construction LLC)
Union alarm control engineer ("SD Engineering and Construction" LLC)
Equipment Manager (Digital Concept LLC)
Chief technologist of food production (Digital Concept LLC)
Head of Food Production (Digital Concept LLC)
Human resource manager (Digital concept LLC)
Payroll Manager (Digital Concept LLC)
Senior Training Manager (Shunkhlai LLC)
Director of Human Resources (Digital Concept LLC)
Legal advisor (Digital Concept LLC)
Cleaning service worker (SD service LLC)
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Erdene Continues to Outline Ulaan Feeder Zone In Mongolia www.theassay.com

Erdene Resource Development Corporation (TSX: ERD) has expanded known mineralisation at the Ulaan SE discovery to the west and at depth with the Q2 2022 drill programme located 300 metres west of the construction ready Bayan Khundii Gold Project in southwest Mongolia.
This programme also intersected an interpreted high-grade, gold bearing “feeder” structure. Follow-up exploration at Ulaan SE is currently underway.
Highlights
UDH-53 returned high-grade mineralization within a projected feeder zone, including 2 metres of 24.9 g/t gold within 27 metres of 3.47 g/t gold
UDH-52, 60 metres SSE of UDH-53, intersected a wide zone of mineralisation – 189 metres averaging 0.8 g/t gold
Mineralization at Ulaan SE has been traced over a 200 metre strike, to a depth of 450 metres, that remains open to the west and at depth; highlights of Q2 drilling include:
UDH-35 included the highest average grade intersection to date at Ulaan SE
Intersected 23 metres of 13.7 g/t gold within 41 metres of 8.1 g/t gold, beginning 187 metres downhole
UDH-21, including the hole extension, returned one of the thickest gold zones in the Khundii District
Intersected 335 metres of 1.1 g/t gold, beginning 115 metres downhole, ending in mineralization
Includes 27 metres of 8.7 g/t gold, within 77 metres of 3.2 g/t gold
UDH-36 intersected 179 metres of 1.2 g/t gold, beginning 72 metres downhole
Includes several one-metre, high-grade intersections, ranging from 10-33 g/t gold, and ending in mineralization at 350 metres
“Ulaan drilling has returned very high grade zones in the feeder structure as well as exceptionally thick zones of mineralisation, exceeding 300 metres, which remain open, in the core of the discovery,” President and CEO, Peter Akerley, said.
“This newest Khundii District discovery is interpreted as the western extension of the Bayan Khundii deposit, demonstrating the resource expansion potential from deeper exploration in the District.
“In the past week, we launched a follow-up exploration program. The outcome of this programme as well as the results from the recently completed regional reverse-circulation (RC) programme, will focus our exploration work for the balance of 2022.
“We are confident that we are well on our way to achieving our two million ounce gold equivalent resource target by the end of the year.”
For further information please visit: https://erdene.com/
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At least 6 child jockeys die in horse races in Mongolia so far this year www.xinhuanet.com

At least six child jockeys have died during horse races in Mongolia so far this year, the country's Authority for Family, Child and Youth Development said Tuesday.
The statement came after a 10-year-old girl jockey died during a horse race in Tuvshinshiree soum of the eastern province of Sukhbaatar on Monday.
Many small and large horse races are held throughout the year in Mongolia. During the horse races, over 290 child jockeys have been seriously or slightly injured, the authority said.
By law, the minimum age of child jockeys is eight years old. However, the rule is not applied to all horse races in the country.
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Mineral resource and updated exploration target for Bronze Fox www.juniorminingnetwork.com

VANCOUVER, BC, July 26, 2022 /CNW/ - Kincora Copper Limited (the Company, Kincora) (TSXV: KCC) (TSXV: ASX) is pleased to note the maiden Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (Resource, MRE) and updated Exploration Target for the West Kasulu prospect reported under the JORC Code by Resilience Mining Mongolia Limited (Resilience)1. The majority of the MRE and Exploration Target are situated within the existing Bronze Fox mining license with the balance being on the adjoining Tourmaline Hills exploration licence (collectively the Bronze Fox project).
