"Several people have (died) and hundreds of properties were lost in bushfires in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland. Therefore, the government made the decision during its regular meeting," the government's press office said in a statement.

Around 7,000 Mongolian citizens are studying and working in Australia, mostly in New South Wales, the press office added.

“The Committee has already helped implement cross-border projects worth more than $10 billion. The RDIF and CIC have also invested through the RCIF in a number of projects independently,” the Russian wealth fund said in a statement after the talks.

At the same time Russia’s sovereign wealth fund together with the RCIF and the investment fund for Guangdong province, Guangdong Utrust Investment Holdings, agreed on key terms to set up $1 billion fund. The body, dubbed the Russian-Chinese Greater Bay Area Fund, is aimed at strengthening mutual trade and economic ties between companies from the two states. It will also promote Russian business in Guangdong, the Chinese province that accounts for the biggest share of the country’s GDP, and encouraging local companies to enter the Russian market.

“This fund creates great opportunities for Russian companies,” Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, said. “Cooperation between RDIF, RCIF and Guangdong Utrust is developing steadily, and I am confident that we are moving in the right direction towards large-scale joint projects that will serve to further strengthen the partnership between Russia and China.”

China is Russia’s largest trade partner, with the volume of trade exceeding $100 billion in 2018 and expected to double in five years. In recent months, Beijing and Moscow have also been working to boost mutual trade in their national currencies, the ruble and the yuan, as they move to lessen dependence on the US dollar.

Ramachandran made the remarks during his meeting with Mongolian Parliament Chairman Gombojav Zandanshatar, according to the parliament's press office.

"The ADB has been one of Mongolia's closest partners. The Mongolian economy has been recovering thanks to the implementation of the International Monetary Fund's Extended Fund Facility," Zandanshatar said.

"However, getting out of the FATF's 'grey list' is now a major issue for Mongolia," he added.

Mongolia was added to the list by the FATF, an anti-money-laundering organization, in October after the country failed to pass requirements to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The President of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin invited Prime Minister of Mongolia U.Khurelsukh to pay a visit to Russia during his visit to Mongolia in September on the occasion of 80th anniversary of Khalkhin Gol Battle.

During the visit of the President of the Russian Federation to Mongolia, the two countries have agreed to advance bilateral ties to comprehensive strategic partnership. In this framework, the Parliament is planning to approve the draft law on ratification of Friendly and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Mongolia and Russia this week. It is likely that this agreement will start to be implemented during the Prime Minister's upcoming visit to Russia. The ratification of the treaty takes effect after the sides exchange credentials.

Discussions for the constitutional amendment bill submitted by 62 MPs were held 36 times for a total of 105.9 hours. Covering 28.5 percent of the Constitution, the amendment was approved by the parliament on November 14.

The matter of adjusting the Constitution of 1992 to the needs of modern times has been discussed for the last 11 years, with bills submitted by MPs four times. President Kh.Battulga highlighted that the amendment to the Constitution has fulfilled the needs to a certain extent.

He then continued to say he considers it right to endorse the amendment made to the Constitution in order to prioritize the country’s rights and national unity, despite not including various other matters, such as changes to improve the electoral system.

Thus, the Constitutional amendments have been endorsed on the 95th anniversary of the adoption of the first Constitution, and the proclamation of the Mongolian People’s Republic. Speaker of Parliament G.Zandanshatar, Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh, MPs, and cabinet members were present at the ceremony.

Tserenbat Namsrai, Minister of Environment and Tourism and Chair of the National Climate Change Committee for Mongolia, said “The agreement is part of the Government’s support towards the implementation of the Paris Agreement, as embodied in our updated Nationally Determined Contribution announced today. By exempting GCF resources from national taxation, the agreement ensures that more resources will be channeled directly to project beneficiaries.”

Mongolia’s updated NDC raises the Government’s ambition in terms of targets and scale for both mitigation and adaptation to climate change, including by increasing the priority sectors for action. The Government sees GCF as a key partner in helping achieve the ambitious new goals.

GCF Executive Director Yannick Glemarec said, “Mongolia is one of our most active country partners, with four national projects totaling USD 183.65 million in GCF financing, in addition to three multi-country projects. The granting of Privileges and Immunities is highly important for the effective operationalisation of the Fund’s investments and activities.”

Pursuant to a decision by the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), governments recommended that Parties to the UNFCCC enter bilateral agreements with GCF by promptly providing Privileges and Immunities, which are in line with those of other international organisations, including the UN system. To date, GCF has signed agreements with 23 countries, including Mongolia.

After the presentation of credentials, Ms. Conkievich and the Minister exchanged views on the state of cooperation between the Government of Mongolia and UNDP covering a number of topics such as youth and women empowerment, peace and good governance, environment as well as UNDP’s other efforts in accelerating Sustainable development goals in Mongolia.

Noting that consistent support the United Nations for social and economic goals of Mongolia, Minister D.Tsogtbaatar pledged to cooperate with the UNDP bolster up its activities in Mongolia. He further expressed the readiness to continue the partnership with the UNDP in reduction of air pollution, strengthening of environment friendly strategies, introduction of green technology and co-organizing Peacebook forum.

After mentioning that the UNDP gives priority to achieving gender equality and youth capacity building, Ms. Conkievich said that she is committed to develop cooperation between Mongolia and UNDP and to ensure implementation of UNDP projects and programs in Mongolia.

