Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Mongolia Gabit Koishibayev met with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia Ankhbayar Nyamdorj, Kazinform cites the press service of the Kazakh MFA.

During the conversation, having made a brief overview of the current state and prospects of Mongolian-Kazakh cooperation in the political and economic spheres, State Secretary Ankhbayar emphasized the reliable and trusting nature of relations between Mongolia and Kazakhstan, which have been maintained for all three decades that have passed since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and also expressed the interest of the Mongolian side in further deepening collaboration on the entire spectrum of issues of bilateral cooperation.

Supporting and developing the idea of ​​the interlocutor, Ambassador Koishibayev, in turn, proposed to focus the efforts of the parties on specific areas of cooperation, in particular, to intensify joint coordinated steps to increase trade turnover between the two countries, deepen collaboration in transport and logistics, agrarian, production and investment spheres. In this regard, he noted that in order to achieve practical results in these areas, it is important to carry out thorough preparations for the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Mongolia, planned to hold this year in Ulaanbaatar. The establishment of direct business ties between business circles will also be facilitated by the holding of the Trade and Economic Mission of Kazakhstan in Mongolia this year.

The parties agreed on the need to coordinate efforts to develop mutually beneficial cooperation within the existing international logistics infrastructures, to actively use the transit potential of the two countries in order to increase the volume of transit and bilateral transportation of goods and passengers along international transport corridors.

During the meeting, issues of interaction between Kazakhstan and Mongolia in international affairs, including within the framework of multilateral structures, were also discussed. The importance of providing mutual support in promoting the initiatives of the two countries within the framework of the UN, CICA, SCO and other international organizations was emphasized.

In addition, the parties discussed some issues of working cooperation between the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, agreed to continue the regular exchange of information and maintain constant contacts on current issues of Kazakh-Mongolian cooperation.

What do you know about sumo? When future Brave Blossoms captain Michael Leitch first arrived in Japan as a 15-year-old, he thought he had a general idea. But then he started clocking who was winning top tournaments and the seedling of an idea lodged in his brain. Today, he is taking action.

He tells Rugby World: “When I first came over here, I realised that all the top sumo wrestlers in Japan were actually Mongolian. And I thought that was fascinating.

“They could all speak perfect Japanese. So I looked into the background story and a lot of them were scouted in childhood – like 15 or 16 – and were taken into what you’d call a sumo camp or stable. They just trained and trained and trained and became these top sumo wrestlers.

“And these guys are massive, you know. They’re huge guys. So I thought, if you could get one of these guys to play rugby, that’d be awesome. In the front row, like a tighthead. Because you don’t need to have the flair or anything like that, they just need to be big and strong.

“So going to Mongolia, I thought there should be a heap of Mongolian kids over there that have that potential to play in the front row.”

Yes, Leitch headed to Mongolia. And in 2019, a young man headed back the other way.

Thanks to a plan Leitch cooked up with Austin Gansukh of the Mongolian rugby union, they appealed for talent via social and traditional media campaigns, as well as courting the views of youth and school coaches, before running a process of scouting and screening sessions.

After whittling down the numbers they finally identified young Norovsambuu ‘Norvoo’ Davaajav as the right player to come over to Japan for placement in a school programme.

We’ll focus more on that scheme in a second but it’s first worth explaining whether Leitch’s initial observations are correct.

“Mongolians utterly dominated sumo between 2006 and 2016,” says John Gunning, a sumo writer and commentator based in Japan. “In that span there were 59 tournaments and 57 were won by Mongolians – plus one each by an Estonian and a Bulgarian.

“In the past six years there have been some Japanese winners but Mongolians have still held sway for the most part.

“And many of the guys that came over to sumo are physically imposing. In the attached photo I’m in the middle. I weighed 120kg in that photo and I look like a child.”

You begin to understand the appeal. Of course, just because you’re panning for gold, don’t throw away a diamond.

Young Davaajav is not a prop, but a lock. Leitch jokes that he tried to fatten the fella up, but he just doesn’t have the genes for it. But Norvoo is tough, don’t you doubt that. A lover of breakdown skirmishes and defensive collisions, he is raw and has a long way to go with his ball work, but the passion is infectious.

