U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary for East Asia and Pacific Affairs David R. Stilwell and Mongolia State Secretary Ankhbayar led the 2020 Annual Bilateral Consultation (ABC) on September 14. This meeting represents the first ABC since the announcement of the Strategic Partnership between the United States and Mongolia in July. This virtual event underscores the strength of our cooperation and shared values and is an opportunity to reaffirm concrete steps in our bilateral relationship.

Over the course of this year, our respective countries have increased cooperation in multi–lateral fora, including on UN leadership elections. In the security and military sphere our relationship remains active, despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States and Mongolia are united in our desire to boost our trade and investment ties and have agreed to an additional upcoming dialogue to solidify the economic partnership.

The United States and Mongolia share a deep commitment to the democratic values enshrined in our respective constitutions, such as human rights, religious freedom, and rule of law. Our bilateral law enforcement cooperation continues to grow, namely on border security and transnational crime. The United States is proud to have successfully trained more than 1,000 Mongolian law enforcement and security personnel in areas such as investigative techniques, contraband interdiction, and anti-money laundering. We have maintained robust people-to-people engagement through a range of in-person and virtual exchange programs. Mongolia’s vast and active network of alumni of U.S. programs is a testament to our common values and experiences, and we are proud that so many alumni are leading members of Mongolia’s parliament, government, business community, and civil society.

These initiatives show that the U.S.-Mongolia relationship has never been stronger.

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) is set to launch its first-ever closed-loop recycling solution, bringing to the North American market a new scrap take-back solution and production of high-quality alloys made with recycled content.

The service, which will be available from 2021, complements the company’s production of low carbon footprint aluminum and is designed to provide customers with greater choice to meet the increasing consumer demand for sustainable products.

“We have developed this new recycling solution after requests from customers who want options to reprocess their extrusion scrap. It’s an offering that combines responsibly produced primary aluminium and recycled metal, demonstrating our commitment to a more sustainable, circular economy,” said Tolga Egrilmezer, Rio Tinto Aluminium vice president sales and marketing in a media release.

“Our hydro-powered operations in Canada produce some of the world’s lowest carbon footprint aluminium,” said Egrilmezer. “We expect this will be the first of many initiatives on the recycling front.”

Rio Tinto will partner with Shawinigan Aluminium Inc (SAI) for its recycling services through a $7 million melting facility being constructed adjacent to SAI’s billet casthouse in Quebec. The facility will have the capacity to recycle 30,000 tonnes of aluminium per year.

Rio Tinto’s technical marketing experts will assist customers in selecting the right recycled content together with the optimal alloy for their specific needs, the company said.

The Anglo-Australian in 2016 launched the industry’s first certified low carbon aluminium, RenewAlTM. In 2018, it became the first company to receive certification from the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI).

ELYSIS, a joint venture between Rio Tinto and Alcoa supported by Apple and the governments of Canada and Quebec, is working to further develop a revolutionary smelting technology free of direct carbon emissions.

Stock upgrades

Earlier this week, shares of Rio Tinto surged higher as JP Morgan and Barclays both upgraded the stock following the exit of CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques.

The unscheduled departure of key executives has left the miner with a “best-in-class balance sheet,” noted JP Morgan, which raised the stock to overweight from neutral despite the company being in a “strategy limbo.”

Rio’s stock rose by 125% during Jacques’ tenure, outperforming BHP by around 30%.

Elsewhere, Barclays said the firm has become “incrementally more bullish” on the Chinese steel and accordingly upgraded its view of Rio to equal weight.

Mongolia’s National Police Agency (NPA) on Tuesday said it had launched a month-long national campaign dubbed “Cast No Shadow” to prevent crime, especially sexual assault, against children.

NPA said it launched the programme with other relevant organisations.

“At least 160 children, mostly girls have been affected by sexual assault across the country in the first eight months of this year.

“The majority of the perpetrators of the sexual violence are people close to the victims, including their stepfathers, brothers, relatives and even biological fathers,’’ the NPA said in a statement.

According to the NPA, a total of 676 children has been sexually assaulted across the country over the past three years.