Ms. Conkievich is the first person to hold the position of UNDP Resident Representative in Mongolia without also simultaneously holding the position of UN Resident Coordinator. The delinking of the two roles - UNDP Resident Representative and UN Resident Coordinator - is a key part of the United Nations Development System reform process which was initiated in 2017 by the current UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Ms.Conkievich is a United States national and has more than 25 years of experience in international development and has worked as the Country Representative for UN Women in Kazakhstan most recently.

MFA Mongolia
UNDP in Mongolia

Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga, Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, Parliament Speaker Gombojav Zandanshatar, and other members of the parliament and government ministers paid their respects to the statue of Genghis Khan in front of the government palace in the capital Ulan Bator.

The celebrations also included traditional wrestling, a gala concert and an exhibition on Mongolian history and cultural heritage.

Battulga conferred the Order of Genghis Khan, the country's highest state award, to Mongolian rock band The Hu for promoting Mongolian culture around the world.

The Hu was formed in 2016 and it blends heavy metal with traditional Mongolian throat singing.

Its first two videos "Wolf Totem" and "Yuve Yuve Yu" have garnered over 45 million views on YouTube over the last year, and its debut album, The Gereg, reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top New Artist chart in September.

The Asian country began celebrating the birthday of Genghis Khan as an official public holiday in 2012.

Genghis Khan (1162-1227) founded the Mongol Empire in the 13th century by uniting individual tribes in northeast Asia.

His birth anniversary falls on the first day of the first winter month in the lunar calendar.

In the underlying arbitration, which lasted seven years, the Chinese claimants had challenged Mongolia’s revocation of a license to mine one of the largest iron ore deposits in the mineral-rich country, claiming that such revocation constituted an impermissible expropriation under the bilateral investment treaty between Mongolia and China. In an unprecedented move, the arbitral tribunal, which was led by then-President of the International Court of Justice Peter Tomka, agreed with the positions advanced by Milbank that Mongolia’s consent to arbitrate in the treaty covers disputes limited to questions of determination of the amount of damages owed for a proclaimed expropriation, and not whether measures taken by the country constitute an expropriation. The arbitral tribunal thus declined to hear the merits of Chinese entities’ arbitration claims. In so ruling, the award parted ways with multiple precedents in which identical or similar language had been construed to vest tribunals with jurisdiction to adjudicate claims of treaty violations.

In late 2017, the Chinese entities filed a motion to vacate the award before the SDNY, arguing that the tribunal was not competent to decide whether their claims were “arbitrable” and that it had wrongfully declined jurisdiction, by reference to the arbitral precedents that had reached the opposite conclusion. On that basis, the Chinese entities petitioned the SDNY to vacate the award and compel arbitration of their claims on the merits. Judge Ramos vindicated Mongolia’s positions by agreeing that the Chinese entities had waived any argument that the tribunal was not competent to decide whether their claims were arbitrable, having “vigorously” prosecuted their claims for seven years, including through extensive pleadings regarding the scope of consent to arbitrate in the treaty (without ever challenging the authority of the tribunal to make that determination).

The Milbank team representing Mongolia was led by Litigation & Arbitration partner Michael Nolan and senior associate Kamel Aitelaj.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week at the Russia Calling

in Moscow that he hopes to see more settlement of transactions between China and Russia in renminbi or rubles.

He said the coordination of the Eurasian Economic Union, a Russian initiative, and the Belt and Road Initiative, a Chinese proposal is underway, along with the talks for agreement about currency.

"We operate on the premise that we will follow this path and work with our Chinese friends to integrate the ambitious Chinese Belt and Road economic project with the Eurasian Economic Union. We have created corresponding mechanisms in order to work together at the expert level," he said.

Wang Yanzhi, executive director of the Silk Road Fund, suggested that renminbi be used as a swap against the dollar by China and Russia.

He said both China and Russia are well aware of the risks of dollar dependence on their ability to grow their economies and trade with other nations because of the hostile approach taken by the US toward the two countries.

Renminbi became the first emerging market currency to be included in the International Monetary Fund's special drawing rights basket in 2016. The currency has since been used more frequently, and significant trading volume between China and the rest of the world makes it the natural choice in cross-border trade and investment settlement.

Full of potential

Whether or how to accept renminbi as a form of payment and investment has been a long and unanswered question for both governments, Wang said, adding that business relations between Russia and China were deepening, but financial connections between the two were lagging.

"It would be easier if we could invest directly with renminbi," he said. "The local banks or financial institutions can undertake the renminbi-ruble exchange to make it easier."

The Silk Road Fund was set up to invest in projects related to the Belt and Road Initiative. The fund has around $30 billion invested.

Around 70 percent of those investments are equity positions, while Russia is the largest position in the fund because of its roughly 10 percent stake in the Yamal LNG project, a flagship China-Russia investment project.

"I remember last year Putin said that 'We are not aiming to ditch the dollar, but the dollar is ditching us'," Wang said, adding that Chinese markets are opening up, making it easier for cross-border investment in their securities markets.

Vladimir Potapov, CEO of Russia's VTB Bank agreed. He said the financial cooperation between China and Russia is a field full of potential, as the two countries enjoy the highest level of bilateral relations in history.

renqi@chinadaily.com.cn