The document provides for a joint assessment of the feasibility of a project on pipeline gas supplies from Russia to China through the territory of Mongolia," Gazprom said in a statement.

As the new regulation enters into force on January 1, 2020, owners of vehicles in Ulaanbaatar city are required to pay road tax from MNT 100 thousand to MNT 250 thousand depending on the type of vehicle each year, which approximately equals to MNT 8300 month.

The road tax payment collected a total of about MNT 11.4 billion in 2016, MNT 11 billion in 2017, MNT 12,5 billion in 2018 and MNT 12,7 billion in 2019 to the Ulaanbaatar city budget. According to the ulaanbaatar.mn, around 30-40 percent of the total budget of the capital city is spent on repairs and maintenance of auto roads. However, this is not sufficient to cover all the roads in Ulaanbaatar, with more than 500 thousand daily average vehicle flow.

In addition to the cost for road maintenance, the collected fees will be expended for other pressing transportation issues of Ulaanbaatar city, such as for increasing number of school buses, road widening and so on.

- Central Stadium’s 49 percent owned by Ulaanbaatar city with minimum assessed value of MNT 20 billion.

- A building of an extension of ‘50th store’ with minimum assessed value of MNT 1.4 billion.

- Two buildings of former household health centers in Bayangol District with minimum assessed value of MNT 100 million each.

- Two apartments, currently being rented by Mongol Post Company, with minimum assessed values of MNT 80 million and MNT 100 million respectively. The assessed values of the properties shall be examined by an independent organization through Ulaanbaatar city’s property privatization commission.

As claimed by Ulaanbaatar city officials, Central Stadium, 51 percent of which was privatized in 1993, has been posing a significant financial burden to the Ulaanbaatar city, yielding no profit to the state general and city budgets. Moreover, the officials see that the 15 thousand-capacity of the stadium is not enough during the annual nationwide Naadam Festival of Mongolia. Therefore, the government of Mongolia has settled to building a new 35-45 thousand-capacity stadium.

The agreement was signed on December 3, in the presence of Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, and the Prime Minister of Mongolia Ukhnagiyn Hurelsukha.

Under the agreement, RZD International, in partnership with one of the Russian design institutes, will provide technical consulting services for the 414 km line. In addition, the company will develop recommendations on the organisation of the construction work and train operation on the line.

The new railway line will be connected to the central line of UBZD, which will provide new opportunities for the transport of coking coal from Tavan Tolgoi, a large coal mine in southern Mongolia.

The term for the implementation of the service contract is 12 months.

“We consider this project as the beginning of long-term cooperation on the development of the railway infrastructure of Mongolia. RZD International is ready to offer Mongolian partners modern technologies for repair and construction of infrastructure facilities, which can improve the quality and efficiency of construction works, as well as increase the capacity of the line while ensuring the safety of railway traffic,” Sergey Stolyarov said.

The railway line is expected to have an annual capacity of 30 million tonnes.

Tavan Tolgoi is one of the largest undeveloped coal deposits in the world, with reserves being estimated at 7.4 billion tonnes of coking and thermal coal.

Mongolia will be implementing the green development policy in two stages: from 2014 to 2021, and from 2021 to 2030. Starting from 2020, two percent of the GDP is to be spent on investing in green economy.

Head of Green Development Policy Department at the Ministry of Environment and Tourism T.Bulgan said, “Production of renewable energy takes 18 percent of the total energy being produced nationwide. We consider that the use of financial mechanisms in partnership with international organizations, and the Green Climate Fund contributed to the results. Despite currently being in their initial stages, there are several projects and programmes being implemented in order to set the foundation for becoming green. For instance, a project on reducing greenhouse gases in the construction sector is currently being implemented in partnership with UNDP with financing of Global Environment Facility. Last year, the concept of green purchases was added to the Law on Procurement of Goods, Works and Services with State and Local Funds. This has served as the start for creating conditions to support environmentally friendly operations, and products through purchases.”

Commercial banks of Mongolia are also partnering in creating sustainable development and green economy development. For instance, as a result of the joint work done to create a sustainable financial system by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and Mongolian Bankers Association, banks have begun to consider the project’s environmental impact when giving out loans.

Director of Economic Policy and Competitiveness Research Center B.Lakshmi said, “On the side of the green development policy, it must be noted that private entities are also making initiatives on the matter. For instance, XacBank has acquired the rights to provide financing for green loans. Furthermore, various projects are being implemented in the business sector, such as the projects on eco-parks and recycling paper. As the green development policy is one of the important tools to reach sustainable development goals, a lot of results are expected.”

Khangain said that in ancient times, "the main commodity transported through the Kyakhta-Maimacheng by the Chinese side was tea, so the trade route began to be called (the) Tea Road."

The final destination of the ancient Tea Road, with a length of about 9,000 kilometers, was Moscow, from where tea was transported throughout Europe, the diplomat said.

