April 26 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 856 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing its national tally to 31,339, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Monday.

Of the latest confirmed cases, 744 were detected in the country's capital Ulan Bator, which is the country's hardest hit city by COVID-19, the NCCD said in a statement.

The disease has so far claimed 80 lives in the country.

Meanwhile, 1,060 more COVID-19 patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the total recoveries to 16,815, the center said.

The number of coronavirus infections in the country has risen sharply since the beginning of April.

A full nationwide lockdown, aimed at curbing the steep surge in local COVID-19 cases, took effect on April 10 and will last until May 8.

The country launched its mass vaccination campaign against the COVID-19 in late February, with the aim of vaccinating at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million population.

A total of 678,692 people have received vaccines, according to the country's health ministry. Enditem

During a press conference, Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the State Emergency Commission S.Amarsaikhan answered a question regarding the estimated date for fully vaccinating the country’s entire population.

Noting that discussions continue to be held with the side of suppliers despite the import of vaccines as according to plans, he highlighted that vaccinations works are being intensified during the 14-day extension of the current state of 'all-out-preparedness' and associated strict lockdown measures.

According to the Deputy PM, it is planned to fully vaccinate citizens in the capital city by May 5, and involve all citizens nationwide in the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by May 8.

In order to ensure continuous operations in export regions, vaccinations will also continue to be done in aimags with border crossings. Overall, vaccine rollout in the adult population is currently estimated to be completed between June 1 to July 1 nationwide.

As of currently, 32 percent of target groups have been involved in the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 8.6 percent fully vaccinated.

A virtual roundtable meeting of the agriculture ministers of the East Asia and Pacific region nations was hosted on April 23 by the World Bank. The meeting – attended by representatives of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), ASEAN General Secretariat and a number of other national and international organizations – was on the 2030 Food System under the theme "Building Back Better" in the Asia-Pacific region.

Mongolian Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry Z.Mendsaikhan took part in the meeting and made a presentation about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s food safety and nutrition as well as the policies and reforms taken by the government to overcome the longstanding challenges and strengthening the agriculture-food system.

During the meeting, Minister Mendsaikhan informed that Mongolia is implementing the ‘Livestock Commercialization Project’ with loan financing from the World Bank aimed at improving the health and productivity of livestock and increasing the value of products such as meat and dairy by commercializing targeted value chains in selected locations.

He further noted his proposal on implementing a comprehensive project ‘Green and Competitive Agriculture’ project with MNT 100 million of investment cost. The project is designed for ensuring the adaptation of agriculture and livestock farming to climate change, implementing sustainable development principles and habits to reduce greenhouse gases, and supporting green and responsible agriculture and livestock industries. Agricultural clusters that are adaptable to climate change, green and competitive will also be created with the help of the development of value-added chains, while contributing to the agricultural exchange reform and development of digital agricultural and strengthening of the market infrastructure.

The attracted agriculture ministers of Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Vietnam, and East Timor, and the attendees discussed issues and explore priority options and actions to ensure the sustainability of food and nutrition security in the region.

The 2021 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund and related ancillary events took place virtually from Monday, April 5 to Sunday, April 11.

The Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Board of Governors of the World Bank Group (WBG) bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, representatives from civil society organizations and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness. Also featured are seminars, regional briefings, press conferences, and other events on the global economy, international development, and the world's financial system.

Representing the government of Mongolia, Minister of Finance B.Javkhlan participated in the plenary session ‘Post-COVID-19 Regional Economic Outlook’ and other meetings and events. Moreover, the Minister held bilateral meetings with Mitsuhiro Furusawa, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Victoria Kwakwa, East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice President of the World Bank, Nigel Ray, World Bank Group Executive Director representing Mongolia and Geoff Gottlieb, International Monetary Fund Chief of Staff to Mongolia within the framework of the Spring Meetings.

Throughout the meetings, Minister Javkhlan presented the current state, financial situation, and future outlook of Mongolia’s economy and exchanged views on the government’s comprehensive plan with a total price of MNT 10 trillion for economic recovery and health protection and its implementation.

The Minister highlighted that the government is making all-round efforts for vaccinating its entire adult population in the first place and is also focusing to protect employment amid the pandemic. Furthermore, he requested and called for international donor organizations to revisit and soften some of the requirements set for financial assistance of vaccine supply to the member countries as it would be a huge support for especially the developing nations.

At the aforementioned meetings, IMF and World Bank Group’s representatives praised that the Mongolian Government’s COVID-10 response measures have been effective and prompt and the public vaccination drive and mass testing while imposing lockdown have been swift, as reported by the Ministry of Finance of Mongolia. The sides then expressed their readiness to maintain close collaboration to achieve successful implementation of policies, projects, and programs to carry out in the next several years.

On April 23, a shareholders’ meeting of Erdenes Tanatolgoi JSC was held in a virtual format in line with guidance from the State Emergency Commission and Financial Regulatory Commission due to the coronavirus pandemic. The meeting was live broadcast on the company’s website - www.ett.mn and Facebook page dedicated for ‘Information center of 1,072 shares of Erdenes Tavantolgoi’.

