One year after the divorce with the EU, Britain announced plans to join one of the world’s largest free trade agreements. Known as the CPTPP, the deal includes 11 developed and emerging economies around the Pacific Rim.

The British government announced on Sunday its intention to formally apply to become a part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). UK International Trade Secretary Liz Truss will discuss Britain’s intention with ministers in Japan and New Zealand, which are parties to the pact, on Monday, while formal talks are set to start this year.

UK strikes first major post-Brexit free trade deal with Japan

The trade pact stems from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, talks of which were abandoned by the US. CPTPP members include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam, which together account for about 13 percent the world’s income.

According to the British government, the annual volume of trade between the UK and the members of the group grew by eight percent since 2016 to £111 billion (over $152 billion) in 2020. London says that that domestic manufacturers, including food and drink producers, as well as the automotive industry, will benefit from the deal, but the UK won’t have to cede control of its laws, borders, and money like under EU membership.

“One year after our departure from the EU we are forging new partnerships that will bring enormous economic benefits for the people of Britain,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. He noted that the UK will be the first nation to officially apply to join the agreement since it came into force in 2018, which “demonstrates our ambition to do business on the best terms” with partners across the globe.

While the intention was also welcomed by business groups, it still drew criticism. Labour’s trade policy chief, Emily Thornberry, said the UK’s “big decision” on membership in the mammoth agreement comes shortly after the country finally left a trade bloc with our closest neighbors, “only to join another one on the other side of the world with no public debate at all.” She called on the government to open public consultation on the matter, as most people even don’t know what the pact is.

The final stretch of a cross-border fiber optic cable is set to be laid by China in Pakistan to create the Digital Silk Road (DSR), Nikkei Asia reports. The DSR is part of the broader Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The fiber cable will link to the Pakistan East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) submarine cable in the Arabian Sea, to service countries participating in BRI, and Europe. It is currently being laid between Pakistan’s Rawalpindi city and the port cities of Karachi and Gwadar. The $240-million project, which is in partnership with China's Huawei Technologies, was approved by the government last week.

The laying of sea cable in Pakistan's territorial waters will begin in March, following government approval this month for Cybernet, a local internet service provider, to construct an Arabian Sea landing station in Karachi.

The Mediterranean section of the cable is already being laid, and runs from Egypt to France. The 15,000 kilometer-long cable is expected to go into service later this year.

The PEACE cable will provide the shortest direct internet route between participating countries, and will drastically reduce internet data transfer speeds. It is expected to help reduce Pakistan's exposure to internet outages from damaged submarine cables by providing an additional route for internet connectivity.

According to Eyck Freymann, author of ‘One Belt One Road: Chinese Power Meets the World,’ the BRI is evolving to place less emphasis on traditional heavy infrastructure, and more on high-tech cooperation and digital services.

He told Nikkei Asia that "Beijing wants to dominate the physical infrastructure underlying global communications, particularly the internet,” adding: "This will give it an advantage in internationalizing its tech sector and pursuing future tech-related deals with partner countries."

The ambitious multi-trillion-dollar BRI initiative (or the new Silk Road), announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, aims to boost connectivity and cooperation between East Asia, Europe, and East Africa. It is expected to significantly boost global trade, cutting trading costs in half for the countries involved, according to expert estimates.

Mongolia added 37 more COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours after 11,202 tests were conducted nationwide, bringing its caseload to 1,779, the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Sunday.

The new cases were locally transmitted or reported in the country's capital Ulan Bator, Amarjargal Ambaselmaa, head of the NCCD's surveillance department, told a press conference.

Meanwhile, 12 more patients have recovered from the disease, taking the total to 1,333.

The Asian country, with a population of around 3.3 million, has recorded two COVID-19-related deaths so far. Enditem

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Ministers of the new cabinet have been just appointed by taking the oath of office to the parliament, after Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene issued the ordinance on the appointments. The Steering Committee of the ruling Mongolian People’s Party earlier today, January 29, approved the list of nominees for cabinet ministers, who were then presented to the President and the Parliament by the recently appointed Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene.

Eight of the 16 cabinet members namely, S.Amarsaikhan, Ts.Nyamdorj, B.Battsetseg, B.Javkhlan, L.Enkh-Amgalan, S.Enkhbold, N.Urtnasan, and Ch.Nomin have been newly appointed, while the rest who had been ministers of the previous government have been reappointed.

