The Indian government has reaffirmed its commitment to building Mongolia's first oil refinery, but has also subtly pressured the Mongolian government to ensure an accompanying pipeline is constructed on time.

In a video conference with Chief Cabinet Secretary L. Oyun-Erdene and Mining Minister G. Yondon, India's Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, said that he hoped Mongolia would finish connecting a crude oil pipeline to the refinery 'well before' it is opened.

The refinery will be small by international standards but should meet domestic requirements. (Unsplash)The refinery will be small by international standards but should meet domestic requirements. (Unsplash)

The refinery will be small by international standards but should meet domestic requirements. (Unsplash)

The refinery, which is largely funded by the Indian government through a line of credit extended during high-level visits in 2015, is being built in Altanshiree in Dornogovi province. It is scheduled for completion in 2022.

Despite producing and exporting thousands of barrels of oil per day, Mongolia depends on imports of finished petrochemicals from Russia to meet domestic demand.

The Mongol Refinery Project, as it is known, aims to reduce this dependence.

Interestingly, the refinery is apparently the largest project India is undertaking through its Lines of Credit program, which suggests New Delhi is keen to strengthen ties with Ulaanbaatar. The project is managed by the state-owned Engineers India Ltd.

However, the fact that the Indian government has gone public with its request for Mongolia to complete the pipeline before the refinery opens suggests it may be concerned about project slippage.

Pradhan said he "sought [Oyun-Erdene and Yondon's] cooperation in completing this pipeline well before the commissioning of the Refinery project."

In exchange, Pradhan indicated that India hoped to gain greater access to Mongolian mineral supplies.

"“We look forward to substantial partnerships with Mongolian companies in the areas of minerals, coal and steel," he said.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor and Apple Inc plan to sign a partnership deal on autonomous electric cars by March and start production around 2024 in the United States, local newspaper Korea IT News reported on Sunday.

The report follows a statement on Friday from Hyundai Motor that it was in early talks with Apple after another local media outlet said the companies aimed to launch a self-driving electric car in 2027, sending Hyundai shares up nearly 20%.

Hyundai Motor declined to comment on the report on Sunday, and reiterated Friday’s comments that it has received requests for potential cooperation from various companies on developing autonomous EVs.

Apple had no immediate comment.

An updated version of the IT news report removed details, including production location and capacity and the timeframe for signing the agreement and launching the pilot vehicles.

The previous version said the companies planned to build the cars at Kia Motors’ factory in Georgia, or invest jointly in a new factory in the United States to produce 100,000 vehicles around 2024. The full annual capacity of the proposed plant would be 400,000 vehicles.

Kia Motors is an affiliate of Hyundai Motor.

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The report also said Hyundai and Apple planned to release a “beta version” of the Apple cars next year.

Reuters reported last month that Apple was moving forward with autonomous car technology and aimed to produce a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology as early as 2024.

Shares in Hyundai Motor rose 14.6% in morning trade on Monday, while affiliate auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis shares rose 12.7% and Kia shares rose 9.1% versus a 2% gain in the wider market.

Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Additional reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Barbara Lewis

A record number of small firms could close in the next 12 months, says the Federation of Small Businesses.

Without further government help to cope with the effects of the pandemic, more than a quarter of a million businesses could be lost, it said.

The FSB said it had put forward ideas to help some of those firms, which it hoped ministers would adopt.

Its proposed support scheme would aim to help many self-employed workers currently excluded from aid.

The FSB based its prediction on a survey of 1,400 small firms, 5% of which said they expected to close this year.

If those figures were replicated across the country, some 250,000 of the UK's 5.9 million small firms could disappear, it said.

FSB national chairman Mike Cherry said: "The development of business support measures has not kept pace with intensifying restrictions.

"As a result, we risk losing hundreds of thousands of great, ultimately viable small businesses this year, at huge cost to local communities and individual livelihoods."

Mr Cherry said the government had met the latest national lockdown "with a whimper" and called for help that went beyond the retail, leisure and hospitality businesses.

