On 24 November 2020, the European Union and Mongolia confirmed their good bilateral relations, and the willingness to further strengthen the development cooperation agenda.

The discussion took place in the first Development Cooperation Working Group (informal) in the framework of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between the EU and Mongolia, which entered into force in 2017.

On development cooperation, the Parties:

Discussed lessons learnt from the EU Multi-Annual Indicative Programme for Mongolia (2014-2020) covering governance of revenues and employment in the non-mining sector, as well as from positive interventions in other areas such as trade, technical and vocational education and training (TVET), agriculture, value chains development, environment, human rights.

Took note of the need to strengthen donors and sectors coordination mechanisms in Mongolia.

Reaffirmed their commitment to continue working together towards the reform process in the employment and Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector and public finance management in the context of Budget Support operations.

Agreed to continue sectoral policy dialogue with the line Ministries in identifying blending operations in the areas of climate change and green energy as well as in improving business environment and sectoral regulatory framework in Mongolia.

Remain engaged to cooperate closely in the context of the EU programming exercise for future cooperation with Mongolia for 2021-2027.

Next steps

The informal Development Cooperation Working Group will be followed by the EU-Mongolia Joint Committee on 3 December 2020 via videoconference. The Joint Committee (chaired alternately by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy) is entrusted to ensure the proper functioning of the PCA, set priorities in relation to its aims, and make recommendations for promoting the objectives of the agreement.

Background

In 2017 the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between the EU and Mongolia entered into force. On development cooperation, the PCA commits the Parties to cooperate on sustainable development (economic, social, and environmental) and hold a regular dialogue on development cooperation, in line with their respective priorities and areas of mutual interest.

In 2014-2020 a total of EUR 139 million of EU development assistance in the form of grants was allocated for Mongolia. From this amount EUR 65 million have been part of the EU Multi-Annual Indicative Programme for Mongolia (2014-2020) on two focal sectors: “Governance of Revenues for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth” and “Support for Better Employment Opportunities”.

Mongolia has benefited also from a range of thematic and regional EU programmes of a total of EUR 38 million in fields such as trade, sustainable consumption and production, as well as support to civil society and human rights. EUR 36 million grant support from the Asian Investment Facility for blended projects with European development banks in SMEs support, climate change and green energy.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Railway traffic at Zamiin-Uud - Erlian stations has resumed from November 27, highlighted the operative team working at Ulaanbaatar Railway during an online conference on November 28. Moreover, some cargo that were being transported on autoroad without electronic seals have begun to be loaded onto trains at Taltsi station of Ulan-Ude, Russia.

The operative team was established in order to ensure infection control measures are being followed, to limit its spread, and enhance readiness as according to the decision made by the Head of the State Emergency Commission in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the staff of Ulaanbaatar Railway JSC.

During the conference, Deputy Head of Ulaanbaatar Railway JSC in charge of traffic safety Ch.Tsogtbayar reported that 15,875 staffs out of 15,956 have been tested for the coronavirus as of November 27, and 81 staffs have yet to be tested due to reasons such as being currently on annual leave, receiving medical treatment, and being unable to travel due to the lockdown.

Praising the resumption of railway traffic at Zamiin-Uud - Erlian station and the loading of cargo at Taltsi station in Ulan-Ude, Russia, Head of the Operative Team, Minister of Road and Transport Development L.Khaltar obliged the railway officials with the following:

-to pay special attention to the increase in suspicious cases at Darkhan, Sukhbaatar, and Choir stations,

- to have the watchmen and engineers newly appointed to stations and junctions carefully study the technical guidelines for the specific station, and to provide them with additional instructions for operational health and safety

-to re-test staffs that have been put under home isolation, and issue decisions regarding their isolation by discussing the matter with the General Agency for Specialized Inspection,

-to provide healthcare services to railway staff working at railway construction sites and involve them in medical checkups, and acquire assistance from the hospital in Sainshand or the central railway hospital if necessary.

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. At the regular press briefing of the Ministry of Health today, updates on the latest coronavirus tests results carried out within the past 24 hours have been provided.

According to a Head of Surveillance Department of the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) A.Ambaselmaa, the coronavirus was detected in seven people after testing 10308 people in total.