Mineral resource and updated exploration target for Bronze Fox (CNW Group/Kincora Copper Limited)
Sam Spring, President & CEO, commented:
"The Bronze Fox project consists of one of the largest copper-gold systems in Mongolia with only modest drilling having been completed. The consolidated West Kasulu prospect has only had three years of unimpeded prior drilling activity, and is located on the margin of and is a small portion of one of three large and underexplored intrusive complexes identified to date at the Bronze Fox project.
The MRE, for the at and near surface portions of West Kasulu, and an Exploration Target, for the deeper part of the system, under the JORC Code1, has been commissioned and paid for by Resilience and reflect the proposed strategy to focus on, and derive value from, the potential for early development of the near surface oxide resource and shallow porphyry expansion potential, while seeking partners to fund deeper drilling. It is pleasing to see the scale of previous exploration efforts at West Kasulu further quantified, with the system remaining open along strike and at depth.
As noted in our July 8th press release, Kincora remains committed to extracting appropriate value from our wholly owned Mongolian assets for the benefit of our shareholders and seeing the projects move forward. We have worked with Resilience for a significant period of time, the door is still open to them, as our strategy remains focused towards active and systematic exploration activities in Australia."
1 The MRE and Exploration Target have been prepared by independent consultant DG & JG Larsen Consulting Pty Ltd and are reported in accordance with the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves 2012 (JORC Code), and is not based on Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) definitions, and as a result the estimate is not recognized under National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators (NI 43-101).
On China's doorstep, trucking distance to the world's largest copper consumer
Recent significant investments in the Southern Gobi porphyry belt:
Oyu Tolgoi partners reach comprehensive agreement and approve commencement of underground mining operations (estimated total capex US$6.9 billion) – January 2022
Rio Tinto's US$2.7 billion cash offer to acquire remaining 49% of Turquoise Hill Resources and thereby increase its effective ownership in the Oyu Tolgoi project – March 2022
Xanadu Mining and its flagship Kharmagtai project, total staged investment of up to A$58 million from Zijing Mining (a global top 10 copper producer) – April 2022
Kincora's wholly owned Mongolian portfolio assets include the Bronze Fox mining license (the eastern license of the Bronze Fox project), Tourmaline Hills (the western license of the Bronze Fox project) and Red Well exploration licenses, the White Pearl camp and one of (if not) the largest project generation databases for Mongolia (refer to Figure 1 for recent regional activity).
The MRE and Exploration Target were commissioned and paid for by Resilience, meeting a condition precedent from the Joint Venture and Acquisition Agreement, and subsequent extension agreement, with Kincora. On July 8th, 2022, Kincora provided an update on the status of the Joint Venture Agreement with Resilience (see the press release "Kincora provides corporate update for Mongolian portfolio" for further details).
The MRE and Exploration Target have been prepared by independent consultants DG & JG Larsen Consulting Pty Ltd, and its principal Mr. David Larsen, and are reported in accordance with the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves 2012 (JORC Code), and is not based on Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) definitions, and as a result the estimate is not recognized under National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators (NI 43-101).
Mr. David Larsen is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, is a full-time employee of and the principal of DF & JG Larsen Consulting Pty Ltd and is a shareholder of Resilience. Mr. Larsen produced the Mineral Resource Estimate based on data and geological information supplied by Kincora and Resilience.
Mr Larsen has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity that he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Minerals Resources and Ore Reserves. Mr Larsen consents to the inclusion in this press release of the matters based on his information in the form and context that the information appears.