Leitch has also talked of diving deeper into Mongolia when his playing days are done. Asked if there is any other element to his drive here, he replies: “I want to replicate when I first came over here as a kid as well.

“Every opportunity was given to me in Japan, by the kindness of my head coach and everyone who supported me throughout my younger years. But not getting someone from, say, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji or New Zealand, but getting someone over who has no rugby experience. He has an opportunity to change his life and the course of his future.

“And keeping it in the region is massive. If you’re an Asian kid who plays rugby, your first target is to be a professional player in Japan. We have three leagues. Your quickest route is going through Japan. And so I wanted to hopefully kick-start that with this Mongolian kid. He’s going to university next year, and hopefully that progresses into a professional contract somewhere here.”

Leitch talks of not wanting to force Davaajav into a rugby career, but rather give him an array of options for his life he would not otherwise get. Big picture, Leitch dreams of tapping into talent all over the region too. He talks of having a team in Japan Rugby League One, heavily populated with talent from East Asia, Sri Lanka, India and beyond.

In his younger days, Leitch would compete in the Asian Five Nations (now the Asia Rugby Championship), and although Japan would run up big numbers against their rivals, he loved seeing the passion from sides like Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand, Dubai.

There’s something missing there now, with these sides never getting to meet top-tier nations today. He has seen Japan grow the more major Tests they get, and he wants to pay some of that back into Asia – even if it means finding a handful of opportunities for promising kids. At least at first. There is talk of the project with Davaajav being used as proof of concept, to help open the door for more players.

The landscape for rugby in Mongolia

With Mongolia specifically, though, there is a unique cultural heritage there, as well as some fascinating ethnogeography to contend with.

“Our landscape is big, but our population is only 3.4 million,” explains Austin Gansukh, senior vice president of the union. Today based in the capital region of Ulaanbaatar, Gansukh was first introduced to the game when his brother-in-law James Wood – a Canada-born Hong Kong international – came to visit Mongolia right at the start of the 2000s. He brought an odd-shaped ball with him.

A wrestler and basketball player, he was drawn in by the contact, but there was so much more to the game and he’s been hooked ever since. He even opted to study in Cardiff, to tear into rugby more.

Gansukh continually calls rugby a developmental sport in Mongolia. But before he gives us more on the path ahead, we should probably have more on the uniqueness of the nation.

“There are 21 provinces. And if we split them into four regions – just north, east, south and west – you still have quite different sorts of backgrounds for lifestyle, even between them. Then even between our regions and provinces, you still have a competitive nature between them.

“Then there’s geographically. The western part of Mongolia is quite high, with a lot of hills and high mountains, lots of trees and things like that. Whereas in the south, we have the Gobi region. It’s a desert. So the lifestyle and the density of the populations are very, very different.

“In the north we have a very big lake. It’s more sort of sacred land where mining projects are not allowed, for example. Then in the east, it’s steppe land. We even have small accent differences all over. Then in the west we also have a minority population of Kazakhs. So it’s quite diversified. And when you put them all together, representing a national team, you have a very diversified team today.

“Each region produces different styles of wrestlers too, even in our national wrestling competition. So we have a lot of champions from the far western part of Mongolia and so on.”

Talking about styles of fighters, Gunning gives us the sumo view, saying: “Most still grow up in much harsher environments than Japanese kids. Tough, hardscrabble outdoor living that is similar to the burly young farmhands and manual workers that dominate in gridiron football in Oklahoma and Texas.

“Coming to Japan at a young age and with the pressure of needing to provide financially for family back home in many cases means there is much more at stake and so they train harder and fight more desperately than many Japanese kids who don’t have the same threat of shame that failure would bring.”

With Norvoo Davaajav, Leitch shares a video of the kid’s journey and also fills us in on the young man’s own modest upbringing. Of a father with hands that tell tales of graft as a cattle herder, a mother who now cleans hotels, and a family of around seven who found peace in a traditional yurt. The young man has not seen his family for the duration of the Covid crisis.

But there’s the game. And the contact.

Is battle in the blood? The role of history has not even occurred to us, but it’s something Gunning touches on when discussing the mentality of Mongolian rikishi (sumo wrestlers). Gansukh adds: “It’s right to say that we have a mentality from hundreds of years ago, with Genghis Khan and so on. He basically brought all the different tribes together and that made the difference, because the tribes used to fight each other all the time.