Newly appointed cabinet members:

Deputy Prime Minister – MP S.Amarsaikhan

Head of Cabinet Secretariat – Ts.Nyamdorj

Minister of Environment and Tourism – N.Urtnasan

Minister of Finance – MP B.Javkhlan

Minister of Foreign Affairs – B.Battsetseg

Minister of Culture – Ch.Nomin

Minister of Health – S.Enkhbold

Minister of Education and Science - MP L.Enkh-Amgalan

Reappointed cabinet members:

Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs - MP Kh.Nyambaatar

Minister of Labor and Social Protection - A.Ariunzaya

Minister of Construction and Urban Development - B.Munkhbaatar

Minister of Defense – G.Saikhanbayar

Minister of Road and Transport Development - L.Khaltar

Minister Mining and Heavy Industry - G.Yondon

Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry - Z.Mendsaikhan

Minister of Energy - N.Tavinbekh

In accordance with the amendments to the Constitution of Mongolia, which were adopted on November 14, 2019, Prime Minister appoints ministers of the cabinet. Therefore, no voting has been conducted at the plenary session of the parliament.

It is noteworthy that half of the previous cabinet members have been reappointed and the new cabinet, for the first time has four women ministers, of which 3 have been newly appointed. Moreover, Ts.Nyamdorj, who served as the Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs for many years, has been appointed as the Chief of Cabinet Secretariat.

The appointments were made in light of the professional qualifications of the nominees. The Steering Committee of the Mongolian People’s Party concluded that certain ministers of the previous cabinet had to be reappointed as it had been stated that the new cabinet would continue with the major railroad, mining, and oil refinery projects launched by the previous cabinet of former Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh and that it is important to make balanced appointments rather than appointing only new faces at this critical time when the country is fighting COVID-19 outbreaks and facing economic challenges.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. As part of the Utility Operations Sub-activity of the Bulk Water Supply Project under the Mongolian Water Compact, operations of Ulaanbaatar Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (USUG) and Ulaanbaatar Housing and Public Utilities Authority (OSNAAUG) was evaluated by the AquaRating. It is an international assessment and benchmarking tool for utility operations developed by the International Water Association (IWA). USUG and OSNAAUG AquaRating Certification Workshop was held virtually on January 26 and 27, 2021, respectfully.

The First Deputy Governor of the Capital city J.Sandagsuren, General Manager of Ulaanbaatar City and Head of the Governor's Office T.Gantumur, Head of USUG Ts.Turkhuu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Mongolia Michael S. Klecheski, MCC Resident Country Director Alex Russin, Deputy Resident Country Director Eric Guetschoff, MCA-Mongolia Deputy Chief Executive Director S. Zorigt, and other officials participated in the event. IWA AquaRating Manager Kizito Masinde, co-author of AquaRating Francisco Cubillo and MCA-Mongolia Water Sector Sustainability Activity Director L.Unurjargal co-facilitated the virtual event and the certification ceremony.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Michael Klecheski said he is delighted to be taking part in this important event and noted that “This performance assessment utilizing the AquaRating system lays a foundation for strengthening the operational and financial sustainability of water utilities”.

“I want to highlight here the $350 million MCC program among all of the other ongoing projects, which will change life in Ulaanbaatar a lot and contribute significantly to social and economic development of the Capital city of Mongolia. An important thing I should mention here is that this is a grant, but not a loan. The second thing is local ownership, which means a MCC provides an opportunity for grant receiving countries to make proposals about what to do with this grant for supporting their economic growth,” the Ambassador said.

“The MCC Compact is, first of all, funding major infrastructure projects, including the construction of new wellfields and two large plants, including Advanced Water Purification Plant and Wastewater Recycling Plant. In addition, the Compact will invest in policy measures to create a financially and environmentally sustainable future for the water sector of Ulaanbaatar. In other words, not just the major infrastructure improvement to the Ulaanbaatar water sector, it will bring good governance and best management practices into Mongolia. Today's event testifies to the fact that all this is happening from the beginning.”

Then, Ambassador Michael Klecheski presented the organization certificate of AquaRating assessment to Head of USUG Ts.Turkhuu.

Mr. Ts.Turkhuu, in his closing remarks, stated that “Over one year time starting from 2019, we worked quite intensively on this AquaRating exercise. And we are glad to receive this certificate today after all. It is essential for us to work according to certain standards. We have a noble responsibility to support the health and hygiene of our citizens by providing water services. Therefore, we will continue to work hard to take the quality and standards of our operations and services to a higher level and to bring them in line with international standards.”