Divorce and lack of adequate parental care are said to be the main factors for sexual assault on children.

According to Mongolian law, a man convicted of defiling a child under 14 years will be punished with 12 years to 20 years imprisonment or life sentence.

A man who is found guilty of defiling a child aged 14 years to 18 years can be sentenced to between two years and eight years imprisonment

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. The national currency in circulation reached MNT 928.2 billion at the end of August 2020 increased by MNT 1.9 billion (0.2%) from the previous month, and MNT 2.5 billion (0.3%) from the same period of the previous year.

At the end of August 2020, the time deposit in domestic currency amounted to MNT 11.2 trillion, increased by MNT 1.3 billion (0.01%) from the previous month, and increased by MNT 383.4 billion (3.5%) from the same period of the previous year.

The composition of the total time deposit in domestic currency shows that 89.7 percent (MNT 10.1 trillion) were individuals deposits and 10.3 percent (MNT 1.2 trillion) were entities deposits.

The time deposits in foreign currency amounted to MNT 4.7 trillion, increased by MNT 74.0 billion (1.6%) from the previous month and MNT 1.7 trillion (58.6%) from the same period of the previous year.

Source: National Statistics Office

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. At the invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia N.Enkhtaivan, State Councilor of the People’s Republic of China, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi has begun his official visit to Mongolia today, September 15.

Officials from both sides have welcomed Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi at the Buyant Ukhaa International Airport.

During the visit, Foreign Ministers of the two countries are to hold official talks and sign the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement on providing a grant of CNY700 million to Mongolia. Moreover, it is intended to renew the bilateral agreement on border ports and their regimes and conclude an agreement on export of rye flour from Mongolia to China.

As the visit is being organized in a heightened state readiness, infection and protection procedures are being strictly adhered to and as few people as possible are involved in the activities.

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Mongolia (BoM) has issued a decision to lower the policy rate by one percentage point bringing it to 8 percent and introduce long-term repo financing, reported the authorities of the BoM at the press conference on September 14.

This decision targets to increase the amount of loans to be issued from banking sector to real economic sector and create a condition to lower loan interest, in consideration of the current state of the economy and financial markets, future prospects, and uncertainties and risks in the external and internal environment. The decision and following actions are expected to encourage to meet the inflation target, slow down the economic fall and stimulate the recovery, noted G.Enkhtaivan, Vice President of BoM.

Annual headline inflation fell down to 2.1 percent nationwide and 1.7 percent in Ulaanbaatar city as of August 2020. Inflation will increase slightly over the next months due to the base period, but is likely to remain at its current low level and not to exceed the target level in the coming years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s economy has shrank by 9.7 percent in the first half of 2020, the sharpest plunge in the past 20 years. However, the economic downturn is anticipated to subside in the second half of this year and begin to recover next year due to monetary and financial policy actions and the recovery of external environment.

G.Enkhtaivan added, “The COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp downturn in the global economic activity in the first half. From the second half, it has been seen unstable, but shows a quite improvement, being affected by stock market prices, mineral prices and trade activity. However, economic uncertainty continues as domestic and external economic prospect depends on the control of the virus spread. A step by step proper monetary and macroprudential policy measures being taken to mitigate the impact of the pandemic helps slow down domestic economic downturn and maintain the stability of banking sector. Even further, we will work to support the solvency of banks, households and businesses, and prevent credit disruptions in the banking system.”

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. At the end of August 2020, the total amount of outstanding loan to entities and individuals amounted to MNT 17.4 trillion, increased by MNT 53.2 billion (0.3%) from the previous month, while it is decreased by MNT 876.9 billion (4.8%) from the same period of the previous year. In the total outstanding loans, MNT 8.8 trillion (50.7%) was individual loans.

The performing loans reached MNT 14.3 trillion at the end of July 2020, increased by MNT 30.0 billion (0.2%) from the previous month, while it is decreased by MNT 1.1 trillion (7.1%) from the same period of the previous year. The performing loans make up 82.1% of the total loans, and decreased by 2.0 percentage points from the same period of the previous year.

