Russia Outbreak Spreads to Neighbor as Mongolian Cases Jump www.bloomberg.com

Mongolia recorded its biggest one-day increase in coronavirus cases, with most of the infections in students returning home from emerging virus hotspot Russia. Health officials reported 56 confirmed cases of the virus Thursday, all of them recent arrivals from nearby Russia, where the outbreak has ballooned to more than 250,000 cases, overtaking Italy and Spain as the second-highest tally globally after the U.S. “Testing of the people from abroad is under way,” Nyamkhuu Dulmaa, director of the National Center for Communicable Diseases, said. “Diagnostics, shelter and personal protective equipment are adequately prepared.” While Mongolia’s domestic outbreak has been relatively small -- with 98 cases as of Thursday -- the deteriorating situation in Russia poses a risk to Mongolia given two countries’ traditional ties. Many Mongolians work and study in Russia, which is one of the former Soviet state’s biggest trading partners, and the two countries share a 2,000-mile land border. Mongolia has been repatriating citizens from around the world as the virus spread. China, where the virus first emerged late last year, has also seen cases from Russia. The northern province of Heilongjiang has imposed strict controls in response to a number of imported infections, with travelers required to undertake 35 days of quarantine. While China’s epidemic has largely been brought under control, the country is seeing a second wave in the province of Jilin, which shares a small stretch of border with Russia, as well as North Korea, where the virus situation is unclear. Two cities in Jilin have been placed under lockdown amid a growing resurgence in cases. Read more: China Seals Off Cities Near North Korea as New Clusters Grow Mongolia’s location -- it also shares a border with China -- and vulnerable health-care system saw it act relatively quickly to the virus threat. The government imposed curbs on international travel and people entering the country are quarantined for 21 days. The capital, Ulaanbaatar, has been locked down since March, when Mongolia identified its first case of Covid-19. Schools in the country have been closed since January, and restaurants and bars in Ulaanbaatar are subject to a 10 p.m. curfew.

Mongolia posts 30.8 percent drop in Q1 foreign trade www.menfn.com

The National Statistics Office (NSA) of Mongolia said on Wednesday that the foreign trade turnover of the country posted a drop of 30.8 percent in the starting quarter of the current year compared to a year earlier.

ADB Provides $100 Million to Support Mongolia's COVID-19 Response www.adb.org

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (12 May 2020) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $100 million loan to the Government of Mongolia to mitigate the severe health and economic impacts of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

“I commend the government on its response to the COVID-19 outbreak, which has kept the number of COVID-19 cases low in Mongolia,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa. “However, the crisis is putting a strain on the economy and the threat to public health remains serious. ADB’s assistance will help fund critical support to vulnerable people and businesses, and assist the government in managing the economic impact and responding to the health and social protection needs the pandemic has created.”

COVID-19 is triggering a severe economic slowdown in Mongolia. The current turmoil in the global economy and commodity markets has reduced revenues, increased balance of payment pressures, and accentuated financial sector risks. Women and small businesses are particularly vulnerable.

The economy, with its dependence on mining, which accounts for almost a quarter of gross domestic product and 90% of exports, remains vulnerable to swings in commodity prices. Mongolia is also heavily dependent on trade with its neighbor, the People’s Republic of China, where an economic slowdown has triggered a sharp fall in export prices in Mongolia and badly hit the transport, tourism, retail trade, and services sectors.

In response, the government launched on 27 March a countercyclical development expenditure program (CDEP), with the intention of introducing $1.8 billion in measures to counter the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ADB’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Program is funded through the COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) under ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility. CPRO was established as part of ADB’s $20 billion expanded assistance for developing member countries’ COVID-19 response, which was announced on 13 April.

The program will support the government’s ongoing initiatives, including a National Emergency Response Plan to contain the spread of COVID-19 and strengthen the health system; and the CDEP, comprising cash transfer schemes and other social protection measures targeting poor and vulnerable groups, households, and businesses.

With ADB assistance, the CDEP will increase the allocation under the Child Money Program by 50% to reach 1.1 million children. Private sector workers will be exempt from personal income tax for 6 months starting from 1 April, aimed at employees at risk of losing their jobs. At least 45% of the beneficiaries are targeted to be women.