This announcement has been authorised for release by the Board of Kincora Copper Limited (ARBN 645 457 763)
About Kincora Copper
Kincora Copper is an active and systematic ASX and TSX-V listed exploration company (ticker "KCC") focused on world-class copper gold discoveries in Australia's foremost porphyry region, the Macquarie Arc, with the ambition to become the leading pure play porphyry explorer this region. Kincora is also seeking to realise value from its highly prospective portfolio of porphyry projects located in the Southern Gobi, Mongolia's foremost porphyry region. For further information please refer to www.kincoracopper.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain information regarding Kincora contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although Kincora believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Kincora cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, most of which are beyond its control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what Kincora currently foresees. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration results, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The information contained herein is stated as of the current date and is subject to change after that date. Kincora does not assume the obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information in this news release was prepared in accordance with the standards of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum and National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and was reviewed, verified and compiled by Kincora's geological staff under the supervision of Paul Cromie (BSc Hons. M.Sc. Economic Geology, PhD, member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Society of Economic Geologists), Exploration Manager Australia, who is the Qualified Persons for the purpose of NI 43-101.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) or the Australian Securities Exchange accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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China’s Alibaba eyes dual primary listing in Hong Kong www.aljazeera.com

Chinese giant Alibaba has announced plans to apply for a primary listing in Hong Kong and keep its listing in the United States, opening up the firm to a vast pool of mainland China investors for the first time.
The move announced on Tuesday would see Alibaba become the first large dual-primary listed company on the New York Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Stock Exchange, taking advantage of a new rule allowing dual primary listings.
The move comes after the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) in January announced it would allow “innovative” Chinese companies with weighted voting rights or variable interest entities – where a company sets up an offshore entity that allows foreign investors to buy into the stock – to carry out dual primary listings in the city.
CEO Daniel Zhang said Alibaba was pursuing another primary listing venue to foster a “wider and more diversified investor base”.
“Hong Kong and New York are both major global financial centers, with shared characteristics of openness and diversity,” Zhang said in a statement. “Hong Kong is also the launch pad for Alibaba’s globalization strategy, and we are fully confident in China’s economy and future.”
Alibaba went public in New York in September 2014 and completed a secondary listing in Hong Kong in November 2019.
Once a darling of technology stock investors, the e-commerce giant saw its stock price plummet after Beijing launched a sweeping crackdown on private industry that left the company with a $2.8bn fine and scuppered the initial public offering (IPO) of its affiliate Ant.
Alibaba’s stock jumped four percent at the start of trading in Hong Kong amid expectations the move would give mainland China investors easier access to its shares.
While Alibaba already has a secondary listing in Hong Kong, the listing does not allow it to join the popular Stock Connect programme that links to bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
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China Covid Cases Rise as Shenzhen Flareup Snares Top Firms www.bloomberg.com

China’s Covid-19 infections rebounded, with an increase in cases in the south threatening the operations of industry giants including BYD Co. and Huawei Technologies Co.
Nationwide, cases were 868 for Monday, CCTV reported, up from 680 a day earlier. Attention is shifting to the southern manufacturing hub of Shenzhen, where 19 local cases were detected and authorities have ordered some of China’s biggest firms to operate within a “closed loop” system for seven days, raising concerns about disruptions to global supply chains.
The city government asked its 100 biggest companies, including iPhone maker Foxconn and oil producer Cnooc Ltd. to restrict operations only to employees living within a closed loop or bubble, with little to no contact with people beyond their plants or offices. Authorities also asked companies to reduce unnecessary interaction between non-manufacturing staff and factory floors to reduce infection, according to a government notice seen by Bloomberg News.
The city had also shut three subway stations as of Tuesday. Xiasha and Shawei stations in Futian district are close to the border with Hong Kong, and Hourui in Bao’an district is to the west of the city.
Shanghai reported 19 local cases, including three found outside quarantine areas. The financial hub will conduct two rounds of mandatory mass testing in nine of its 16 districts between Tuesday and Thursday in order to reduce outbreak risks.
