On 16-18 June 2022, Mongolia welcomed the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, other UN officials and representatives from over thirty countries to a three-day conference on “Strengthening the Role of Women in Peacekeeping”. The conference allowed for detailed and candid discussions of the obstacles to increased meaningful participation of uniformed women in peace operations and lively exchanges about ways to address these challenges. It also highlighted Mongolia’s willingness to play a leadership role on this issue and the resonance its engagement has in the UN and with other states.

Day 1: Commitment and Candid Conversations

The conference began with opening speeches by President U. Khurelsukh and Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix, underlining the political importance both Mongolia and the UN accorded the conference. President Khurelsukh used the opportunity to announce that Mongolia intends to increase the proportion of women in its own peacekeeping contributions to 15% for military contingents and 25% for staff officers and military observers by 2027. This is an ambitious and significant goal: as of April 2022, Mongolia is the UN’s 24th largest uniformed personnel contributor with 884 individuals deployed, of whom 73 (8.3%) are women.

For the remainder of the first day, conference participants exchanged insights on the barriers to the recruitment of women into uniformed services and to the training, deployment and meaningful participation of uniformed women in peace operations as well as best practices for overcoming these obstacles. Discussions took place over three panels in which a wide range of states (Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Korea, the Netherlands, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Rwanda) shared their perspectives and also – just as importantly – in many smaller, informal conversations in breaks and over delicious food.

Two factors made the discussions particularly powerful. One was the fact that all countries recognized and acknowledged challenges in their own efforts to recruit women into their armed forces and deploy them as peacekeepers. This made seeking solutions a collective endeavor in which all participants had a stake. The second factor was that most of the participants – both international and Mongolian – were women serving in their countries’ military or police forces who had themselves deployed on one or more peace operations. They generously shared their own experiences as well as national perspectives, enabling rich and deeply informed conversations.

Day 2: Five Hills Peacekeeping Training Centre

On the second conference day, participants were fortunate to visit the Five Hills Peacekeeping Training Center, where the annual multinational Khan Quest exercise was being held. The day included a panel on Mongolian experiences deploying women peacekeepers, a visit to the training lanes and a briefing on the Women, Peace and Security training that was being offered alongside the Khan Quest for the first time. We were then privileged to experience a Mini-Naadam ­– complete with traditional music, wrestling and horseback riding – before returning through stunning scenery to Ulaanbaatar.

Day 3: Next Steps

The conference ended by looking forward. One panel focused on mechanisms to support states seeking to increase their ability to deploy women peacekeepers, including Canada’s Elsie Initiative, the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance’s barrier assessment methodology; and the Elsie Initiative Fund for Uniformed Women in Peace Operations. A final moderators’ panel summarized discussions and identified major lessons learned. The closing session saw three important announcements. Under-Secretary-General Lacroix indicated that the Department of Peace Operations would launch a pilot virtual network of deployed women peacekeepers. Ghana revealed that it would host the 2023 Peacekeeping Ministerial meeting and place Women Peace and Security high on the meeting’s agenda. Mongolia closed the conference with a proposal to host follow-on conferences every five years.

Given Mongolia’s warm hospitality and how rewarding and constructive the conference was, I’m sure I was not the only participant who welcomed this announcement – and hoped to be able to participate again!

About Katharina Coleman

Katharina P. Coleman (PhD Princeton) is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Her research focuses on international organizations, peace operations, the politics of international legitimacy and the creation and impact of international norms. Her regional area of expertise is sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Coleman helped draft the Terms of Reference for the Elsie Initiative Fund for Uniformed Women in Peace Operations and now serves on the Fund’s Technical Committee.

About Julian Dierkes

Julian Dierkes is a sociologist by training (PhD Princeton Univ) and a Mongolist by choice and passion since around 2005. He teaches in the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He tweets @jdierkes

(Reuters) - Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher contends that something is rotten in the state of Mongolia – and that King & Spalding is in the middle of it.

In a court filing on Friday, Gibson Dunn claimed that King & Spalding has “fundamentally misrepresented” its relationship with Mongolian prosecutors in a series of cases in venues around the world to recover allegedly misappropriated Mongolian assets.