“We are a very proud nation about what we’ve achieved historically, so that’s why we carry that certain pride about how our ancestors used to dominate. That still carries some weight.”

What is helping carry rugby’s weight today in the country, though, is that it has been adopted by the army, with sevens. There is high school and uni rugby but fortuitously, Gansukh explains, the union pitched to the defence ministry and won them over with the sport’s story. There was a rugby championship in 2020 and in September the army will again put on a show.

Mongolia are a full member of World Rugby, as of last year. Their 15s side have a Test in July, against Uzbekistan, and if they win that they will face the winner of a showdown between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Gansukh says to expect a direct, physical game up front, with the hope that sevens-sharpened backs can capitalise.

As for the future, he says the aim is pretty simple: “We want to attract more foreign support.

“Our ideal path is to get the likes of Japanese professional teams to start looking at Mongolian rugby players. Because we have definitely got some really, really good talents, raw talents. If we can give some an opportunity to play in a professional league, even in the Japanese division three, they could make a really good, successful career out of that.

“Right now actually, we are in talks with a Japanese side about having a school exchange programme where we actually get some of our high school teams to travel to Japan, get shared experience of rugby and so on. So it’ll be cultural exchanges, as well as sporting experience. I think there are huge opportunities and that doesn’t stop with men’s rugby. We have a huge potential with our girls as well.

“Then from a local point of view, we just want to promote rugby more and get more people to participate in rugby.”

They are competing with individual combat sports for attention. Women’s 3×3 basketball has been a recent sensation in the run up to the last Olympics. But Gansukh believes the days of confusing rugby with American Football are over.

The last three Rugby World Cups were shown on Mongolian television and, Gansukh tells us, the sitting president of the Mongolian National Olympic Committee was actually at the last World Cup final in Japan.

There is progress happening, we are told, incrementally.

As for Leitch, right now he is loving his interactions with a “codehead” kid. As he tells us: “He makes me want to play more. I was thinking about retirement and now, just watching him progress, that’s awesome to see.

“Some players come over here, spent eight years and can’t speak a word of Japanese or they’re terrible. He’s been here two years now and he is texting me in Japanese. It’s amazing.”

The future of rugby in Mongolia is something to wrestle with. But there are combatants determined to create opportunities for players.

TAVANTOLGOI, Mongolia – The Mongolian Armed Forces and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command jointly conducted the annual Khaan Quest peacekeeping exercise to promote peace and security in Northeast Asia.

The exercise, which had not been held since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, included Soldiers from the Alaska Army National Guard. Khaan Quest 2022 concluded June 20.

“It is not only a great opportunity to exchange lessons and techniques, it is an expression of the commitment of the participating nations to the charter of the United Nations and all that it stands for and against,” said Maj. Gen. Chris Smith, deputy commanding general of strategy and plans for U.S. Army Pacific. “To that end, the exercise draws from a diversity of participants matched by few other military exercises around the world.”

For two weeks, the Mongolian Armed Forces hosted 15 nations in the 18th iteration of the exercise. By participating in Khaan Quest, countries showcased their resolve in peacekeeping missions around the world.

Soldiers from Mongolia and across the U.S. Army, Pacific participated in the exercise, primarily from the Alaska Army National Guard, along with Soldiers from 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, 1-5 Infantry Battalion, 1-11 Airborne Division and 387th Military Police Battalion. Also joining the exercise were Turkey, Sweden, Singapore, South Korea, Nepal, Malaysia, Japan, India, Germany, France, Canada, Bangladesh and Australia.

Khaan Quest 2022 included a combined brigade-level command post exercise and a battalion-level field training exercise. It focused on peacekeeping in a realistic scenario and coordination with humanitarian organizations and host nation partners.

Command post operations conducted during the exercise enhanced battalion staff capabilities and interoperability to prepare for U.N. peacekeeping operations.

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Rafael Pacheco of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 297th Regional Support Group, Alaska National Guard, led command post operations.

