China and Mongolia expect to strengthen cooperation in epidemic prevention and control and resolutely block the cross-border spread of COVID-19, according to a meeting between the diplomats of the two countries on Thursday.

The Director-General of the Department of Asian Affairs of China's Foreign Ministry, Liu Jinsong, met with Mongolian Ambassador to China Tuvshin Badral on Thursday to exchange opinions on China-Mongolia relations, cooperation on the fight against COVID-19 and international and regional issues of mutual interest.

China attaches great importance to its relations with Mongolia as the two nations are friendly neighbors with a shared future, Liu noted, adding that the frequent high-level exchanges between the two nations this year have led to a sound momentum of development in bilateral relations.

It is expected that the two nations will actively implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and push forward a better development of bilateral relations.

Since the pandemic situation across the world is still complex and severe, China persists in taking strict measures to prevent imported cases that cause flareups at home.

"It is expected that China and Mongolia will strengthen cooperation, meet each other halfway, earnestly implement prevention and control measures and resolutely block cross-border spread of the virus," Liu said, noting that China is willing to cooperate with Mongolia in the fight against COVID-19 and provide help to develop the economy and improve the people's livelihood in Mongolia.

Mongolia also attaches great importance to its relations with China and hopes to deepen friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation, Badral said, noting that Mongolia is deeply grateful for the support from China in alleviating problems in Mongolia and fighting against the epidemic.

Mongolia is ready to take strict and effective measures and adhere to standards to work with China in epidemic prevention, in addition to ensure the safe and stable operation of the ports in both countries.

More than 21 major entities have signed on a certificate, as expression of joining the ‘One billion trees’ nationwide campaign, initiated by the President of Mongolia, today, November 12.

With an aim to fight against the climate change and desertification, ‘One billion trees’ national campaign was launched on October 8. The national companies such as ‘Erdenes Tavantolgoi’ JSC, ‘Oyu Tolgoi’ LLC, ‘Bold Tumur Eruu Gol’ сompany, have pledged to plant a total of 608.5 million tree. Minister of Environment and Tourism will collaborate with the entities by providing advice on methods, techniques for planting trees.

‘One billion trees’ nationwide campaign is expected to be implemented in three phases. The first phase or the preparatory phase will be taking place in 2021-2024, and the second or the intensification phase will be implemented in 2024-2026, while, the third or sustainable implementation phase is planned for 2027-2030

The State Great Khural has approved the 2022 State Budget with MNT 16.4 trillion in total revenue and MNT 18.2 trillion in total expenditure.

More specifically, at the plenary session of the State Great Khural today on November 12, the fourth discussion took place for the bills on the 2022 State Budget, the 2022 Budget for the Social Insurance Fund, the 2022 Budget for the Health Insurance Fund, and the 2022 Budget for the Future Heritage Fund.

By cutting on costs and making changes to the current financing mechanism for public services, the Government has set several major objectives such as improving the accessibility of quality education and healthcare services, increasing the number of job opportunities, increasing the profits of Future Heritage Fund, and reducing traffic congestion in the capital city.

With a deficit of MNT 2.4 trillion (5.1 percent of GDP) for the 2022 State Budget, the Government estimates the country’s economy to grow by 5 percent in the coming year.

It was supposed to be a big win for climate activists: another of the world’s most powerful mining companies had caved to investor demands that it stop digging up coal.

Instead, Anglo American Plc’s strategy reversal has become a case study for unintended consequences. Its exit has transformed mines that were scheduled for eventual closure into the engine room for a growth-hungry coal business.

And while it’s a particularly stark example, it’s not the only one. When rival BHP Group was struggling to sell an Australian colliery this year, the company surprised investors by applying to extend mining at the site by another two decades — an apparent attempt to sweeten its appeal to potential buyers.