MCA-Mongolia Deputy Chief Executive Director S.Zorigt extended his gratitude to all those who have contributed in this important and time-consuming work in the past two years and underlined that the current assessment rate UGUG has been obtained is quite close to the average rates of similar water utilities from the other countries. He also said that the MCA-Mongolia will continue to work together with USUG and U.S Embassy to Ulaanbaatar to improve the sustainability of the water sector based on this assessment.

Following the certification ceremony, the AquaRating assessment report was presented in detail to USUG management, engineers and technicians.

The AquaRating, a system based on an international standard for the evaluation and improvement of water and sanitation utilities, evaluates and analyzes the water and sanitation services in an integrated way through several assessment elements organized in eight operational areas, identifies areas for further improvement and provide support during the improvement process as briefed by Mr. Kizito Masinde.

As a part of the Utility Operations Sub-activity of the Bulk Water Supply Project under the Mongolian Water Compact, AquaRating performance assessment to operations of USUG and OSNAAUG started in May 2019. An internal audit was conducted in the first quarter of 2020, followed by an external audit from the IWA in the third quarter of 2020. An evaluation report was prepared in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Based on the assessment results, a comprehensive plan for further improvement will be developed and implemented, including a comprehensive partnership between USUG and an experienced water utility from a developed country that operates in similar conditions or deals with similar concerns.

The validity of the certification will last until 2024 and by then another assessment will be done.

Background

Millennium Challenge Account - Mongolia is a state-owned enterprise established by the decision of the Government of Mongolia on October 3, 2018, pursuant to Government Resolution No 297 in accordance with Section 3.2 of the Compact to implement the Program under the 350 million USD Mongolia Water Compact signed with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government foreign aid agency.

Ulaaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On January 27, Rio Tinto unveiled its new executive team. With this structural change, Energy and Minerals Chief Executive Bold Baatar has become Copper Chief Executive.

Bold joined Rio Tinto in May 2013 as president of Copper International Operations. And he has been the chief executive of Rio Tinto Energy & Minerals (E&M) product group since 2016. Through the development of new products and markets, a responsive market approach and the successful divestment of the company’s coal business, Bold has helped drive the optimization of the company's portfolio with a focus on a low carbon future and in doing so, helped generate significant shareholder value. He has also re-energized the Group’s focus on Africa and driven the development of Rio Tinto Ventures, which focuses on assessing growth opportunities in the minerals and metals of the future.

The new leadership team, effective by 1 March, is:

Jakob Stausholm, Chief Executive

Bold Baatar, Chief Executive Rio Tinto Copper

Alf Barrios, Chief Commercial Officer

Peter Cunningham, Interim Chief Financial Officer

Mark Davies, Group Executive, Safety, Technical and Projects

Sinead Kaufman, Chief Executive Rio Tinto Minerals

Barbara Levi, Chief Legal Officer & External Affairs

James Martin, Chief People Officer (joins 6 April)

Kellie Parker, Chief Executive Australia

Arnaud Soirat, Chief Operating Officer

Peter Toth, Group Executive, Strategy and Development

Simon Trott, Chief Executive Rio Tinto Iron Ore

Ivan Vella, Chief Executive Rio Tinto Aluminium

Rio Tinto will increase its focus on operational excellence and project development, strengthening the company’s ESG credentials, and rebuilding trust, particularly in Australia, under the new organizational structure.

source: Rio Tinto

A new coronavirus vaccine has been shown to be 89.3% effective in large-scale UK trials.

The Novavax jab is the first to show it is effective against the new variant of the virus discovered in the UK, the BBC's medical editor Fergus Walsh said.

The PM welcomed the "good news" and said the UK's medicines regulator would now assess the vaccine.

The UK has secured 60 million doses of the jab, which will be made in Stockton-on-Tees.

The doses are expected to be delivered in the second half of this year, if approved for use by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the government said.

The UK has so far approved three coronavirus vaccines for emergency use - one from Oxford University and AstraZeneca, another by Pfizer and BioNTech, and a third from drug firm Moderna.

The Novavax jab was shown to be 89.3% effective at preventing Covid-19 in participants in its Phase 3 clinical trial in the UK, which enrolled more than 15,000 people aged between 18-84, of whom 27% were older than 65, Novavax said.

In the South African part of the trial, where most of the cases were the South African variant of the virus, the vaccine was 60% effective among those without HIV.