"Company directors, the newly self-employed, those in supply chains and those without commercial premises are still being left out in the cold," he added.

Among other groups, the FSB is concerned that directors of small companies, who pay themselves in dividends rather than drawing a salary, are not receiving any help from the government.

The FSB said somewhere between 700,000 and 1.1 million people fell into this category.

If adopted by ministers, the FSB's proposed Directors Income Support Scheme would pay them grants of up to £7,500 to cover three months of lost trading profits. It would be limited to those who earn less than £50,000 a year.

The FSB said it had submitted its proposals to the Treasury and was expecting a decision this month.

The Treasury said nothing was planned at present, but added: "Our support schemes are designed to get help to those who need it most whilst protecting the taxpayer from fraud, but of course we keep everything under review and are always open to further ideas."

Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) on Sunday confirmed 21 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide tally to 1,429.

"A total of 22,993 tests for COVID-19 were conducted across the country in the last 24 hours, and 21 of them tested positive," Amarjargal Ambaselmaa, head of the surveillance department of the NCCD, said at a daily press conference.

Twenty of the latest confirmed cases were locally transmitted, and the remaining patient was a serviceman of the Mongolian Armed Forces who had recently returned home from Afghanistan, said Ambaselmaa.

More than two-thirds of the COVID-19 infections in Mongolia were locally transmitted. The country confirmed its first locally transmitted case in November.

The Asian country with a population of 3.3 million has so far registered two COVID-19-related deaths and 896 recoveries. Enditem

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On January 6, the Start-up Promotion Agency announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) online for the cooperation of the Young Entrepreneurs Council of Mongolia to foster cooperation between the two startups and to create a foundation for Mongolia's start-up life system, including the knowledge of laws and institutions

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The Young Entrepreneurs Council was established in 2018 to bring startup and entrepreneurship to Mongolia.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding was aimed at establishing a cooperative relationship between the two countries to revitalize start-up life-based exchanges and develop startups, and to comply with the laws and regulations related to start-up and investment in the Republic of Korea.

Kim Kwang-hyun, director of the Start-up Promotion Agency, said, "We hope that by gaining knowledge and experience related to Startups in Korea to Mongolia, we will contribute to the development of Mongolia's startup ecosystem and enable startup cooperation between Korea and Mongolia."

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. Today, the Emergency Commission of the capital city has announced that 18 types of businesses will remain closed when the current COVID-19 strict lockdown is to be eased to the heightened state of readiness in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar from next Monday.

J. Sandagsuren, 1st deputy governor of the capital city, said “The Emergency commission has conducted risk assessments on sectors in the capital. Accordingly, it decided to re-open services, except 18 types of services. Driving restriction by license plate number will be adhered in the traffic."

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The 18 services include clothing shops, furniture stores, services for wedding ceremony, beauty salon, swimming pool, mobile phone trade and repair centers, churches, all kinds of sports, yoga and fitness halls, dance clubs, sauna and massages, hairdressing, hotels and class training with more than five attendants.

Dry bulk owners are watching customs data out of Beijing closely to see where China is sourcing coal from to replace banned Australian products – the choice will have an enormous ramifications for the overall tonne-mile picture of the sector. Relations between Canberra and Beijing have soured in recent months after Australia called for an international probe into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, leading the government of Xi Jinping to ban a range of Australian products including coal.

The start to 2021 has seen no sign of a thaw in China’s Australian coal stance. “China is not backing down on this. Very little Australian thermal coal will go to China in 2021. It’s the chicken game,” commented Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at BIMCO. Sand said that for the sake of shipping, he was crossing his fingers that China turns to Colombia and Canada and not Mongolia and Russia for its coal needs.

Coal to China from Russia travels around 1,000 nautical miles, it’s 2,000 miles from Indonesia, 4,000 miles from Australia, 9,000 from Colombia and 11,000 from Canada. Most worrying for dry bulk owners is the growing exports by land from Mongolia into China – volumes have leapt during 2020.