King & Spalding spent nearly two years litigating the cases under the auspices of a November 2020 contract with a Mongolian prosecutor’s office. But Gibson Dunn asserts K&S was never actually authorized to litigate on behalf of Mongolian government agencies and is instead engaged in “an “unauthorized, illegitimate political attack” on Gibson Dunn’s client, onetime Mongolian prime minister Sukhbaatar Batbold.

King & Spalding declined to provide a statement in response to the Gibson Dunn filing but cited a recent court filing that said no foreign tribunal overseeing a case to freeze Mongolian assets has endorsed Batbold’s assertion that K&S lacks authority to litigate.

Friday’s filing by Gibson Dunn was in a special proceeding, known as a 1782 action, that Batbold brought in Manhattan federal court to obtain discovery from investigative firm K2 Integrity Holdings Inc, which conducted a years-long probe of the alleged misappropriation of Mongolian mining assets. The K2 investigation was the basis of King & Spalding’s far-flung litigation to recover assets from Batbold and other defendants.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona Wang of Manhattan ordered K2 in October to produce discovery. Since then, Gibson Dunn and K2’s lawyers at Kobre & Kim have been battling over K2’s claims that almost all of its documents are privileged because it worked hand-in-glove with Mongolia’s litigators from King & Spalding.

Friday’s brief argued that K2 can’t legitimately claim privilege because King & Spalding does not actually represent Mongolian government prosecutors.

Citing two letters from Mongolia’s deputy prosecutor general – a November 2020 letter casting doubt on King & Spalding’s authorization to bring the suits and a March 2022 letter demanding that King & Spalding terminate the actions – Gibson Dunn asserts that King & Spalding and K2 are not working for the Mongolian government but for Batbold’s political rivals.

“K2 and K&S’s privilege arguments are rotten to their core,” the July 15 brief said. “K&S, a major global law firm has purported to represent a foreign government agency, [the Mongolian Office of the Prosecutor General], in this court and others. But this appears to have been an outright misrepresentation. K&S does not now have, and has never had, any attorney-client relationship with OPG.”

King & Spalding is not a party to the K2 1782 action so has not countered the allegations there. But in a separate 1782 action to obtain Batbold’s banking records (more on that below), K&S filed an assignment letter from a Mongolian prosecutor that appears to authorize the firm to “seek in all relevant courts orders to freeze” Batbold assets. King & Spalding and K2 have also filed declarations from Mongolian agency heads that appear to empower the U.S. firms to act on their behalf.

K2 spokeswoman Joan Vollero refuted Gibson Dunn's accusation that K2 and K&S are acting without appropriate authority. In a July 11 letter to the Manhattan magistrate that anticipated Gibson Dunn’s arguments in the July 15 brief, K2’s counsel asserted that it was Batbold — not K2 and K&S — who was engaged in “politically motivated attacks.” Batbold's assertion, K2 said, disregarded the record not only on King & Spalding’s engagement but also of the successful litigation in four different courts to freeze allegedly misappropriated assets worth about $70 million.

“The attorney-client relationship in this matter has been extensively documented through engagement agreements and sworn declarations in public filings,” K2 spokeswoman Vollero said in an email statement. “A recent change in power in Mongolia is the political backdrop to this matter.”

King & Spalding has raised its own questions about undue political influence in the Mongolian litigation. In November 2012, the law firm brought a 1782 action in Manhattan federal court on behalf of Mongolian entities seeking discovery from JP Morgan Chase Bank NA about Batbold's wire transfers. (That 1782 action is entirely distinct from Batbold’s discovery proceeding for evidence from K2.) In early 2022, Gibson Dunn, in King & Spalding's 1782 action, informed U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick that Mongolian authorities said King & Spalding had been terminated.

King & Spalding responded in a March 16 filing, arguing that the letter ending its authority to represent the Mongolian government arose “out of troubling circumstances.” The firm said it had been authorized to bring cases by Mongolia’s top prosecutor and had engaged in no previous contact with the deputy who had apparently withdrawn that authorization. Moreover, K&S said, it appeared that Gibson Dunn had been exchanging ex parte letters with the deputy prosecutor.