Support will also be provided to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, including those engaged in international trade, particularly the import of critical food and medical supplies, to protect jobs. Businesses whose operations have been impacted will be eligible for a 6-month exemption from the payment of social insurance, with at least 50% of the beneficiaries women.

Short-term assistance in supplying medical equipment and supplies will be complemented by a set of medium-term measures, including strengthening 35 hospitals to meet national infection prevention and control standards, and improving 210 hospitals to meet national standards to manage Severe Acute Respiratory Infection patients, and enhancing testing capacity.

To ensure that COVID-19 pandemic responses are well-aligned and complementary, ADB is working closely with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, other development partners, and various United Nations agencies.

ADB’s rapid response support to Mongolia has included the reallocation of $1.4 million in early February under an existing health sector operation to support the procurement of emergency health equipment, a small-scale technical assistance project for emergency response systems in the health sector, and a $1 million grant from the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Facility to support further procurement of emergency medical equipment. On 7 May, ADB approved $30 million in extra financing for the Fifth Health Sector Project to further strengthen the country’s preparedness and response.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

Mongolia conducts over 11,000 tests for COVID-19 so far www.xinhuanet.com

Mongolia has conducted more than 11,000 tests for COVID-19 since January, an official of the country's National Center for Communicable Disease (NCCD) said Wednesday.

347 Mongolians arriving on Russian military transport planes www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Last week, Minister of Defense of Mongolia N.Enkhbold put forth a request to his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu to bring Mongolian students at the universities and colleges of the Russian Ministry of Defense home on Russia’s military transport aircraft during their virtual meeting last week.

V.Putin: People of Russia always remember contribution of Mongolia in great victory www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War was marked in the Russian Federation on May 9. On this occasion, President of Mongolia Kh.Battulga and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin have exchanged greetings and celebratory letters.

Large scale battery storage system to be installed in central energy system grid www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ At its regular meeting on May 13, the Cabinet approved the draft loan agreement of the First Utility-Scale Energy Storage Project to be implemented jointly by the Government of Mongolia and the Asian Development Bank and authorized Minister of Finance Ch.Khurelbaatar to establish the loan agreement with ADB.

CGA: Crude oil export contracted by 6 times in the first five months www.zgm.mn

According to the preliminary study of the Customs General Administration (CGA), Mongolia exported 533,600 barrels of crude oil worth USD 21.6 million from January to May of 2020. Compared to the same period of the previous year, it decreased by 4.3 times in physical quantity and six times in sales revenue. Since May, Mongolia has been exported 45.500 barrels of crude oil. The Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority (MRPAM) reported that there are no difficulties in exports to China through the Bayankhoshuu border and disinfection is being carried out. PetroChina Daqing Tamsag LLC is exporting through the Bayankhoshuu border as well. Mongolia has imported 169,000 tons of gasoline since the beginning of the year. This is a decrease of 14.4 percent compared to the previous year. Imports of diesel fuel dwindled by 24 percent to 272,800 tons. Additionally, the price of petroleum products imported by Mongolia is highly dependent on fluctuations in the price of Brent oil. Rosneft oil company is planning to deteriorate its border price of oil products said MRPAM.

Interview: EU Ambassador to Mongolia explains its Black Listing www.news.mn

A few days ago, The European Commission decided to add Mongolia and eleven other countries to its list of states that pose financial risks to the bloc because of anti-money laundering and terrorism financing. So, to find out why, News.mn interviewed Mr. Traian Laurentiu Hristea, Ambassador of Head of the European Union Delegation to Mongolia about its black listing decision.

The European Union added Mongolia to its money-laundering blacklist. What was the reason? Was it affected by the decisions in regard to judiciary and legal environment besides of economic policies taken by the Mongolian authorities?

The European Union takes anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing very seriously and it is one of our major priorities.

Internally, we apply demanding expectations from our Member States: As of January 2020, there are still 16 open cases for the infringement of not completely transposing the relevant legislation (the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive) and two open cases before the Court of Justice for non-communication.

