South African coal producer Exxaro Resources Ltd. is turning its attention to minerals such as copper and manganese as mining companies look to tap the green revolution.

Other assets Exxaro plans to invest in include bauxite, a raw material used to make aluminum that ends up in electric cars and solar panels, according to a markets day presentation. It’s part of a plan to supply key materials needed to power the world’s cleaner future and energy transition, it said.

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Some of the largest natural-resource companies are moving into or expanding in commodities tied to more environmentally friendly sectors such as rechargeable batteries, or diversifying away from the dirtiest fuels. Exxaro currently gets more than 90% of its earnings from coal and is the biggest supplier to the South African power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.

The company’s new minerals business could generate the equivalent of 50% of the core profit from coal within 10 years, according to the presentation.

“We now we find ourselves in the context of climate change, and technological changes, which are having a huge impact on the business models of companies generally,” said Mzila Mthenjane, Exxaro’s head of stakeholder affairs. “We have made our commitment to making the transition to a low carbon future along with the rest of the world.”

Manganese, used in batteries, presents an attractive opportunity in Exxaro’s “own backyard,” it said, highlighting an expected global deficit next decade. It also said it may look to consolidate small emerging copper producers.

(By Khuleko Siwele, with assistance from Felix Njini)

International Investment Bank (IIB) became a participant in a USD 120 million (EUR 101.5 million in equivalent) syndicated loan to Khan Bank – Mongolia’s leading commercial bank. Arranged by the Dutch development institution FMO, this facility has other major European development financial institutions, such as France’s Proparco and Germany’s DEG, as well as Atlantic Forfeiting Company Ltd. as its members.

The borrower intends to allocate the funds to increase lending volumes for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), finance the bank’s green loan programs, and strengthen its funding stability. Being the largest commercial bank in Mongolia, Khan Bank has a strategically significant position in Mongolia’s financial sector. It serves nearly 80% of Mongolian households by providing access to financial services for individual customers, SMEs and corporate customers, reaching even the most distant rural areas. The syndicate loan will strengthen the leading position of Khan Bank, enabling it to provide much needed support for the Mongolian vital SME sector and promote green lending in the country.

IIB and Khan Bank have a long-standing mutually beneficial strategic partnership since 2013. The two banks actively cooperate in such fields as joint participation in syndicated lending, organization of dedicated credit lines, including SME’s funding, support of external turnover between Mongolia and the IIB member states.

Since 2012, IIB investments in the interest of Mongolia have exceeded an equivalent of USD 300 million (equivalent of EUR 254 million) with financing extended to such strategically important sectors as SME, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, metallurgy, etc. In addition, several projects totalling over 50 million euro are currently in the pipeline at various stages of assessment.

Georgy Potapov, Deputy Chairperson of the IIB Management Board in charge of Lending and Investment comments: “IIB is pleased to help its long-standing trustworthy partner Khan Bank in its efforts to enhance financial inclusion in Mongolia, support SMEs, and give further impetus to green financing in the country. Sustainability is at the core of development finance and promoting it in our member states is one of our primary tasks”.

Global life sciences company Cytiva will invest some $200 million in the Asia-Pacific region to expand production, establish world-class facilities and foster local talent to better serve customers in China and elsewhere.

The exercise is part of a $1.5 billion investment plan of Cytiva, a former biopharmaceutical arm under conglomerate GE. The goal is to consolidate foothold and enhance supply chain reliance for the fast-developing industry.

A core pillar of the strategy includes tripling the capacity of bioprocessing single-use consumables in China, the company's Asia-Pacific headquarters and the second-largest single-country market after the United States.

Yu Lihua, general manager of Cytiva China, the local subsidiary, said supply chain challenges have been plaguing the biopharmaceutical sector, so Cytiva's latest round of investment should help improve the situation.

"Our continuous investment will serve as a powerful engine to boost Cytiva to provide Chinese customers with more diverse technical support, help China realize 'smart manufacturing', and contribute to China's local R&D and capacity-building," she said.

Building on an existing partnership with Wego Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, a leading healthcare technology supplier in China, Cytiva is looking to add two production lines by the year-end, and an additional six scheduled for the third quarter of 2022.