“If taken at face value, the letters would appear to signal that the [prosecutor’s office] has abruptly shifted its priorities — from years of diligently rooting out corruption among public officials, to now urgently seeking to discharge approximately $70 million in assets that it had frozen for the benefit of the Mongolian people,” King & Spalding said. “Needless to say, we cannot take such letters at face value, particularly when they appear to have been prompted by the very person whose assets are frozen.”

Nevertheless, King & Spalding voluntarily dismissed the 1782 proceeding before Broderick in April. And according to Gibson Dunn’s filing on Friday in the K2 case, King & Spalding has subsequently withdrawn from several other cases it brought on behalf of Mongolian agencies, including litigation in London and Singapore. Gibson Dunn cast those withdrawals as an acknowledgment by the firm that it does not represent the Mongolian officials empowered to sue on behalf of the government.

Batbold lead counsel Orin Snyder of Gibson Dunn told me King & Spalding’s suggestion of a pressure campaign to persuade Mongolian prosecutors to cut off K&S is “misinformation.”

“Shadowy figures are behind these abusive foreign lawsuits against our clients,” Snyder added in an email statement. “We are pursuing the truth in the U.S. courts and all wrongdoers will be held fully accountable."

By Alison Frankel

Thomson Reuters

Alison Frankel has covered high-stakes commercial litigation as a columnist for Reuters since 2011. A Dartmouth college graduate, she has worked as a journalist in New York covering the legal industry and the law for more than three decades. Before joining Reuters, she was a writer and editor at The American Lawyer. Frankel is the author of Double Eagle: The Epic Story of the World’s Most Valuable Coin.

During his working trip to Bayannuur soum of Bayan-Ulgii aimag, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene became acquainted with the progress of the Erdeneburen hydropower plant project.

With the commissioning of the plant, it will become possible to provide the country's western region with domestically produced energy, eliminate the dependence on imported electricity and have a reliable source.

Within the framework of the ‘Revival of Energy’ objective set out in the government’s ‘New Revival Policy’, renewable energy sources including hydro power plant are prioritized. In this regard, works are being carried out to complete the construction of the 90MW Erdeneburen HPP, and launch the construction work for 220MW Eg River hydropower plant.

There are 270 households who currently reside in the area taken as state special-use for the implementation of the Erdeneburen HPP project. In accordance with the Law on Land and accompanying regulations, corresponding officials are working to relocate 270 households in phases between 2022 and 2025. Funding required to relocate 91 households in 2022 has been allocated in the state budget so far.

“The issues on eliminating the dependence on the energy sector and building new energy sources are the priority for Mongolia. One of the several stations, which will have a significant contribution to the energy sector, is the Erdeneburen HPP,” highlighted Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene.

The 103rd meeting of International Organizing Committee for World Mining Congress (IOC/WMC meeting) took place last week in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry G.Yondon, WMC Chairman Marek Cala, General Director of Erdenet Mining Corporation Kh.Badamsuren, Executive Director of Mongolian Coal Association J.Zoljargal as well as representatives from 15 countries including India, China, Australia and Poland.

In the first part of the meeting, participants were provided information about Mongolia’s export of copper, coal and critical minerals and future trends, India’s investment in mining sector as well as global mining reports.

In the second part of the meeting, Australia’s National Organizing Committee introduced about the preparation process for 26th World Mining Congress to be held in Brisbane in 2023, and Executive Director General of China National Coal Association Su Chuanrong gave a presentation about China’s mining and coal sector development. The participants also heard the report of the sub-committee for new members and the speech of WMC General Secretary Jacek Skiba.

China is planning a state-backed iron ore company to oversee everything from massive mine investments in West Africa to buying the steelmaking material from global suppliers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Top leaders in Beijing have a vision for the new entity to assume broad responsibility for raw materials supplies to the country’s sprawling steel industry, by far the world’s biggest, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.

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The plan would mark China’s biggest effort yet to tackle what its officials have long argued is the excessive pricing power wielded by miners including BHP Group Ltd. and Rio Tinto Plc. China spent about $180 billion on iron ore imports last year.