Latest data from Braemar ACM show there are 23 capes and 52 panamaxes laden with Australian coal remaining at sea outside Chinese ports, unable to discharge, with a median waiting duration of over 90 days so far.

The ban has already reshaped trade flows. Some of the cargoes waiting in China have diverted to nearby countries such as Vietnam and South Korea, while India’s share of Australian exports grew over the last few months.

Ralph Leszczynski, head of research at Banchero Costa, said dry bulk owners ought to be looking at the bigger coal picture rather than the current Australia – China dispute.

“The reality is that 2020 was across the board a horrible year for coal trade, worldwide,” Leszczynski said.

Global seaborne coal trade declined by 12.7% year-on-year in 2020. Nevertheless, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has revised its forecasts for coal demand upwards.

Citing a faster-than-expected economic recovery in Asia, the agency amended its previous forecast of a 7% drop in 2020 to 5%, and forecast growth of 2.6% in 2021. The IEA estimated that coal trade volumes had decreased by 10% or 150m tons in 2020, the largest drop ever recorded. Thermal coal volumes fell 10% and coking coal 12%. Remaining bullish for China coal import numbers is Jeffrey Landsberg, the managing director of US-based Commodore Research & Consultancy.

In recent weeks Commodore has been highlighting how a surge in electricity generation for heating has remained underway in China. Of note most recently is that nine separate power grids all saw their power loads set new highs this week. This includes the power grids in Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Jilin, Xinjiang, and Beijing.

“Going forward, we remain bullish for China’s coal import prospects,” Landsberg told Splash. The dry bulk analyst said it was significant that it is not common for power loads in China to set records during the winter. Instead, records are only normally set in the summer. “The current record power production levels in China at present are atypical for this time of year and very supportive to the dry bulk market. With the ban on Australia in place, China’s imports from Indonesia at present have been rising,” Landsberg said. (Splash 247.com)

On Friday (8 Jan), Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Dharmendra Pradhan) reiterated India’s commitment towards the timely completion of the Mongol Refinery Project. This assurance was made during a virtual meeting with L.Oyun-Erdene, MP, Minister and Chief Cabinet Secretary of Mongolia and Co-Chair of the India-Mongolia Joint Committee on Cooperation.

Bilateral cooperation in the hydrocarbons and steel sectors were comprehensively reviewed in the meeting, an official statement added.

The Indian Minister also expressed willingness to further share India’s expertise in the oil and gas sector, including capacity building in line with Mongolia’s developmental priorities. He expressed appreciation for the support in facilitating approvals for the expeditious implementation of the greenfield Mongol Refinery Project, built under a Line of Credit from the Government of India, and their commitment to setting up a pipeline to transport crude to the refinery being built near the city of Sainshand.

The Minister also welcomed the eagerness of Mongolian mining companies in supplying coking coal to the Indian steel industry and agreed to advance mutual benefitial cooperation. “We look forward to substantial partnerships with Mongolian companies in the areas of minerals, coal and steel.”, he added.

Following the coronavirus pandemic, the issue of economic recovery is now in the spotlight. As the head of the government that overcame the economic crisis of 2008-09, how do you assess the current situation?

Compared to that time, countries and the world are facing much more difficult situations. In these difficult times, the Government of Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh is able to take comprehensive and effective measures to protect the health and livelihood of its citizens. The Parliament and the Government are paying special attention to the implementation of solutions to revitalize small and medium-sized businesses in a low-risk way, and will continue to work hard in this direction. At the time, the beginning of the Oyu Tolgoi and Tavan Tolgoi projects was a major factor in itself, but it is still important to intensify other major processing, construction and infrastructure projects. It is right that the government is paying attention to this. We believe that by overcoming this difficult situation together, the future of the private sector, led by more efficient and educated young people, will be even stronger.