The shareholders meeting was attended by representatives with voting rights from the Ministry of Mining and Government Implementing Agency for Policy Coordination on State Property - holders of the state ownership in the Erdenes Tavantolgoi company, as well as independent members and company officials.

Items on the meeting agenda included board conclusion on the 2020 performance report of the Erdenes Tavantolgoi, a decision on not to pay dividends, changes to the corporate charter, and financing measures for projects and programs.

In 2020, the Erdenes Tavantolgoi JSC sold 15.5 million tons of coal, fully achieving its production target and exceeding its sales target by 111 percent. The company’s sales revenue reached MNT 1 trillion 677.1 billion, net profit totaled MNT 149.4 billion, and contributed MNT 490.1 billion to the state budget. During the reporting period, the company also worked on settling investment financing for the development projects for Tavantolgoi-Zuunbayan and Tavantolgoi-Gashuunsukhait railways and TavanTolgoi Fuel company manufacturing refined coal briquette with the aim of reducing air pollution of Ulaanbaatar city.

Under its five-year business plan ‘A6-20’ on growth goals and targets in coming years, the company is further working to increasing the value of 1,072 shares owned by each citizen of Mongolia, focusing on the production of value-added end products, intensifying infrastructure development projects to improve Mongolia’s competitiveness in the world coal markets, enhancing its contribution in the government’s MNT 10 trillion economic recovery and health protection comprehensive plan and attracting investments through its ETT bonds in order to finance large scale projects.

The meeting also heard a presentation on the company’s board decision not to pay out dividends for its shareholders in 2021 in connection with the increasing the amount of investment to be spent for the development projects as stated in the government’s action plan.

The state-owned Erdenes-Tavantolgoi JSC was established on December 23, 2010, under the respective decisions of the State Great Khural and the Government with a purpose to utilize the Tavantolgoi deposit for the benefit of the citizens of Mongolia. The main objective of Erdenes-Tavantolgoi JSC is to put strategically important coal deposits into economic circulation, conducting mining operations, and implementing infrastructure projects according to Law on Minerals. According to the relevant government decisions every citizen born before April 2012 owns 1,072 shares of the Erdenes Tavantolgoi company.

Anglo American (LON: AAL) has been granted approvals to allow workers to re-enter the Grosvenor coal mine in Queensland, Australia, almost a year after an explosion seriously injured five workers.

The underground mine has been closed since the methane explosion in May last year, the second incident in the area in less than 15 months.

Workers belonging to the CFMEU Mining and Energy union did not welcome the news. They say the miner had kept its workers fully informed of its plans to restart the underground mine.

“The workforce has said loud and clear that they want their union safety inspectors kept informed about re-entry plans,” CFMEU president for Queensland, Dean Smyth, said in a media statement.

Yet our Industry Safety and Health Representatives were not given any notice or information about the re-entry. This has left workers fuming,” he said.

Anglo’s metallurgical coal business boss, Tyler Mitchelson, said the company was taking a staged approach to re-opening.

The first team re-entered on Thursday to conduct safety and compliance inspections and restore power and gas monitoring, Anglo said. It added that Smyth’s comments were unfounded as union representatives were part of the restart team and the key representative was notified and invited to the site.

Workers have also raised concerns about a one-on-one interview process that took place ahead of the mine’s restart. According to the union, employees were subjected to mental health and ability to work safely underground evaluations.

“To put these labour hire workers on the spot, making them fear they’ll be targeted or lose their job, creates unnecessary stress and lack of trust,” Smyth said in the statement.

Inquiry and new law

The Grosvenor restart comes as the Queensland Coal Mine Board of Inquiry, which was set up in the aftermath of the explosion, has adjourned to produce a final report.

During its second round of hearings this year, the committee heard there were 14 reported near misses, known as “high potential incidents”, on Longwall 104 in the eight weeks leading up to the explosion, as well as a number of others at other longwalls in the mine.

Queensland has since passed a law that sets up to 20 years in jail for mining executives found responsible for safety incidents. Companies can now be hit with fines of up to A$13 million ($10m) if found criminally negligent over deaths at their operations.

The legislation extended industrial manslaughter laws to the resources sector, as part of a package of safety and other reforms for an industry that employs 50,000 people in the state.

Anglo American produced 3.3 million tonnes of metallurgical coal in the first three months of this year, down from 3.8 million tonnes in the same quarter of 2020.

The company attributed the 14% output decrease to the continued suspension of operations at Grosvenor.

The miner generated 4.9 million tonnes of thermal coal in the March 2021 quarter, compared with 6.2 million tonnes in the previous corresponding period.

Mongolia's COVID-19 tally rose to 30,483 after 1,264 new locally transmitted cases of the disease were reported in the country over the past 24 hours, the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Sunday.

Around 1,130 of the latest confirmed cases were detected in the country's capital Ulan Bator, which is hardest hit by COVID-19, the NCCD said in a statement.