Two new cases were recorded in Ulaanbaatar city and five -- in Selenge aimag. “The two cases in Ulaanbaatar are the people who were in isolation as they are close contacts of the previous cases. As of today, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ulaanbaatar has reached 77. The confirmed five cases in Selenge aimag were also close contacts to previous cases,” stressed Ms. Ambaselmaa.

Therefore, total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Mongolia are now 791, with 348 local transmission cases and 354 recoveries. 428 people are undergoing the treatment at the NCCD, of whom six are in very critical and four in critical and 76 in moderate and 342 in mild health conditions.

Rio Tinto is facing a new front in an escalating dispute over how to finance its biggest project after a US hedge fund threatened the miner with legal action.

Pentwater Capital Management, which has a large minority stake in Rio-controlled Turquoise Hill Resources, said it was prepared to file an “oppression” order unless the company allowed the subsidiary to take on more debt to fund the $6.8bn underground expansion of the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.

“We do not undertake this lightly, but enough is enough,” Pentwater chief executive Matthew Halbower said in an open letter sent on Monday to Rio’s board of directors.

“This mine is a jewel. It will be the third-largest gold and copper mine in the world. It will produce tens of billions of dollars of free cash flow for decades. Its owners should be treated as business partners, not as puppets or pawns.”

Pentwater’s warning came days after Odey Asset Management, a London-based hedge fund, also called on Rio to change the way it was funding the project.

Odey, which has made a bearish bet against TRQ, said Rio should seek to refinance the entire project but through a massive rights issue. It has asked the company whether it will try to do so.

Rio could not be immediately reached for comment. TRQ declined to comment.

The underground expansion of Oyu Tolgoi is Rio’s most important project.

When finished, the mine will be capable of producing more than 500,000 tonnes of copper a year.

However, it has been dogged by problems and is running more than a year behind schedule and more than $1bn over budget. Its first sustainable production is now expected around October 2022.

While Rio operates Oyu Tolgoi it does not have a direct stake. Instead it owns 50.8 per cent of TRQ, which in turn owns 66 per cent of the project, with the rest owned by the Mongolian government.

The row over funding of the cost blowout started to heat up in early November when TRQ launched arbitration proceedings against Rio in an effort to get clarity on funding.

Rio has said it will not allow TRQ to take on more than $500m in additional debt, telling the company to plug a funding gap of up to $3bn by reprofiling loans and raising equity.

That move has alarmed minority TRQ shareholders including Pentwater, which owns almost 10 per cent of the company. They fear being diluted if the company is not allowed to issue more debt or raise cash by selling the rights to future gold production from Oyu Tolgoi.

Pentwater said TRQ’s current financing agreements with Rio were written to allow for $1.6bn of supplemental debt financing.

“Rio is attempting to force Turquoise Hill to conduct an equity raise despite the fact that the current equity price severely undervalues the company, and despite the fact that there are much cheaper and more advantageous financing options available,” said Mr Halbower.

Separately, one of the frontrunners to replace Rio’s outgoing chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques ruled himself out of the running for the job on Monday.

Newcrest Mining chief executive Sandeep Biswas said in an email to staff that he was not “interested in any other CEO role outside Newcrest”.

After four years at the helm of Rio, Mr Jacques stepped down in September following an investor backlash over the destruction of a sacred Aboriginal site to make way for the expansion of the mine. Rio has appointed MWM Consulting to help find its next chief executive.

Large herds of gazelles have been spotted in Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia, making a stir on social media, the country's Environment and Tourism Ministry said Monday.

"On Sunday, a herd of more than 200 gazelles was spotted in the Nalaikh District of Ulan Bator, while another herd of around 300 gazelles was spotted in the territory of the Khan-Uul District of the capital city," the ministry said in a statement.

The two herds of gazelles were driven into the pasture by local officials, the ministry added.

According to a census in 2000 cited by the World Wildlife Fund, over 2 million gazelles inhabited in Mongolia's Eastern Steppe, and the population of gazelles has been decreasing since then under the threats of poorer weather conditions, infectious diseases, steppe fires, human and livestock interference, among others. Enditem

The Covid crisis has challenged the global airline industry to fight for survival in 2020, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said this week. It added that the industry’s huge losses will continue into 2021.