You just mentioned the Tavan Tolgoi project. It is the 10th anniversary of Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi state-owned company. The public may not be well aware that you have made important decisions about the Tavan Tolgoi deposit…

Yes, when I was working in the business sector in 1998 I acquired the license to Tavan Tolgoi deposit and later gave it to the state. Later, when I was the Prime Minister, in 2012, made the decision to give 1072 shares to every citizen. The fact that every shareholder received a dividend last year is the first time that Mongolians have directly benefited from the country’s natural resources. Also, under our government, until the end of 2012, every citizen of Mongolia received 1.5 million MNT in “National grace”, Tavan Tolgoi shares, 1 million MNT for seniors, 1 student tuition fee of 1 million MNT, health and social insurance compensation, 21 monthly thousand tugrugs in the form of benefits from this deposit.

How do you assess the current and future significance of the Tavan Tolgoi deposit?

Today, the Tavan Tolgoi deposit has expanded into a vital economic and social project for Mongolia. In addition to the nearly 2,000 jobs created, more than 20,000 jobs have been created indirectly, and thousands of Mongolian families are making their living. It alone accounts for a large share of state budget revenues, which finances everything from salaries to pensions. During this difficult time, the government is issuing the money that every Mongolian family spends on their children in the form of “child benefits”. This deposit is the most real and clear manifestation of justice. The Tavan Tolgoi deposit will continue to be of economic importance as a key tool for attracting foreign and domestic investors to large projects and reviving business activity. But the importance of bigger development should be even greater.

What would that be?

The most important thing is to finance the education and health systems that will lead the Mongolian people to the middle class. People’s initiative to build their own lives should begin with an education system of international standards and an inclusive health care system. It should also be one of the pillars of a low-tax, low-interest, low-interest business support system that supports people’s initiatives. At the same time, in a democratic Mongolia, citizens must be able to express themselves without fear and live more freely, ensuring the immunity of an independent state. In short, it should be a guarantee of Mongolia’s economic, social and political independence, freedom and justice.

Recently, in the special issue of the 100th anniversary of the newspaper “Unen”, the General Secretary of the MPP, D. Amarbayasgalan, announced the names of politicians who can run for the presidency from MPP in next year’s presidential election. What do you think about this?

The Mongolian People’s Party has a 100-year history and has sufficiently prepared human resources. There are several people who have a good reputation and are candidates for the Presidential election. The party’s secretary general probably named me as one of them as I was the Prime Minister of Mongolia and the chairman of the MPP, and I am still actively involved in politics. I am ready to work if fellow party members gives me the trust and responsibility.

You are a successful politician and the founder of a large Mongolian company. Briefly summarize your success?

For more than 20 years, I have been a politician, and I have always believed that democracy, human rights, and development are the most important values. I have worked to ensure unity and to guide progressive ideas. An example of this is I gave the license to the Tavan Tolgoi back to state to make it people’s property, without selling the license to foreigners. I have experience in initiating reforms in the education sector and the stock market. Under the coalition government I led, the Mongolian economy grew at an all-time high of 17.5 percent. Poverty was reduced by double digits for the first time, and household incomes almost doubled. These are real statistics, not words. Numbers don’t lie. The government of MPP Chairman U. Khurelsukh was able to accelerate economic growth, which had fallen to the floor between 2012 and 2016, before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has begun to recover to the period of high growth that was the focus of foreign and domestic investors. I am confident that this opportunity will be realized in the near future after the pandemic is over. Personally, I have run businesses in the privcate sector since 1990 before entering politics. I worked hard in many sectors. The companies I founded has now created more than 3,000 jobs and pay tens of billions of tugrugs in taxes to the state. In short, this is it.

Recently, various information about you has appeared in the press. Do you think it has anything to do with the statement of the party secretary general? For example, you have been accused of influencing the Oyu Tolgoi agreement and lowering interest rates?