Meanwhile, four more deaths and 658 more recoveries were reported, taking the respective totals to 86 and 15,403, said the center.

The number of coronavirus infections in Mongolia has risen sharply since the beginning of April. The country registered a daily average of more than 1,000 infections recently, the highest since the epidemic hit the country in March 2020.

A full nationwide lockdown, aimed at curbing the steep surge in local COVID-19 cases, took effect on April 10 and will last until May 8.

Since the start of the national vaccination campaign against the virus on Feb.23, a total of 660,548 Mongolians have received vaccines, according to the country's health ministry.

The Asian country is planning to vaccinate at least 60 percent of its population of 3.3 million against COVID-19, and 20 percent of them will be vaccinated under COVAX, a global initiative to ensure quick and equal access to vaccines against the virus, said the ministry. Enditem

The cabinet, April 23, convened for an irregular meeting and decided to extend the current state of 'all-out-preparedness' and associated strict lockdown measures until 6 AM, May 8, Saturday.

The decision was made on the basis of suggestions from the Ministry of Health and State Emergency Commission with a view to contain the increasing COVID-19 community transmission.

On April 8, the government had resolved to impose the strict lockdown measures and enter into the Red Level – Level 4 of COVID-19 emergency preparedness regime for a total of 16 days from April 10 to 25 and granted a one-time cash payment of MNT 300 thousand as part of a lockdown relief initiative.

During the period now extended to May 8, only essential businesses are allowed to operate and residents are urged to access essential services, grocery stores, medical care, and pharmacies near their homes.

Mongolia’s daily new COVID-19 cases have exceeded 1,000. As of April 23, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country have reached 27,956, including 24,242 cases recorded in Ulaanbaatar city and 69 coronavirus-related deaths.

The public vaccination program, which was paused since April 10, has resumed today, to cover all groups of the vaccination target – around 2 million adult populations of the country. Between April 23 and 26, people who received the first dose of vaccines and could not get the second shot on schedule due to the vaccine rollout suspension, as well as people aged over 55 will be vaccinated at a total of 160 vaccination sites.

As of April 23, 649,236 people have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 64,469 have been fully vaccinated.

Currently, Mongolia has received a total of 1,460,540 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 214,800 doses of AstraZeneca via India’s assistance and COVAX Facility, 1,200,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China through donation and procurement, and 20,000 doses of Sputnik-V vaccine purchased from Russia and 25,740 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine via COVAX Facility.

In connection with the reintroduction of the Mongolia Third Neighbor Trade Act legislative bill in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, the Office of the President of Mongolia issued the following press release.

“President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga expresses full support to the Mongolia Third Neighbor Trade Act legislative bill, which was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, and expresses his gratitude to Rep. Dina Titus and Rep. Don Young, Co-Chairs of the Congressional Mongolia Caucus.

If passed by the Congress, the Mongolia Third Neighbor Trade Act legislative bill will authorize duty free treatment of Mongolian-made cashmere and textile product export to the United States.

President Battulga wrote a letter to then President Donald Trump in December, 2017, requesting his support for the legislative bill.

Consequently, the Mongolia Third Neighbor Trade Act legislative bill was introduced in the 115th United States Congress in 2018 and reintroduced in the 116th United States Congress in 2019.

The Mongolia Third Neighbor Trade Act legislative bill was one of the key agendas of the President’s official visit to the United States in July 2019. To garner support for the legislative bill, President Battulga personally met with the co-sponsors of the bill as well as other Congress members.

The adoption of the legislative bill will expand bilateral trade turnover and non-mining exports of Mongolia, boost agricultural industries, and ensure the stability of women’s employment and sustainability of household income. A study suggests that over 30 thousand jobs will be created in the cashmere and textiles industries of Mongolia if the bill is passed.

The Mongolia Third Neighbor Trade Act legislative bill has a special importance in strengthening the “third neighbor” policy of Mongolia and the reinforcement of the Strategic Partnership between Mongolia and the United States.”

Source: The Office of the President of Mongolia

The Chinese city once the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic, Wuhan, has expanded its economy by 58.4% in the first quarter of 2021, a year after Covid-19 paralyzed economic activity in China.

The city’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose to 357.4 billion yuan ($55 billion) in January-March compared to the same period last year, China’s CGTN reported citing data from local authorities.

Meanwhile the GDP of China's Hubei province where Wuhan is located also went into positive territory for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak hit, Global Times reported earlier this week citing official statistics. It rose 58.3% to reach 987.27 billion yuan ($151.4 billion) in the first three months of 2021 compared with a 40% drop a year ago.

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China’s economy sees record growth after Covid-19 pandemic slump

The city and the whole province faced strict lockdowns that lasted for more than two months when the deadly virus started rapidly spreading across China and beyond at the beginning of 2020. Most local businesses and factories were closed due to the restrictions.

The region’s performance is part of a broader recovery of the Chinese economy. After becoming the only major economy that managed to expand in the pandemic year, China reported record 18.3% growth in the first quarter of 2021.