The compulsory testing, which has been conducted frequently since the city emerged from a bruising two-month lockdown in early June, comes on top of a requirement for everyone in Shanghai to test every other day in order to move around freely. Residents are already required to hold a negative PCR result done within the previous 72 hours to get into public places like shopping malls, office buildings and restaurants.
The city halted operations at warehouses in Baoshan district, including those for steel products, from Tuesday for three days to contain Covid-19 cases, according to commodities research firm Mysteel.
The majority of China’s cases are centered in the hotspots of the Guangxi region in the south, which recorded 402 cases Monday, and the northwestern province of Gansu, which had 343 new infections.
The outbreak in Gansu has coincided with the peak tourist season, dealing a heavy blow to the local industry, a key source of revenue for the remote province that lies along the ancient Silk Road and is home to attractions such as the Dunhuang grottoes, the official China Business News reported.
Authorities have temporarily closed 186 tourist sites, almost half of the province’s attractions. Many travel agencies have suspended planned trips to Gansu, while diverting their clients to other destinations, the report said. The province received 276 million tourists in 2021 and tourism income of 184 billion yuan ($27 billion), according to the report.
Many domestic tourism companies have issued profit warnings for the first half, according to the report, with seven mainland China-listed tourism firms, including China CYTS Tours Holding Co., LiJiang YuLongTourism Co. and Tibet Tourism Co. forecasting a combined 450 million yuan in losses for the first six months of the year.
— With assistance by Peter Vercoe, Charlie Zhu, and Linda Lew
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Russia’s Gazprom to disable second pipeline turbine www.rt.com

Russian energy major Gazprom will stop the operation of second Siemens turbine, the company announced on Monday. As a result supply through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will not exceed 33 million cubic meters per day from July 27, business daily Kommersant has reported, corresponding to 20% of the pipeline's capacity.
Gazprom says the decision to switch off the turbine was made based on its technical condition and the fact that it’s due for an overhaul.
A spokesperson for Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs has reportedly said that there are no technical reasons to reduce gas supply via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
According to an earlier report by Kommersant, several of the nine turbines at the Portovaya compressor station are in need of repair. The paper notes that Gazprom has not yet authorised further repairs, and that one turbine took about three months to overhaul. The current licensing agreement allows Siemens Energy to accept five more turbines for repair before the end of 2024.
This follows a dispute between Russia, Canada and Germany over a Siemens turbine that had been sent to Montreal for repairs and was not returned on time due to Ottawa’s sanctions against Moscow. Gazprom cited the delay as the reason for a 60% reduction in gas flow to Germany last month. Canada eventually sent the part to Germany, where it is currently awaiting shipment to Russia. Gazprom said earlier on Monday that the paperwork it had received from Canada and Siemens regarding the shipment of the turbine did not clear up sanctions-related questions.
Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested that Berlin could no longer rely on Moscow when it came to gas supplies and said he wasn’t convinced by Russia’s statements that the repaired Siemens turbine that had been delayed was necessary for the full functioning of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. Moscow rejected the claim on Monday, with the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying that a decrease in the volume of supplies was due to technical problems resulting from Western sanctions.
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Why Is the UB Dialogue Important? www.blogs.ubc.ca

Amidst increased geopolitical tensions and lingering pandemic effects, Mongolia, a small, landlocked state hosted three major international in-person events in June.
Khaan Quest, an annual multinational peacekeeping exercise, was organized at the Five Hills Peace Support Operations Training Centre. Over thousand military personnel from fifteen countries, including the United States, South Korea, Japan, and
India – those dispatched a large military contingent, exercised for peacekeeping deployments. At the same time, Mongolia hosted the first-ever Women, Peace and Security conference welcoming over 60 female peacekeepers from 30 countries as well as Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations of the
United Nations. Then, in June 23-25, Mongolia organized the 7 th “Ulaanbaatar Dialogue” on Northeast Asian Security. Here we would like to explain why the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue (known as the UB Dialogue or UBD) is an important foreign policy endeavour for
Mongolia.