“This crisis is devastating and unrelenting. Airlines have cut costs by 45.8 percent, but revenues are down 60.9 percent. The result is that airlines will lose $66 for every passenger carried this year for a total net loss of $118.5 billion. This loss will be reduced sharply by $80 billion in 2021. But the prospect of losing $38.7 billion next year is nothing to celebrate,” said IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac.

He added: “We need to get borders safely re-opened without quarantine so that people will fly again. And with airlines expected to bleed cash at least until the fourth quarter of 2021, there is no time to lose.”

According to the IATA, in the face of a half-trillion-dollar revenue drop (from $838 billion in 2019 to $328 billion), airlines cut costs by $365 billion (from $795 billion in 2019 to $430 billion in 2020).

“The history books will record 2020 as the industry’s worst financial year, bar none. Airlines cut expenses by an average of a billion dollars a day over 2020 and will still rack-up unprecedented losses. Were it not for the $173 billion in financial support by governments, we would have seen bankruptcies on a massive scale,” said de Juniac.

While the industry will see an improved performance in 2021 compared to 2020, “the road to recovery is expected to be long and difficult.” The association warned that passenger volumes are not expected to return to 2019 levels until 2024 at the earliest, with domestic markets recovering faster than international services.

“The financial damage of this crisis is severe. Government support has kept airlines alive to this point. More is likely needed as the crisis is lasting longer than anyone could have anticipated. And it must come in forms that do not increase the already high debt load which has ballooned to $651 billion,” de Juniac said.

Most employees are working from home after Mongolia issued a second decree emergency situation and imposed a travel ban, which has left thousands of Mongolians stranded – in Ulaanbaatar people are banned from leaving home apart from buying necessary provisions. However, 13 organisations such as energy-sector workers, health workers, media, food production plants and supermarket staff are being allowed to work normal hours.

The Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry has conducted a survey for examining the impacts of lockdown on business. More than 3500 enterprises from various sectors including tourism, media technology, mining, transportation, production, construction, education and retail have participated in the survey. According to the results of the survey, 82 percent of private businesses have fully stopped operations and 13 percent are operating with limited capacity.

Since 12 November, some 152 thousand jobs have been cut. Subsequently, if the lockdown continues for a further three months, half a million people will lose their jobs.

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. The ‘Songino’ substation was put into operation on November 25 with a purpose to increase the reliability of not only Ulaanbaatar’s energy supply but also the country’s central energy grid.

During the present situation of public readiness, the energy sector works in a special regime and has launched the operation of the large-scale construction. Currently, a technical commission is working on the 72-hour testing and the adjustment for its operation.

With the commissioning of the Songino substation, the ‘Zaisan’ substation in Ulaanbaatar will have two-way power supply, and the 110kV ‘Yarmag Bridge’ and ‘Shine Yarmag’ substations that have not had power for eight years, will be connected to the 110kV ‘Ikh Toiruu’power system; thus it will start working at its full capacity. In addition, there will be a possibility to connect the Ulaanbaatar New International Airport in Khushig Valley to the main power supply.

It will be connected to the Russian power system through Ulaanbaatar's Thermal Power Plant-4 and substations of Dundgobi and Umnugobi aimags, Erdenet and Darkhan cities. Moreover, the transmission capacity of the national power transmission network is going to be increased by 250 MV.

At its irregular meeting held yesterday at 5 pm, the Cabinet made a decision to extend the period of strict-lockdown in Ulaanbaatar city, Arkhangai and Selenge aimags, where the spread of COVID-19 still exists, by 10 days, until December 11.

However, 18 types of businesses and services are allowed to run their operations, after being registered and getting QR code. Manufacturing or processing businesses such as printing houses, packaging, wood processing and construction material plants, and distribution services, e-trading as well as banking businesses are added to the previously permitted businesses which include food stores and supermarkets, food manufacturers, food distribution, gas stations, fuel suppliers, public toilets, disinfection and sterilization places, livestock fodder suppliers, hospitals, courts and prosecution offices, pharmacies, power stations, communications and media, special services, state-owned organizations of particular and strategic importance, and funeral services.

As for the aimags which took the spread of the virus under control, such as Orkhon, Gobisumber, Dornogobi and Darkhan-Uul and other non-infected aimags, the strict-lockdown have been lowered by one stage or to the heightened state of readiness for disaster protection . Businesses and other activities except public events, school and kindergarten and entertainment activities, in those aimags will be able to be carried normally under high infection control.