The new entity would house outbound investments such as the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, seen by the China’s leaders as the best route to ease the steel industry’s reliance on Australian ore. It would also ideally become the sole channel for buying imported iron ore from third parties, most of which comes from either Australia or Brazil.

Bloomberg reported in February that China was planning a centralized purchasing platform for iron ore imports. Plans for a new state-owned company to handle iron ore imports and overseas investments were reported by the Wall Street Journal last week and Caixin on Monday.

The plan has been under consideration for years with the backing of senior leaders, the people said. At the very least, it will be a vehicle to consolidate several overseas iron ore investments including Simandou, as well as raw materials purchasing for a handful of China’s biggest state-owned steelmakers.

The establishment of the firm is seen progressing this month after Yao Lin, the chairman of Aluminum Corp. of China and a key organizer of the iron ore firm, left Chinalco. Yao and Guo Bin, executive vice president of China Baowu Steel Group Co., will lead the new company, which will be directly under China’s State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said the people.

China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and National Development and Reform Commission didn’t immediately reply to faxed requests for comment.

The development of Simandou in Guinea has repeatedly been delayed by legal disputes and government changes in Guinea. The reserve holds one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of iron ore and is divided into four blocks, with 1 and 2 controlled by the consortium backed by Chinese and Singaporean companies, while Rio Tinto and a joint venture between Chinalco and Baowu own blocks 3 and 4.

In June, the gold purchase of the Bank of Mongolia (BoM) was 1,962.6 kg, raising the BoM’s total precious metal purchase of 2022 to 7.9 tons. The figure shows a decrease of 16 percent as compared with the same period of the previous year.

Since the beginning of this year, the BoM branches in Darkhan-Uul and Bayankhongor aimags have bought 490.6 kg and 491 kg of precious metals respectively.

In June, the average price of BoM’s purchase of 1 gram of gold was MNT 193,390.89 last month.

15,000 foreign companies from 113 countries registered as investors in Mongolia from 1990 to 2019, after the country legally allowed foreign investment. China accounted for 50% of foreign investors' enterprises, South Korea for 17%, and Russia for 6%.

South Korean Institute of Mongolian Studies of Danggu University and Mongolian University of Commerce and Industry (MTPU) emphasized investment statistics during a joint scientific conference on the state of trade between South Korea and Mongolia.

Head of the policy and strategy department at the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry J. Oyunchimeg presented the business environment of Mongolia, and trade manager of Land Bridge LLC M. Gan-Erdene spoke about the cargo transportation problems between the two countries.

Professor N. Otgonsaikhan from MTPU prresented the advantages and disadvantages of trade, transport mediation, freight transport, taxes and investments between South Korea and Mongolia.

The parties also discussed the fact that the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries does not reach the desired level.

July 18 (Xinhua) -- The Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 accounted for around 10 percent of new daily infections in Mongolia, according to health authorities.

"First cases of Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 were detected in our country late last month," the director of the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) Tsolmon Bilegtsaikhan said in a statement.

Due to the most contagious Omicron subvariants, the number of new cases is expected to increase in the Asian country, Bilegtsaikhan said, urging the public to wear face masks in public or crowded places.

The country on Monday confirmed 101 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the national tally to 931,458, according to the country's health ministry. Enditem

H&M has announced it is leaving Russia but will temporarily reopen its shops there to sell off its remaining stock.

The world's second-biggest clothing retailer said it was "impossible" to continue its business in Russia due to the Ukraine war.

The decision comes after the Swedish firm suspended all sales in Russia in March, shortly after Russian troops invaded Ukraine in late February.

H&M is understood to have more than 150 stores and about 6,000 staff in Russia.

It has not given a date or timescale for its exit.

"After careful consideration, we see it as impossible given the current situation to continue our business in Russia," said chief executive Helena Helmersson.

"We are deeply saddened about the impact this will have on our colleagues and very grateful for all their hard work and dedication. Furthermore, we wish to thank our customers for their support throughout the years."

Which companies are pulling out of Russia?

H&M is one of many brands pulling out of Russia in recent months. Many have said sanctions imposed after the invasion by Western allies have made trading unviable and in some sectors impossible.

Others have left taking a moral stance on the war, or are responding to pressure from consumers to act.