Beyond our borders, we need to align the EU list closer to the lists published by the FATF (Financial Action Task Force). Our list dates back to 2016. Consequently, it increasingly diverges from the FATF lists, which represent the international consensus on the matter.

As Mongolia is still a country under Increased Monitoring by the FATF (confirmed in October 2019), the EU list needed to be updated.

The EU list up to now was largely outdated since it did not reflect latest lists adopted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) since October 2018. Therefore, it was necessary to adopt a new EU list and align the EU list closer to the lists published by the FATF in order to not expose the internal market to serious risks of money laundering and terrorist financing.

The proposed legislation will enter into force only from 1 October this year, because of COVID-19.

What are the consequences of being blacklisted for Mongolia?
The only consequences are for the financial system: Banks and other entities are required to apply enhanced vigilance in transactions involving Mongolia (so called “enhanced customer due diligence requirements”). This is also in line with international obligations, where the FATF already calls on its Members to apply enhanced due diligence to high-risk countries. Those enhanced measures will lead to extra checks and monitoring of those transactions by banks and entities in order to prevent, detect and disrupt suspicious transactions. These measures do not entail any type of sanctions, restrictions to the legitimate trade relations or impediment to development aid; but it aims to apply enhanced vigilance measures in those cases. In such cases, entities need to apply extra checks (e.g. requesting additional information, additional checks, request approval of senior management or increased audits).

What is the situation with money laundering and terrorist financing in Mongolia?
As you will recall, since October 2019, Mongolia continues to take significant steps towards improving its AML/CFT regime, including by demonstrating an increase in sanctions and remedial actions by financial supervisors for identified violations, and further seizing and confiscating falsely/non-declared currency.

Mongolia is actively working with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in its regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. Mongolia is committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring.

What do we need to do to get off the blacklist?
Mongolia should continue to work on implementing its action plan to address its strategic deficiencies, including by: (1) improving sectorial money laundering / terrorism financing risk understanding by Designated Non-Financial Business and Professions supervisors, applying a risk-based approach to supervision, particularly in relation to dealers in precious metals and stones; (2) demonstrating increased investigations and prosecutions of different types of ML activity in line with identified risks; and (3) monitoring compliance by financial institutions and designated non-financial business and professions supervisors with their proliferation financing-related targeted financial sanctions obligations, including the application of proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.

What loans and projects has the European Union provided to Mongolia so far? Does this mean that the funding will stop in the future?
The EU listing does not entail any punitive effect; transactions made by EU financial institutions with persons established in Mongolia are not forbidden nor blocked. It does not impede development policy which is implemented in Mongolia. We are here to assist our partners that need technical assistance. We aim at supporting more our partners (not less) to address AML/CFT issues by better tailoring the existing technical assistance to address strategic deficiencies in the best interest of both parties.

The listing process does not affect the EU humanitarian assistance, the development policy or the provision of grants, procurement and budget support in those third countries put on the EU list. Therefore there should be no adverse effect with regard to actions physically implemented in listed jurisdictions.

The trial of former Prime Minister of Mongolia M.Enkhsaikhan has finished yesterday, sentencing him for 4.6 year. The European Union’s Delegation said it was watching the trial closely and handed over a bear. Why did you pay close attention to this trial?
Many people oppose the court’s decision. According to the EU Delegation, how do you see the court’s decision?
Mongolia has ratified a number of human rights treaties. These treaties include the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, which includes the right to free trial, rules on pretrial detention, and other rights.

Mongolia is a beneficiary of the EU Generalized System of Preferences plus (GSP+). This means that around 6500 Mongolian goods can enter the EU markets without duties. In exchange of this preference, Mongolia has to implement and respect 27 international treaties. These treaties include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights I mentioned earlier.

It is our duty to gather information on how Mongolia is implementing all these treaties to be able to continue giving Mongolia these trade preferences.

No new Covid-19 case in Mongolia, total remains at 42, with 15 recoveries www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. At today’s daily briefing on the situation around COVID-19 infections in the country, D.Nyamkhuu, Director of the Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) informed that another patient has been recovered from the coronavirus, making the total number of recoveries in Mongolia 15.