At the end of August 2020, the principals in arrears amounted to MNT 1.1 trillion, decreased by MNT 0.3 billion (0.03%) from the previous month, while it is increased by MNT 153.7 billion (15.6%) from the same period of the previous year. The principals in arrears make up to 6.5% of the total loans, increased by 1.1 percentage points from the same period of the previous year.

At the end of August 2020, the non-performing loans in the banking system amounted to MNT 2.0 trillion, increased by MNT 22.9 billion (1.2%) from the previous month and MNT 53.3 billion (2.8%) from the previous year. The non-performing loans in the banking system make up 11.3% of the total loans, increased by 0.8 percentage points from the same period of the previous year.

The principal arrears in commercial banks and Mongolian Mortgage Corporation /MMC/ reached MNT 4.7 trillion at the end of July 2020, increased by MNT 6.0 billion (0.1%) from the previous month, and by MNT 236.1 (5.2%) billion from the same period of the previous year.

Source: National Statistics Office

Mongolia's economic contraction is expected to continue to deepen in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it will recover in 2021 as regional economies rebound, according to a report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Tuesday.

In its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2020 Update, the ADB projects Mongolia's economic growth to drop 2.6 percent in 2020, a downgrade compared to the 2.1 percent forecast in April and minus 1.9 percent in June, before rebounding to 5.1 percent in 2021.

"Mongolia was able to contain the pandemic but could not avoid the associated economic cost," said Pavit Ramachandran, ADB country director for Mongolia.

"The external economic shock has left the economy in deep recession, and careful management of macroeconomic fundamentals will be required for recovery," he said.

Mongolia's gross domestic product decreased by 9.7 percent in the first half of 2020 mainly because COVID-19 substantially reduced exports and capital inflows, the ADB said, adding that declines in mining, manufacturing, construction, transportation, trade, and services dragged down GDP growth, leaving agriculture as the only positive contributor.

The bank also said that some signs of recovery in neighboring China and a significant rebound of copper and gold prices imply that Mongolia's exports and mining output will pick up in the second half of 2020. Enditem

The final report of the UNESCO Education Policy Review for Mongolia will be officially launched in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Mr. Tapan Mishra, UNRC in Mongolia, will formally present on behalf of UNESCO, both the English and Mongolian volumes of the Report to Ms. Tsedevsuren Lkhagva, Mongolia Minister of Education and Science. The international Development Partners in Mongolia, the policy section of UNESCO HQ, UN Agencies, and education institutional stakeholders are expected to attend the launch of the Report.

In 2018, the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) officially requested UNESCO to conduct a comprehensive Review of the education sector challenges and to use the key policy recommendations to reform and restructure the education system that is equitable, inclusive, quality and lifelong learning.

In close partnership with MoES, UNESCO supported Mongolia in conducting the Education Policy Review from 2018-2019. The Education Policy Review took a comprehensive, lifelong learning approach and involved in-depth work and studies on specific policy domains and issues, benefitting from national, regional and international evidence and experience. UNESCO closely collaborated with MoES, education stakeholders, Mongolia Institute for Education Research (MIER), UNESCO IIEP, UNICEF Country Office in Mongolia, ADB, World Bank, JICA, and other Development Partners to provide invaluable inputs to the Education Policy Review Team.

The Education Policy Review was a critical analysis of the Education Sector and an in-depth assessment of the policies and programmes aligned with the development aspirations of the Mongolian Government within the framework of the Education 2050 vision and sustainable development strategy of Mongolia and Mongolia Education Medium Term Development Plan (ESMTDP) 2021-2030.

Consistent with SDG4-Education 2030, this Report adopts a lifelong learning as a guiding principle and it takes a comprehensive, system-wide, approach to education. Both are reflected in the structuring of this Report according to the three thematic priorities. This Report combines national and international knowledge and expertise, and takes into consideration relevant research and analysis, reports, statistics, and discussions with a wide range of stakeholders and development partners during a series of field visits.

The report is produced in English and Mongolian language and can be directly accessed on-line on the UNESCO website.