It is no secret that every time there is organized slander about Mongolian politicians, there is a hidden motive behind it. For example, after I was appointed Prime Minister, in 2011 we made amendment to the Oyu Tolgoi agreement which reduced the Mongolia’s loan interest rate from 9.9% to 6.5% to save hundreds of millions of dollars. This is the only case in which the agreement has been amended in favor of Mongolia since it was first signed. Accusing and distorting facts which are in front of everyone’s eyes and proven by numbers is unthinkable and a sign of made up slander. Not just this time. I’ve been talking about it for the last 20 years. But it’s important that I do my job well, to follow the principle of “”the dogs bark but the caravan goes,” and it was probably wrong not to always make explanations and rebuttals.

Its also being said that you reduced Oyu Tolgoi’s tax?

That is another unreasonable accusation. The government led by me submitted to the Parliament the draft law to cancel the double taxation agreements of Mongolia with the Netherlands and Luxembourg and it was passed by the Parliament. As a result, the Mongolian tax rate on the Oyu Tolgoi project has been increased from 0-10 percent to 20 percent, increasing tax revenues by hundreds of millions of dollars. It is an indisputable fact that our government has increased taxes, not reduced them.

What do you think is the purpose of this made up story?

Deliberate misrepresentation of the facts in foreign news raises suspicions that may be they are opposing the policy of raising taxes and lowering interest rates. It is clear that slander is for political purposes. However, I do not understand the purpose why they are trying to bring the Oyu Tolgoi, which is so obvious, against me. The dispute at the domestic court has been labelled “top secret” so I don’t know what kind of detective story has been made up for the accusation.

“Democracy, human rights and development are the most important”

Is there such thing as a secret civil dispute?

The materials submitted to the domestic court have been classified as “top secret”. In general, what kind of gross violation of the law to hide a civil dispute from the participants and keep it a state secret for about 2 months without showing it when requested? How can lawyers make a defense if they are not familiar with the case materials? However, it is a serious discrimination to give it to a foreign lawyer without keeping it a secret from them. What does it mean to discriminate your own citizen against a foreigner? Are you hiding it after filing a lawsuit that is clearly unfounded and does not meet the criteria to create a legal dispute? I have been working for the state for many years, and I can tell the difference between what a state secret is and what is not. We are appealing to the relevant law enforcement agencies on this issue.

You are said to have a foreign apartment and property?

I recently gave an interview to the press regarding this. I don’t have an account, I don’t have money, nor do I have an apartment in offshore. I am confident that our court will determine who is right and who is wrong. The truth prevailed from the outset, and a New York court ruled in favor of not freezing the property of the Korean businessman in question, and the plaintiff’s law firm withdrew my name from the lawsuit.

Do you think there is an organized operation against you abroad?

I respect the work of the judiciary. However, it has raised a suspicion that an official is ordering a citizen of their country to be spied on by a foreign for profit and private detective company? During the repression of the 1930s, the so-called case materials arrived in a foreign language, and it is like the Lhumbe case, which was carried out silently in Mongolia. As for me, I will never accept the slander of my family and children in this shameful act, and I will have it checked whether it violates human rights and is in accordance with the law on surveillance. Law enforcement agencies must investigate where and for what purpose the large sums of money paid to the foreign private detective company were spent from, and by whose order. I will fight this accusation. There is a wise saying, “If you are honest, the ox cart will catch up with the rabbit.” At the end of the interview I wish all the Mongolians a happy 2021 and on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Mongolian Revolution we will recover from the pandemic, stable economic growth, a successful start to the century of development respecting democracy, human rights, the rule of law, good health and all the best.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. “Doha Masters 2021” judo tournament will bring together the best judokas from all around the world in Doha, Qatar on January 11-13.

398 judokas from 69 countries consisting of judokas ranked in the top 32 in each weight category will compete in the tournament.

As for the Mongolian team, a total of 16 judokas - 10 male and 6 female athletes will be participating in the tournament.

After being involved in their repeated COVID-19 testing as advised by the National Center for Communicable Diseases, the team will set off for Doha tomorrow on a charter flight which will be conducted by Hunnu Air company and return on January 14.