Prior to it suspending sales, Russia was H&M's sixth-biggest market, accounting for about 4% of group sales in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The fashion giant had been expanding its presence in Russia since starting operations there in 2009, including opening shops under other brand names in its portfolio, Weekday and & Other Stories. Russian shoppers could previously order clothes from the brands Monki and Cos online.

H&M forecast departing from Russia will cost the group about about two billion Swedish Krona.

The retailer's shops in Ukraine have been closed for some time due to concerns over the safety of customers and staff.

Mongolia expects Russia to begin construction of the “Power of Siberia 2” gas pipeline through its territory to China within two years, as Moscow moves to connect its Europe-supplying gasfields to Asia for the first time.

Mongolia’s prime minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai told the Financial Times that while the war in Ukraine had clouded planning for the pipeline, he expected construction to go ahead.

The Power of Siberia 2 project has become critical to Russia as it faces the prospect of losing Europe as a market for its gas following its invasion of Ukraine and accusations it has “weaponised” supply to create a price crisis.

“The feasibility study of this project has finished and we believe construction will begin in 2024,” Luvsannamsrai said.

The prime minister also said Rio Tinto’s huge Oyu Tolgoi mine project in Mongolia was on schedule and that the country was making progress in preparations to deal with looming bond repayments.

Power of Siberia 2 will connect Siberian fields that supply Europe — which has pledged to end its dependence on Russia’s state-backed Gazprom — to China, where demand for gas is rising.

Mongolia, which has a population of more than 3.3mn in a vast territory, is landlocked between China and Russia. Luvsannamsrai said that being hemmed in by two “superpowers” at a time of geopolitical stress created complications, but that Mongolia was used to working closely with both.

Ulan Bator signed a memorandum of understanding with Moscow in 2019 to explore the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which would carry up to 50bn cubic meters of gas a year through its territory.

Luvsannamsrai said there had not been any significant increase in pressure from Russia to accelerate construction of the line despite Gazprom’s plans to pivot its focus to Asia. Alexei Miller, Gazprom chief, has suggested China will become its cornerstone customer in the future.

Luvsannamsrai said the final route of the line through Mongolia was still being “deliberated”.

The 2,600km pipeline has been predicted to enter service in about 2030, but industry executives believe that could be brought forward given Moscow’s need to find markets for its energy supplies.

Transit fees from the pipeline will help Mongolia’s economy, which was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. China, its main trading partner, frequently closed Mongolian export routes as it tried to control the virus.

Luvsannamsrai said he expected Mongolia’s economy to strengthen this year, helped by new rail connections to China that will be used to ship commodities such as coal and copper.

Exports of copper are expected to grow substantially in the next few years as miner Rio Tinto expands development of a huge copper deposit in the Gobi Desert.

The Oyu Tolgoi mine is Mongolia’s biggest source of foreign direct investment and provides thousands of well-paid jobs, but its underground expansion has been beset by delays and cost overruns that have caused bitter rows between Rio Tinto and Ulan Bator.

Last year, Mongolia threatened to halt work on the project, saying it would never receive a dividend from the mine because of the amount of debt taken on to develop it.

Rio in December agreed to write off more than $2bn of loans and interest used by the government to fund its share of total development costs that were on Friday revealed to total $7bn, up from $5.3bn.

Luvsannamsrai, who met with Rio chief executive Jakob Stausholm last week, said he was “confident” the mine was running to schedule, with underground production to start in the first half of next year.

“I believe this will be clear example of how Mongolia can work actively and efficiently with its investors,” the prime minister said, referring to the deal with Rio.

Asked about Mongolia’s foreign debts, Luvsannamsrai acknowledged Ulan Bator had some “issues” to work through, but pointed to a recent deal with Japan for early repayment of a yen-denominated bond as evidence of progress.

He said Mongolia had been “focusing on how we can improve our reputation” in capital markets.

Including the samurai bond, Mongolia has about $1.3bn of bonds maturing in 2023 and $600mn in 2024, but low levels of foreign currency reserves.

“We believe the recent drop in commodity prices is a temporary shock . . . due to the pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine crisis,” Luvsannamsrai said. “We have an optimistic view that copper use and production will not decrease in the future but increase.”