“In my experience as an Alaska Guardsman, I experienced firsthand Mongolian Armed Forces soldiers perform in Kabul, Afghanistan, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2012,” Pacheco said. “Mongolian soldiers performed duties as the force protection contingency in charge of security in Camp Eggers and as flight line security at the Kabul International Airport. MAF Soldiers were amongst the best that ISAF partners could ask for.”

The field training exercises included improvised explosive device awareness, riot training and combat first aid.

“My Soldiers and I are grateful for the unifying experiences and friendship shared between us, MAF, and other participating nations,” said 1st Lt. Porter of 1-5 Infantry Battalion. “Our cooperation and shared interests continue to strengthen and develop our relations on both personal and professional levels.”

Maj. Eliza Zamor and Maj. Thomas Scott, 351st CACOM preventive medicine veterinarians, collaborated with the MAF public health team to address food and water safety for Khaan Quest participants.

Zamor praised the Mongolian-American teamwork.

“Planning and executing food and water risk assessments and mitigations with our Mongolian counterparts was an excellent way to increase our joint knowledge level and ensure preparation for future support to troop operations,” Zamor said.

During the closing ceremony at the Five Hills Training Area, Smith emphasized that exercise participants may be from varied backgrounds but share much in common.

“When we are called upon one day to go together to keep the peace in some unfortunate place, we will be ready, and we will know each other,” he said.

Smith also stressed the United States’ commitment to maintaining its partnership by continuing to co-host this important event alongside its Mongolian partners.

“As an Australian officer standing before you speaking on behalf of the United States - as a deputy commander of a force of over 60,000 American troops - I think there are few better illustrations of America’s commitment to deep and diverse partnerships,” he said.

“General Ganzorig, thank you for your leadership to get Khaan Quest back on track so quickly after the worst of the pandemic. You have a fine and professional force that we are proud to partner with.”

On June 21, an international scientific conference was co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bank of Mongolia under the theme ‘Current state and perspective of Mongolia-China economic and trade cooperation’.

The meeting was attended by Senior Advisor to Speaker of the Parliament D. Lundeejantsan, Minister for Foreign Affairs B. Battsetseg, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China Chai Wenrui, Governor of the Bank of Mongolia B.Lkhagvasuren, Vice President of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences G.Chuluunbaatar, and more than 50 officials from relevant ministries, public and research organizations, and businesses.

During the conference, the sides discussed the current state of trade and economic cooperation between Mongolia and Chinese, challenges, directions and opportunities for further cooperation.

They also exchanged views on increasing the trade turnover in other areas aside from mining, and expanding bilateral cooperation in agricultural sector. In the first five months of this year, Mongolia has exported 5.7 million tons of coal to China, which shows a decrease of 600,000 tons compared to the previous year. Director of the Research and Statistics Department of the Bank of Mongolia, D. Davaasukh emphasized that the coal export is expected to increase if border checkpoint operations are resumed within the framework of the government's ‘New Revival Policy’.

The study has found that the share of China in Mongolia's exports has been stable for the last 5-6 years, fluctuating between 70-90 percent. As of last year, Mongolia imported USD 7.7 million worth of goods to China, and mining products accounted for 93 percent out of total imports. The two countries' foreign trade turnover has been growing year by year, showing an increase of 38 percent or USD 2.8 billion compared to 2020. Despite the decline in volumes of mining products due to transportation and logistics in the face of the pandemic, revenues have not declined considerably because of high commodity prices at international markets. The volume of Mongolia's imports from China has increased by 31 percent in 2021.

Commercial and Economic Counsellor of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China Sun Xuejun said, “The Chinese government and all investors are ready to engage in corresponding activities, supporting the policy to develop the agricultural sector within the framework of the ‘New Revival Policy’ being implemented by the Government of Mongolia.”

Throughout the world trade turnover has been declining due to the unpredictable factors such as Covid-19 pandemic and international situation. At this time, Mongolia is facing a big challenge in maintaining its volumes of exports and imports to be made with China, a major foreign trade partner.