Now, after years of lobbying blue-chip companies to stop mining the most-polluting fuel, there’s a growing unease among climate activists and some investors that the policy many of them championed could lead to more coal being produced for longer. Senior mining executives say the message from their shareholders is evolving to acknowledge that risk, and they’re no longer pushing as hard for blanket withdrawals.

BHP may end up holding on to the Australian mine it was battling to sell, Bloomberg reported last week. Earlier this year, Glencore Plc sounded out a major climate investor group before announcing it would increase its ownership of a big Colombian coal mine, according to people familiar with the matter.

“Everyone in the industry is starting to be more sophisticated, more nuanced and more careful on the way they think these issues through,” said Nick Stansbury, head of climate solutions at Legal & General Group Plc.

Who should own the world’s coal mines is a question that resources giants and their investors may be grappling with for years to come. At the global climate talks in Glasgow, world leaders have fallen short on the U.K. host’s ambition to “consign coal to history.” It continues to dominate the world’s electricity mix and energy shortages in Europe and China this year have only reinforced the message that the world remains deeply dependent on coal.

The campaign to force coal out of the hands of the biggest diversified miners kicked off about a decade ago, with limited success. That changed after some of the world’s most powerful investors, including Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund and BlackRock Inc., began introducing policies to limit their exposure to coal.

By early 2020, pressure was mounting on Anglo American boss Mark Cutifani. He’d already watched rival Rio Tinto Group sell its last coal mines. BHP was looking at options to get out and even Glencore, coal’s biggest champion, had agreed to cap its production.

Cutifani’s original plan had been simple: it was increasingly unlikely that Anglo would invest more in its seven South African mines — which accounted for a fraction of its overall profits — and the company would ultimately close them when they ran out of coal over the next decade or so.

But for some investors that wasn’t soon enough.

The solution Anglo came up with was a spinoff company — Thungela Resources Ltd. — to be run by a senior Anglo executive, and handed over to its own shareholders.

The plan meant Anglo could get out of coal without having to cut any jobs in a country facing massive unemployment, and leave the mines in trusted hands until they were depleted. Anglo investors could decide for themselves whether to hold or sell the shares they received.

Yet within days, Chief Executive Officer July Ndlovu was laying out big ambitions for the company and its mines. Thungela was looking to grow, not shrink coal production, he said.

“I didn’t take up this role to close these mines, to close this business,” Ndlovu told Bloomberg at the time.

The company’s Zibulo, Mafube and Khwezela mines have the potential for extension to add at least another decade of mining and perhaps much longer, producing more than 10 million tons of coal a year.

Thungela’s creation has come at a time of great flux for the industry. As the global economy recovers from the pandemic, demand for electricity and the fuels used to produce it surged around the world, sending thermal coal prices to the highest on record.

That’s meant windfall profits for producers and their investors, making it more lucrative to keep digging as much as possible. Thungela’s shares have soared since its June initial public offering, although they’ve pulled back recently as coal prices eased.

With billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs at stake, the question has always been who — f not the publicly traded mining companies — should be running their collieries?

Companies like Anglo and BHP have long argued they are the most responsible operators, with deep pockets and sophisticated approaches to climate, the environmental impact of their operations and worker welfare. There is no guarantee new owners will act in the same way, or have the financial muscle to ride our volatile swings in commodity prices.

“Selling the problem to a third party has unintended consequences,” said Ashley Hamilton Claxton, the head of responsible investment at Royal London Asset Management, who argues that mining companies should hold onto fossil fuel assets and manage their decline. “We need to shift the debate in the investment industry about being more sophisticated around these things.”

It’s a theme that has played out elsewhere. Some observers of the oil industry say campaigns by activists to have oil majors divest from fossil fuels could end up accelerating a shift to government owners who operate with less transparency and, occasionally, worse environmental records.

In an attempt to fill the gap, other ventures have sprung up. Citigroup Inc. and Trafigura Group were one, pitching a coal-focused company to investors early this year, with the idea that it could snap up cheap mines and run them for cash — not growth — before eventually closing them.