History of the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue
The UBD is a continuation of Mongolia’s multilateral foreign policy to welcome international participants to Mongolia and to be a part of the international community.
This policy had been disrupted during the Cold War when Mongolia had no choice to become the Soviet ally and its foreign policy had been dictated by the Kremlin. Even though during this time, Mongolia invited many newly independent small states of the
Asia Pacific Region in 1960s-70s to share its experience of the socialist bloc (CMEA) – aided economic development.
Also, Mongolia became a hub for the Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace from the 1970s. In the late 1980s, as the geopolitical tension among the great powers declined, Mongolia pursued a quite aggressive policy for offering itself as a dialogue venue for peace and cooperation in the Asia Pacific Region.
Building on this successful foreign policy to develop bilateral ties with China and ‘third neighbours’ – mostly developed democracies (or the Western countries) in 1990s, Mongolia began to make renewed efforts to offer the multilateral platform. In 2008, the Mongolian Institute for Strategic Studies along with the George Marshall Centre for European Security Studies organized a conference, titled “Ulaanbaatar as New Helsinki?” to promote Mongolia as a neutral venue for the regional security talk. Later, in 2013, the Pres Elbergdorj endorsed the ‘venue for multilateral dialogue’ idea and coined the UB Dialogue as a long-term foreign policy initiative to engage all Northeast Asian countries, including countries with hostile relations.
7th Ulaanbaatar Dialogue
After two years of disruptions due to the COVID19 pandemic, Mongolia hosted the 7th UB Dialogue – which is noted the first-ever in-person international dialogue in Northeast Asia. In several ways, this year’s dialogue was unique.
For one, North Korea was missing because of the pandemic and a lack of the virtual connection. In all previous dialogues, North Korean participation was important for many other participants, especially for Japan – who managed to organize a side bilateral meeting during the UB Dialogue, and many European participants. However, a well-known German expert on North Korea offered his insights on the DPRK.
Second, Russia’s participation in the dialogue was the hottest topic among international participants, some declined their participation, and some left during the Russian delegate’s speech. Many participants, including Mongolian speakers, were in agreement to end the hostility in Ukraine and to find a peaceful solution to ongoing military conflict.
Third, the inclusion of the youth speakers (as a main panel) was applauded by the majority of participants. This year, the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) organized a youth panel by providing opportunities for youth representatives from China, Japan, Mongolia, and South Korea to present their views on regional peace and security with policymakers and scholars.
Fourth, the Business Council of Mongolia (BCM) and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) organized sessions devoted to discuss the post-pandemic economic cooperation and power grid connectivity in the region. Finally, the host nation welcomed the participation from the Kyrgyz Republic and many other international participants from Europe; thus provides opportunities for Northeast Asian experts to share and compare their perspectives on regional cooperation.
In retrospect, the UB Dialogue is becoming a modest and unique regional venue for
policy-makers, academics, and youth exchange their views and hopes on Northeast
Asian matters. This year, the track one closed door meeting was hosted by the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and this meeting was attended by senior foreign ministry
officials from thirteen countries, plus the United Nations. The security session is now
divided into two parts: the first session discusses challenges and the other searches
ways to promote the confidence building. The UNDPPA will continue to work with
organizers to have the youth session as an important part of the dialogue, where youths
from Northeast Asia and elsewhere could share their visions of region. The economic
sessions are now jointly organized by the BCM, a Mongolian non-governmental
organization, and USESCAP, in hope to make the economic aspects as critical part of
the UB dialogue. Overcoming its two-year interruptions, the UB dialogue revived and
appears to be on a narrow path to become an international conference on Northeast
Asian matters.
About Soyolgerel Nyamjav
Soyolgerel Nyamjav is the Head of the Centre for International Security at the Institute for Strategic Studies, National Security Council of Mongolia. Soyolgerel’s research focuses on security studies especially Mongolia’s security environment, geopolitical situation, Central Asian regional problems and regional multilateral mechanisms.
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