As a result of the implementation of the goal set by the two countries to bring the trade turnover to USD 10 billion in 2020, the amount of trade turnover reached USD 10.1 billion (exports-USD 7.64 billion, imports-USD 2.49 billion) in 2021. The sides expressed their commitment to enrich trade and economic relations with new content, to coordinate the long-term development policies and objectives of the two countries such as and Mongolia's long-term development policy ‘Vision 2050’ and ‘New Revival Policy’ with China's ‘The Belt and Road’ initiative and ‘Global Development Initiative’, as well as to expand cross-sectoral cooperation.

In 2021, Mongolia exported to 64 countries and imported from 159 countries. China’s share in Mongolia’s total export accounted for 82.6 percent. In the total imports, China accounted for 36.4 percent.

On June 21, President U. Khurelsukh got acquainted with the operation of ‘Erdenet Mining Corporation’ state-owned enterprise and attended the opening ceremony of the first Forest Genetic Resources Center in Mongolia.

The ‘Erdenet’ Center for Forest Genetic Resources has a storage with capacity of 1,000 tons of seeds and will function to create a seed pool of endangered, beneficial and woody plants, preserve and protect forest genetic resources, conduct experiments and research, and put planted forest resources into economic circulation.

The President emphasized that the commissioning of the center has laid the foundation for the implementation of the ‘One Billion Trees’ national movement on a scientific basis. He congratulated the Erdenet Mining Corporation on its planning to establish of a production, research and innovation complex that will conduct all tree-planting activities, and the commissioning of Forest Genetic Resources Center.

Within the framework of the ‘One Billion Trees’ national movement initiated by the President of Mongolia, the EMC has promised to plant and grow 100 million trees in the next decade. In this frame, it is planned to establish the ‘Erdenet’ Forest Innovation Park, which will carry out a comprehensive science-based operation for planting and growing trees.

The ‘Erdenet’ Forest Innovation Park will consist of the Forest Genetic Resources Center with a 1,000-ton seed, biotechnology and quarantine laboratory, a soil biotechnology center for preparing 500 cubic meter fertile soil a year, and a world-class fully automated tree nursery with a capacity of 10 million seedlings per year.

The ‘Erdenet’ Center for Forest Genetic Resources, which was put into operation on June 21, consists of a seed laboratory, a biotechnology laboratory, a quarantine laboratory, and a storage for seeds, twigs, seedlings and saplings, a reception section, a deep freezing section, as well as a training and meeting room.

The center will be open to the public, supply seeds, seedlings and saplings, and organize a series of trainings on planting trees to support ecological education.

“In addition, the center aims to create a natural plant seed pool in the future and will play a special role in preserving the seeds of many endangered plants growing in Mongolia,” said Ya.Ariunzul, head of the Green Development Project Unit of EMC.

During the event, the Minister of Environment and Tourism B.Bat-Erdene handed over a Certificate of the Professional Forestry Organization to the EMC.

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) on Tuesday marked the official opening of Gudai-Darri, its most technologically advanced mine, joined by Pilbara Traditional Owners, the Banjima People, and Western Australia’s Minister for Mines and Petroleum; Energy, Hon. Bill Johnston.

The opening featured a smoking ceremony and traditional singing and dancing to welcome over 100 guests to Banjima country. The mine’s footprint also extends to Yinjibarndi country, where a section of the new 166-kilometre rail line was constructed.

SIGN UP FOR THE SUPPLIERS DIGEST

Since development commenced in April 2019, more than 14 million work hours have culminated in the delivery of Rio Tinto’s 17th and most technologically advanced iron ore mine in the Pilbara. Rio estimates that development of the mine supported more than 3,000 jobs during the construction and design phase, with the operation requiring around 600 permanent roles.

Gudai-Darri features an unprecedented deployment of technology, including the use of robotics for the ore sampling laboratory, as well as for distribution of parts in the new workshop.

From autonomous trucks, trains and drills to a full digital replica of the processing plant which allows teams to monitor and respond to data collected from the plant, the same digital asset data is used to provide an interactive 3D environment for virtual reality training. These autonomous assets are monitored remotely from Rio Tinto’s operations centre 1,500 km away in Perth.

With an expected life of more than 40 years and an annual capacity of 43 million tonnes, Gudai-Darri will underpin future production of Rio Tinto’s Pilbara Blend product, the miner said. It is expected to increase iron ore production volumes and improve product mix from the Pilbara from the second half of this year. The mine is expected to reach capacity in 2023.