The expansion will add 1,300 square meters to the manufacturing area of the ISO Class 7 cleanroom and also include a 1,200-sq-m warehouse, which could further save lead time and increase flexibility for customers.

In addition to attending local needs, the expanded production is designed to serve market demand from India, Ireland, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, strengthening China's manufacturing might and enhancing global supply chain resilience, she noted.

In addition to the increased capacity, Cytiva brings new products－100-liter to 1,000-liter Xcellerex mixer bags－to the expanded facility's manufacturing portfolio.

The new products will incorporate Fortem technology－Cytiva's signature film that can withstand strenuous conditions and suit biopharma manufacturing well.

The global single-use bioprocessing market size is expected to reach $33 billion by 2027, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 12.8 percent over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research.

The consultancy said the Asia-Pacific region is expected to be the fastest-growing market, with China and India at the forefront, thanks to the continuous expansion of biomanufacturing capabilities in the region.

Cytiva is also completing an R&D-to-production loop in Shanghai, where one of the two R&D centers for single-use consumables worldwide－the other one is in Massachusetts in the United States－stands to turn locally inspired innovative solutions into tangible manufactured products.

It is also doubling down on a talent training system dubbed Fast Trak, looking to increase the venue, personnel and financial input to construct Asia's largest biopharma candidate hub and intelligent manufacturing showroom.

In a survey compiled by Cytiva and Longitude, a Financial Times group company, earlier this year, industry experts identified five key factors to assess the resilience of the life sciences sector. They were supply chain, talent pool, R&D ecosystem, manufacturing agility and government policy.

The weakest area was the talent pool, with industry leaders scrambling to cast their net wide for the right skilled workers, especially in light of the COVID-19 blow.

"We synthesize so many materials, and therefore our suppliers are critical," said Jerry Cacia, head of global technical development at pharma company Roche in the study.

"We want to make sure that there are strong partnerships across the ecosystem, not just between the companies producing medicines, but also with their suppliers and the individuals that develop the technologies required to produce the medicines."

Delegation led by Speaker of the State Great Khural G.Zandanshatar is paying a working visit to San Francisco, the U.S. The Speaker visited the Asia Foundation headquarter and held a meeting with the Asia Foundation President and CEO David Arnold.

The Asia Foundation President David Arnold expressed his delight with the meeting and highlighted the attention that the foundation is paying in the direction of expanding the scope of projects and programs in Asia, as well as increasing the number of countries that support and donate to the foundation’s activities.

The meeting was attended by MPs T.Aubakir, Kh.Bulgantuya, J.Munkhbat, B.Saranchimeg, Ts.Tserenpuntsag, the Asia Foundation's Senior Vice President of Programs Gordon Hein, Vice President of Global Communications Amy Ovalle and other officials. The sides discussed a wide range of issues, including Mongolia's democratic achievements and challenges, reports Press and Public Relations Department of the State Great Khural.

The Asia Foundation has been working to strengthen democracy, reduce corruption, advance climate change mitigation effort, and increase gender equality in Mongolia since 1993.

Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have adopted a roadmap for boosting mutual trade and investment cooperation for the next five years, Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development announced.

“The pandemic has demonstrated that we can overcome the crisis only by means of scaling up cooperation in three key areas – trade and investment, digital economy, and sustainable development,” the ministry’s press service reported, citing Deputy Minister Vladimir Ilyichev.

According to the official, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, investments in joint Russia-ASEAN projects saw more than a threefold increase in 2020 compared to 2019, reaching $8.8 billion.

Ilyichev said that both ASEAN member states and Russia need to modernize their respective economic models to ensure more efficient cooperation. Also, he stressed that Russia sees great potential in joint work on climate-related projects under the plan.

According to the ministry, cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), of which Russia is a member state, and ASEAN will also see changes in the near future.

“The sides (ASEAN and EAEU) agreed to draft a number of initiatives in the areas of the development of the single-window systems, e-trade, intellectual property protection, as well as the use of sanitary and phytosanitary measures,” the ministry said.

At the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia’s Vladivostok earlier this month, a proposal was unveiled to establish a free-trade zone between ASEAN and the EAEU in order to boost regional cooperation further.