But there’s also growing evidence that investors are changing their approach.

When BHP and Anglo wanted to sell their stakes in a big Colombian coal mine earlier this year, the third partner, Glencore, was the obvious buyer. In the past, a move to increase its exposure to coal might have drawn criticism from climate-focused investors. The company already agreed in 2019 to cap its coal production, under pressure from Climate Action 100+, an investor group with 545 members managing a combined $52 trillion of assets.

As Anglo and BHP pushed to sell the mine, Climate Action became a surprising behind-the-scenes sounding board for Glencore, according to people familiar with the matter. The group saw the transaction as a way of preventing any mine extensions or the asset being passed to a less responsible owner. Glencore agreed to further tighten its emissions-reduction goals as part of the deal.

While Climate Action has not spoken out publicly, the Colombian purchase was seen by many in the industry as further proof that investors’ positions have fundamentally changed.

Meanwhile, BHP, which has been planning an exit from thermal coal since at least mid-2019, has rejected multiple approaches for its Mt Arthur mine in Australia. The sale has dragged on as the pool of potential buyers dwindled and the offers it got were either too low or rejected because the company didn’t consider them responsible new owners.

Earlier this year, it emerged that BHP had applied to extend the mine’s life by almost 20 years. It didn’t take long for concerned investors to start asking why the company was preparing the mine to keep digging coal for longer.

Since then, pressure has mounted on BHP to u-turn on its exit strategy. Market Forces, which coordinates groups of shareholders on climate issues, has called on the company to abandon plans to sell out of fossil fuels, and instead responsibly close down the operations.

“The big push from investors is around ensuring that any divestment that occurs is to parties that are responsible,” BHP CEO Mike Henry said at the company’s shareholder meeting in October.

Now, the sale process appears to have stalled and the company could end up keeping Mr Arthur, after coal’s rally made the asset more valuable, and it’s no longer under as much pressure from some investors to sell, people familiar with the matter said.

Glencore, meanwhile, has promised to run its coal business to closure by 2050, which received overwhelming support from its shareholders, but it’s also prepared contingency plans to exit should investors force it. The developments of the past six months suggest that’s looking less likely.

“Divestment is convenient and easy to communicate,” said Hamilton Claxton. “Helping companies manage decline is difficult to do from an investment perspective and showing our customers that we’ve been effective is difficult to do.”

(By Thomas Biesheuvel, with assistance from David Stringer and Felix Njini)

The number of people receiving the third dose or a booster shot of COVID-19 vaccine per day has increased by 2-3 times, said Ch. Bolortuya, Spokeswoman of the Prime Minister, today.

As of November 9, the coverage of 1st dose reached 69.4 percent, 2nd dose – 65.8 percent and 3rd dose or a booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines – 14.0 percent of the total population.

Ch. Bolortuya said, “When the country started administering the third dose, around 4,000-5,000 people received the shot per day, but in recent days this number has doubled to 8,000-11,000. Among the provinces, Zavkhan and Selenge aimags have a higher involvement in the 3rd dose, while this number is lower in Dundgobi, Khovd and Bayan-Ulgii aimags. As the vaccination drive intensifies, there has been a positive indication that COVID-19 infections are decreasing."

At the regular Cabinet meeting on November 10, the Ministry of Finance and the Government Agency for Policy Coordination on State Property put forth a suggestion to improve the governance of wholly or partially state-owned enterprises and make structural changes.

Minister of Finance B.Javkhlan said during a press conference, “Discussions are taking place on making structural changes to wholly or partially state-owned enterprises in three ways. Studies are being carried out on making structural changes to strategically important enterprises that are required to be owned by the state, enhancing the governance for certain companies by having them become joint stock companies, and a category for unprofitable state-owned enterprises that are not necessary to be operated by the state. At today’s Cabinet meeting, a presentation was done on strategically important entities that are required to be owned by the state as well as providing them with a stable policy. As this issue will soon be finalized, it is currently planned to announce further structural changes for the enterprises by the end of this year.”