“Gudai-Darri represents a step-change in the deployment of automation and technology within our iron ore business and a fantastic demonstration of the talent, ingenuity and capability that exists in Western Australia, a region which is now known globally for its technical excellence and innovation,” Rio Tinto Iron ore chief executive Simon Trott said in a statement.

“Gudai-Darri’s combination of data and analytics, machine learning and automation, will make this mine safer and more productive,” Trott said. “Gudai-Darri is our first greenfield mine in the Pilbara in more than a decade and a multi-billion-dollar investment in the state of Western Australia that will operate for decades to come.”

Prices are continuing to rise at their fastest rate for 40 years as food, energy and fuel costs continue to climb.

UK inflation, the rate at which prices rise, edged up to 9.1% in the 12 months to May, from 9% in April, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The figure is now at the highest level since March 1982, when it also stood at 9.1%.

The Bank of England has warned inflation will reach 11% this year.

Inflation is the pace at which prices are rising. For example, if a bottle of milk costs £1 and that rises by 5p compared with a year earlier, then milk inflation is 5%.

The ONS said rising prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages helped fuel inflation in May, with the biggest cost increases seen in bread, cereals and meat.

Russia's war in Ukraine has severely restricted wheat and maize supplies from two of the world's biggest exporters.

Ukraine is also a major producer of of sunflower oil, leading to the costs of alternatives also climbing.

Market reach firm Kantar has forecast that the average annual grocery bill in the UK is set to rise by £380 this year.

Supermarket Asda told the BBC some shoppers are setting £30 limits at checkouts and petrol pumps.

Customers are putting less in their baskets, switching to budget ranges and are worried about the future, its chairman Lord Stuart Rose said.

Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, said the prices of goods leaving factories rose at their fastest rate in 45 years in May, driven by "widespread food price rises".

Mr Fitzner added the cost of raw materials "leapt at their fastest rate on record".

But he said the steep rises in food and record high petrol prices had been "offset" by the price of clothes rising less than they did this time last year, along with a drop in computer game costs.

UK inflation chart

Responding to the latest inflation rate, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the government was "using all the tools at our disposal to bring inflation down and combat rising prices".

"I know that people are worried about the rising cost of living, which is why we have taken targeted action to help families, getting £1,200 to the eight million most vulnerable households," he added.

But Rachel Reeves, Labour's shadow chancellor said the country needed "more than sticking plasters to get us back on course - we need a stronger, and more secure economy".

"Today's rising inflation is another milestone for people watching wages, growth and living standards continue to plummet.

"Though rapid inflation is pushing family finances to the brink, the low wage spiral faced by many in Britain isn't new. Over the last decade, Tory mismanagement of our economy has meant living standards and real wages have failed to grow."

One way to try to control how fast prices are rising is to raise interest rates. This increases the cost of borrowing and encourages people to borrow and spend less, and save more.

In a bid to stem the pace of soaring prices, the Bank of England recently increased UK interest rates from 1% to 1.25%.

The move was the fifth consecutive rise, pushing rates to the highest level in 13 years. However, when inflation was last at 9.1% in March 1982, interest rates were 13%, Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said.

'More gloom lies ahead'

Laura Suter, head of personal finance at AJ Bell, said hopes of inflation "ebbing away later this year are dead" and warned the winter "could be tougher than the last".

"Unfortunately, more gloom lies ahead," she added.

"Once again fuel is the factor driving inflation higher, from home energy bills to petrol and diesel prices pushing up transport costs.

"But it's not just energy bills increasing, prices are rising across the board. Soaring food costs are also playing their part."

Berlin (CNN)Germany must reduce natural gas consumption and increase the burning of coal in order to help fill gas storage facilities for next winter, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced Sunday as the country moves away from reduced Russian gas supplies.

"The situation is serious," Habeck said in a statement. "We are therefore continuing to strengthen precautions and taking additional measures to reduce gas consumption. This means that gas consumption must fall further, but more gas must be put into the storage facilities, otherwise things will really get tight in winter."

Germany is heavily reliant on Moscow's gas to power its homes and heavy industry, but has managed to whittle Moscow's share of its imports down to 35% from 55% before the start of the war in Ukraine.