The ‘Green Days of Autumn - Domestic Production 2021’ fair is taking place at the Central Stadium from September 16 to 23.

Alongside food producers, small and medium enterprises, business owners in the light industry, and scholars and researchers that introduced new technology in production are participating in the fair this year.

On September 19, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene visited the fair to meet with vegetable farmers and producers.

Noting that their sales have increased as the fair began to take place, they highlighted the issue of insufficient storage that meets the appropriate standard to store their harvests. In turn, the Prime Minister expressed that the government’s current policy is to fully meet the demand for potatoes and vegetables with domestic supply.

He said, “Our country is expected to meet 100 percent of the domestic demand for wheat and potatoes, and 60 percent of the demand for vegetables. As our annual demand for wheat is about 310 thousand tons, we are expected to have around 200 thousand tons more of wheat this year. Thus, the government will keep a policy on supporting exports and pay attention to the construction of storages and winter greenhouses.

Alongside the sales of fresh harvest and top products as well as food production services, all kinds of information is being provided to support the sector’s development. Furthermore, business negotiations and agreements are being made between entities and government organizations during the fair. Disinfection and sterilization is being carried out at the fair two times throughout the day.

Mongolia confirmed 2,851 new daily cases of coronavirus infection, the country's Ministry of Health said.

1,683 cases were recorded in Ulaanbaatar, the remaining 1,168 cases were detected in the regions, and 3 cases were imported.

The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus infection nationwide has increased to 277,997.

11 people died per day, the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in Mongolia has increased to 1,046.

5,211 people have recovered per day.

China is planning to “steadily and prudently” promote internationalization of its currency, the yuan, the country’s central bank said, pledging to strengthen the monitoring of cross-border capital flows and prevent systemic risks.

According to the regulator, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement is expected to further boost trade ties between the nations in the Asia-Pacific region, thus promoting more opportunities for the use of the yuan in mutual settlements and investment activities.

The pact was clinched in late 2020 at a virtual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations hosted by Vietnam.Based on rapidly developing yuan-denominated commodity trade settlements, the Chinese government is reportedly seeking to increase the use of the currency in cross-border e-commerce.

The People’s Bank of China added that it is planning to explore more options for yuan-denominated investment and financing. The regulator will also step up currency settlement cooperation with other countries, and improve the infrastructure for settlement and clearing.

International payments made in the local currency amounted to 28.39 trillion yuan ($4.39 trillion) in 2020, surging 44.3% compared to the previous year, the regulator said. Meanwhile, cross-border settlements made in yuan reportedly accounted for 46.2% of overall international payments, hitting an all-time high.

Beijing has been trying to expand the influence of the yuan across the globe since 2009 to eliminate the reliance on the US dollar in trade and investment settlements, as well as to challenge the greenback’s status as the world’s major reserve currency.

Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on September 15 added 20 new sites in 21 countries to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, which now numbers 727 biosphere reserves in 131 countries, including 22 transboundary sites. The International Coordinating Council of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB-ICC) meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, from September 13 to 17 approved these additions. Uvs Lake Depression has therefore been designated as a Transboundary Biosphere Reserve.

Situated on the border of the Russian Federation, the 335,000 ha Uvs Lake, the largest in Mongolia, is encircled by the semi-arid foothills of the southern Altay Mountains. Uvs has a flat shallow basin, which makes it a natural salt lake.

The Uvs Lake Depression, a core area of the Altay Sayan global eco-region, is part of the newly designated transboundary biosphere reserve, which extends over a vast 2,242,112.70 ha, bridging two entire biomes of the Siberian taiga and Mongolian steppes. The site provides habitat to emblematic species such as the Argali sheep, snow leopard, Altay ibex, as well as migratory birds.

The transboundary biosphere reserve brings together Uvs Nuur Basin Biosphere Reserve, on the Mongolian side, and Ubsunorskaya Kotlovina Biosphere Reserve, on the Russian side, both of which were designated in 1997.

Work to join the two biosphere reserves began in 2011 with the creation of a joint coordinating body, which carried out participatory workshops and meetings to foster transboundary nature conservation. Ten years on, this long-term cooperation allowed for the establishment of a model region straddling the two countries.