The list of strategically important enterprises that are required to be owned by the state include over 30 companies, such as Erdenet Mining Corporation, Mongolrostsvetmet, ‘Erdenes Tavantolgoi’, ‘Mongol Refinery’, the airport at Khushig Valley, thermal power plants located in the capital city and aimags, and entities in charge of transmitting electricity.

At the regular Cabinet meeting that took place today on November 10, a presentation was done on the construction project for the natural gas pipeline connecting Russia and China through the territory of Mongolia, reported Deputy Prime Minister S.Amarsaikhan.

The Prime Minister of Mongolia signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the gas pipeline during his visit to the Russian Federation in December 2019. Following the establishment of a memorandum between the two sides later in August 2020, works were launched to carry out a feasibility study.

As of today, the progress of the feasibility study is at 70 percent. During a telephone conversation between the two countries’ Prime Ministers yesterday on November 9, they exchanged information on mutually profitable, large-scale projects to be implemented on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and Russia, and gave orders to corresponding ministers, noted the Deputy PM.

On March 12, board members of Gazprom company of Russia worked in Mongolia to hold meetings with authorities led by the Deputy Prime Minister, approving an action plan. As of currently, the route for the 960.5-km gas pipeline has been defined. Following the completion of the feasibility study by the end of this year, engineers and technicians will begin to work on the project to ensure preparations within the next two years.

The project’s construction work will officially start in 2024.

Once the feasibility study is completed, an agreement will be established between the three countries’ governments on the tariff and fee regulations. Furthermore, bills are required to be drafted for natural gas pipelines in Mongolia.

Currently, discussions are being held with executives of Gazprom company about the matter regarding Mongolia being a consumer country alongside having the natural gas pipeline pass through its territory. Corresponding decisions are planned to be made by the National Security Council after detailed studies are carried out on domestic demands for natural gas.

Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia registered 950 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 370,491, the country's health ministry said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, 11 more COVID-19 patients, including a child, died in the past day, taking the death toll to 1,767, according to the ministry.

So far, 65.9 percent of Mongolia's total population of around 3.4 million has received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, with over 465,200 Mongolians aged over 18 having received a booster shot.

A Mongolian businessman has accused Boris Johnson’s half-brother of pursuing a spurious fraud complaint against him in order to wrest control of a mining project.

Max Johnson, the youngest son of the UK prime minister’s father Stanley, is seeking to recover a $19m investment in the Zasag Chandmani mines on behalf of Simon Murray, the former chair of Glencore.

After allegations from Johnson, the Mongolian police have investigated ZCM’s owner Buyantogtokh Dashdeleg on suspicion of embezzlement and money laundering and sent a report to the general prosecutor.

Buyantogtokh, who is seeking asylum in the US, fiercely denies the allegations and in his first public comments on the matter said Johnson put “huge pressure” on the Mongolian government to start criminal proceedings. Although a trial has been ordered, a case has yet to be called to court.

“I cannot afford to remain silent any more,” Buyantogtokh told the Financial Times. “The Mongolian government is trying very hard to attract foreign investment . . . and it is extremely challenging for them to push back against someone like Max Johnson.”

The dispute between Johnson and Buyantogtokh comes at a sensitive time for Mongolia, which needs more foreign capital to develop its natural resources but is locked in a bitter row with Rio Tinto over a late-running $6.8bn underground copper project.

Buyantogtokh insisted he could prove the money invested by Murray’s investment vehicle GRF Paragon was appropriately spent. “There are videos of the construction progress which I can share with anyone interested to verify this,” he said, adding that if the evidence against him was so overwhelming, “one would reasonably ask why this case is still ongoing two years later?”