Habeck said security of supply was currently guaranteed in spite of a "worsened situation on the gas market" in recent days. Soaring prices were "(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's strategy to unsettle us, drive up prices and divide us," Habeck said.

"We will not allow that. We are fighting back decisively, precisely and thoughtfully," he said.

Despite Germany's plans to exit coal-fueled energy production, Habeck, who is a Green Party politician in the center-left ruling coalition, announced a return to "coal-fired power plants for a transitional period" in order to reduce gas consumption for electricity production.

"We are setting up a gas substitute reserve on call. "That's bitter, but it's almost necessary in this situation to reduce gas consumption," Habeck said.

Gas storage rules

Habeck's ministry is preparing a "gas auction model is to be launched this summer to incentivize industrial gas consumers to save gas," according to the press release. Industry was a key factor to reduce gas consumption, Habeck said.

In March, German lawmakers passed a gas storage act stipulating gas storage facilities must be almost completely full at the start of the heating period in order to get through the winter safely.

"Filling levels have been specified for this purpose: By October 1, the storage facilities must be 80% full, by November 1, 90%, and on February 1, still 40%," according to the law.

Currently at about 56%, gas storage tanks are filled to an above-average level in Germany compared with previous years in spite of storage levels having been at an all-time low at the beginning of the year.

"We must and we will do everything we can to store as much gas as possible in the summer and fall. The gas storage facilities must be full towards the winter. That is the top priority," Habeck said.

In March, Putin threatened to cut gas deliveries to "unfriendly" countries that refused to pay in rubles, rather than the euros or dollars stated in contracts.

Since then, the Russian state energy giant Gazprom has offered customers a solution. Buyers could make euro or dollar payments into an account at Russia's Gazprombank, which would then convert the funds into rubles and transfer them to a second account from which the payment to Russia would be made.

But many European companies, including Shell Energy, have refused to comply, prompting Gazprom to shut off its natural gas supplies to Shell's German customers in June.

On Thursday, Gazprom cut flows through Gazprom's Nord Stream 1 pipeline -- a major artery linking Russia's gas to Germany -- for the second time in days, sending prices rocketing.

The Russian energy giant said it reduced gas deliveries because German firm Siemens Energy had delayed the return of turbines needing repairs.

Siemens had taken the turbines to one of its Canadian factories for maintenance. It said in a statement on Tuesday that it was "impossible" to return the equipment to Russia because of sanctions Canada had imposed on the country over its invasion of Ukraine.

In response to Gazprom's move, Habeck said the justification for announcing further gas supply cuts to Europe was a "pretext" and a strategy to increase prices.

New Delhi :The Multinational Peacekeeping Exercise “Ex Khaan Quest -2022” culminated today at the Peace Support Operations Training Centre in Ulaanbaatar at Mongolia.

The exercise conducted from 06 June to 20 June 2022 provided a platform for mutual learning and sharing best practices amongst the armies from 16 Nations. The Indian contingent consisting of personnel from the LADAKH SCOUTS participated in the field training as well as the Command Post exercise. A number of training activities were organised during the course of the exercise, which included mock tactical operations as per United Nations (UN) mandate, combat discussions, training of staff & command appointments; as part of a combined UN brigade, in order to enhance multinational interoperability.

The bonhomie, espirit-de-corps and goodwill generated during the exercise will go a long way in future strengthening of bonds between the Armies of participating Nations.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with COVAX, announced today they delivered the first two U.S.-facilitated shipments of Pfizer’s Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccines for children in Mongolia (302,400 doses) and Nepal (2.2 million doses).

During the second Global COVID-19 Summit in May 2022, the U.S. announced our commitment to expand COVID-19-related donations to include boosters and pediatric doses to meet partner countries’ demand for vaccines to immunize 5 to 11-year-olds.

In collaboration with COVAX, USAID stated on June 20, 2022, that it would continue to ship pediatric doses to partner countries worldwide that have requested them.

Given the availability of global COVID-19 vaccine supply, USAID is working with interested partner countries to expand vaccination to other groups, including children.

The U.S. FDA recently expanded Pfizer’s Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine authorization to include 6-month-old infants in the USA.