Stan Erck, chief executive of Novavax, said the results from the UK trial were "spectacular" and "as good as we could have hoped", while the efficacy in South Africa was "above people's expectations".

He told the BBC the manufacturing plant in Stockton-on-Tees should be up and running by March or April, with the company hoping to get approval for the vaccine from the MHRA around the same time.

He said: "This is positive news and, if approved by the medicines regulator, the Novavax vaccine will be a significant boost to our vaccination programme and another weapon in our arsenal to beat this awful virus.

"I'm proud the UK is at the forefront of another medical breakthrough and I want to thank the brilliant scientists and researchers, as well as the tens of thousands of selfless volunteers who took park in clinical trials."

Prof Paul Heath, chief investigator of the UK Novavax trial, said: "These are enormously exciting findings and show that this is a highly effective and safe Covid-19 vaccine - importantly it also shows that this is a vaccine that is effective against the UK variant that has spread so quickly."

Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said the findings that the vaccine gave high levels of protection in the UK part of the trial were "excellent" but that the lower level of protection seen in South Africa was "a concern".

These extremely encouraging trial results suggest another powerful vaccine against coronavirus could soon be within reach.

It works in a slightly different way to the ones that are already available - but does the same job of teaching the body's immune system to recognise and fight the pandemic virus.

What is more, it appears to be effective against emerging and more infectious variants of coronavirus too - something scientists have feared might not be possible because the vaccines were all designed to match the original virus, not these new, mutated versions.

Even the South Africa variant, which has undergone the most worrisome changes, does not seem to be able to fully escape.

Nadhim Zahawi, the UK government minister responsible for the vaccine rollout, said: "Having taken part in Novavax's vaccine trial myself, I am particularly thrilled to see such positive results.

"I want to thank the thousands of trial volunteers, without whom these results would not have been possible."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer described the trial results as "fantastic news" and "one more step towards getting Britain vaccinated".

In total, the UK has ordered ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 40 million of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine - both of which are currently being rolled out in the UK.

Another 17 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, which was approved by the MHRA in early January, are expected in the spring.

The aim is to give everyone in the top four priority groups - up to 15 million people - a first dose by mid-February.

Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the Novavax jab can be stored at regular fridge temperature.

More than 7.4 million people in the UK have so far received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest government figures.

Earlier, the prime minister and Public Health England (PHE) defended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, after Germany recommended that it should only be given to people aged under 65.

Dr Mary Ramsay, PHE's head of immunisations, said the jab offers "high levels of protection" against Covid-19, particularly against severe illness.

The UK recorded a further 1,239 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test on Thursday. There have also been another 28,680 new infections.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson estimates about 300,000 Hong Kong citizens will take advantage of a new visa route to leave the former British colony and settle in the U.K., despite nearly three million people being eligible.

The new procedure honors the “profound ties of history and friendship” between the province and Britain, Johnson said in a statement.

The route, which opens on Sunday, was offered after the U.K. said China’s imposition of a National Security Law breached the terms of the joint agreement made between the two nations when Hong Kong was handed over to Beijing’s control in 1997.

Between 123,000 and 153,700 British National (Overseas) status holders and their dependents are expected to use the route to the U.K. in the first year, rising to between 258,000 and 322,400 over five years, according to Home Office estimates.

The visa fee to stay for five years will be 250 pounds ($343) per person alongside an immigration health surcharge of as much as 624 pounds per year.

“We have been clear we won’t look the other way when it comes to Hong Kong,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in an e-mailed statement. “We will live up to our historic responsibility to its people.”

Relations between London and Beijing are at a modern low as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the treatment of Hong Kong protesters and allegations of human rights abuses of Uighur Muslims. China denies any mistreatment.

Mongolian imports fell to an eight-month low in December as the country’s first local transmission of Covid-19 cases in the previous month compelled stricter checks at the Chinese border crossings, largely reducing the number of trucks passing daily. Mongolian imports for the whole of 2020 fell by 30 percent on the previous year.

China’s December coking coal imports fell to the lowest level in 2020 as Australian shipments dropped to zero because of an informal import ban, while Chinese mills ramped up offtake of non-Australian origin coal.

China imported 3.57 million tonnes of coking coal last month, down by 4 percent from 3.72 million tonnes in November but up by 110 percent from December 2019, according to Chinese customs data. The country’s overall 2020 imports fell by 3 percent on the year.