“This matter is 100 per cent a civil matter and I’ve tried on many occasions to resolve it with Max. I have never said that I don’t owe GRF money and I have tried to reach an amicable settlement many times with Max,” he said. Buyantogtokh fears he could be stripped of the project if he is found guilty of fraud.

A former child actor, Johnson was educated at Eton and Oxford university, where he studied Russian. He first visited Mongolia in 2006 during the Naadam festival of traditional sport. He “fell in love with the country” and made a promise “to find some career choices that would bring me back here”, Johnson told Eagle News during a visit to Mongolia in September.

“In 2016 when Murray invested in Mongolia I was obviously aware,” said Johnson, who knew Murray from his days as a metal trader in Hong Kong. “He asked me to join the project in 2018, which I did.”

Murray’s private investment group GEMS set up GRF in 2015 to invest in ZCM, owner of a high-grade copper, gold and iron project.

Between 2016 and 2018, the fund invested $19m in ZCM in return for convertible loan notes — its only asset — that it could eventually exchange for a stake in the company.

Six months after the final tranche of cash was transferred, Johnson joined the project.

In Johnson’s telling of the story it became clear to him that the $19m invested by GRF had not been spent on developing the mine. In 2019 he reported his concerns to the Mongolian police, who launched an investigation, at which point work on the mine stopped.

“We would very much like the case to be heard in court,” Johnson told Eagle News. “Obviously we will respect the decision of the Mongolian judicial system — it is an independent, impartial authority.”

Buyantogtokh says these allegations are false. Independent analysis of ZCM’s financial statements between 2015 and 2018, prepared by accountants BDO and seen by the FT, found “no evidence proving cases of abuse of power and embezzlement and/or misappropriation of funds” by Buyantogtokh.

According to Buyantogtokh, a GRF team was actively involved with the project. “Not once did they raise an issue,” he said. “They visited the mine site every few months, visited Mongolia monthly for board meetings and received detailed monthly financial and operational reports from a team of expatriates working on this project.”

He added that Johnson resorted to legal proceedings only after Buyantogtokh acquired senior secured debt in ZCM from Noble Group, the commodity trader, in 2018.

“This put GRF in a very weak position as their debt was second ranking secured. I believe confronted with this reality, Max decided to pursue criminal proceedings as he had little civil recourse.”

Johnson said: “We cannot comment at this time due to the ongoing legal process but as soon as we can, we would be happy to do so.”

However, he told the Sunday Times in September that he was facing a personal loss of £1.5m in Mongolia and was “acutely aware” of the risks of any trading on the Johnson name.

Murray did not respond to requests for comment.

Asked why he had left Mongolia in 2019, Buyantogtokh said it was for a medical procedure. He decided not to return after learning that the authorities were investigating his wife, he added.

“Confronted with powerful adversaries, I felt my only chances of fairly resolving this entire matter was to go to the US and take my family with me,” he said.

On November 9, Prime Minister of Mongolia L.Oyun-Erdene held a telephone conservation with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin.

The two Prime Ministers expressed their pleasure for that the two countries are marking the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and the Russian Federation throughout the whole year. The two sides noted that during the historical period of time, the two countries have overcome biggest challenges with joint efforts and made great achievements in the development.

Furthermore, discussions were held on intensifying preparations to make the upcoming visit of the President of Mongolia to Russia more effective.

Mentioning that the issue related to the establishment of a company jointly with Rosneft company that would supply fuel for the new Chinggis Khaan International Airport was resolved, PM L.Oyun-Erdene noted the importance of consistent supply of fuel to Mongolia in accordance with the schedule. Russian side undertook to put emphasis on the issue.

He also emphasized the possibility of Russian entities’ participation in railway and energy projects to be implemented in Mongolia.

The parties agreed to hold a regular meeting of the Mongolia-Russia Intergovernmental Commission within this year to discuss and resolve the issues, touched by the Prime Ministers of the two countries. The Prime Ministers also agreed to continue to work closely and to meet in person at mutually convenient time.