Tea, grown and harvested in the southern provinces of China, was delivered to China's northern city of Zhangjiakou and then transported to the southeast Russian town of Kyakhta through Mongolia, Khangain said.

"In other words, the Tea Road stretched from the southern provinces of China through the whole of Mongolia from south to north and almost through all of Russia from east to west," said Khangai.

According to the Mongolian diplomat, goods like tea, silk and porcelain were transported by caravan camels in the past. The number of camels in the caravan sometimes reached 1,000, and each camel carried up to 200 kilograms. They crossed deserts and steppes between Zhangjiakou and Kyakhta in 30-40 days.

The Trans-Mongolian railway follows an ancient tea caravan route from China to Russia and connects Ulan-Ude, on the Trans-Baikal railway in Russia, with the Chinese city of Jining.

Khangai said the Trans-Mongolian railway is like the old Tea Road and has successfully served as a main trade route connecting Europe with Asia.

"I am confident that Mongolia, located between China and Russia, can get huge economic benefits from the development of transport infrastructure along the route of the Tea Road," the diplomat said.

Khangai said he believes the Tea Road within the framework of the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor project, covering the most diverse areas of infrastructure development, will not only bring the peoples of the three countries together, but will also have a significant impact on the development of the economy of Mongolia, as well as the regions of China and Russia.

Moreover, the implementation of the trilateral economic corridor will make a significant contribution to the development of integration processes throughout the Eurasian continent, he added.

At the ceremony, corresponding officials signed the following documents:

2020-2021 action plan for cooperation of the working group between Government of Mongolia and Eurasian Economic Commission;
Cooperation agreement between Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation;
Memorandum of cooperation between Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry;
Protocol on operational principles and mechanisms of Mongolia-Russia Business Council;
Cooperation agreement on the use of Business Market platform between Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry;
Memorandum of cooperation between Mongol Em Impex Concern and Lasa Laboratorios LLC;
Memorandum of cooperation between Mongolian Quality Management Association and All-Russian Quality Society;
Memorandum of cooperation between Ulaanbaatar Railway Mongolia-Russia joint venture and International Investment Bank.

Building a gas or oil pipeline through Mongolia has been discussed since the time of Boris Yeltsin. It is now on the table again and has been discussed at a meeting of the prime ministers of two countries. Mongolian PM U.Khurelsukh is currently visiting Moscow.

Building a gas or oil pipeline through the “Mongolian corridor” would be a relatively economic option to connect Siberia to Beijing and other large cities in China. It will also be the shortest route – even closer than through central Asia or Manchuria. Clearly, building a pipeline across Mongolia would benefit all three countries. The geography of the terrain should be remembered: building a pipeline around Mongolia would require overcoming mountain ranges and will be twice as long and as expensive as building it through Mongolia’s territory. Gazprom’s ‘Power of Siberia’ pipeline passes through the Altai Mountains just to the west of Mongolia; construction has been very long and costly. According to the “Petroleum Economist”, in September, President Putin had a meeting with Gazprom boss Alexei Miller, in which he said that a second pipeline via Mongolia would be the cheapest and quickest option.

Rio Tinto Group shuttered its Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) unit on Wednesday and paused a $463 million expansion project amid escalating violence in surrounding communities that led to an employee being shot and injured. The stoppage will further sap investor sentiment in a country where business confidence is near the lowest level in two decades.

The freezing of the Zulti South project comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa battles to stimulate growth and retain the nation’s last investment-grade credit rating. South Africa’s economy contracted for a second quarter this year in the three months through September as farming, mining and factory output slumped.

The decision to halt operations was preceded by weeks of community protests in the area around the mine, causing “on-and-off disruptions,” said RBM Managing Director Werner Duvenhage. The demonstrations aren’t related to the company, but endanger employees’ lives and require government intervention, he said.

Losses will be “significant,” according to Duvenhage, who said he doesn’t know when RBM will resume operations.

Community disruptions around mines are leading to huge losses for producers, Anglo American Platinum Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Chris Griffith said in October. Many protests relate to the provision of municipal services and housing, while some communities also complain they get few benefits from mines, even as their lives are disrupted by relocations and pollution.

Crime wave
South Africa has also been plagued by xenophobic attacks and violence against women. While Ramaphosa has made combating crime a top priority since taking office, the number of murders climbed to the highest level in at least a decade in the 12 months through March.

Smelters at the site in the KwaZulu-Natal province are operating at a reduced level after an escalation of criminal activity directed at staff, London-based Rio said Wednesday in a statement.

Rio shares were little changed in London trading.

Output for 2019 is expected to be at the low end of a guidance range of 1.2 million to 1.4 million tons and Rio is contacting customers to minimize disruptions. RBM employs about 5,000 staff and contractors, and exports titanium dioxide slag, used to create ingredients for products including paint, plastics, sunscreen and toothpaste.

“We have taken decisive action to stop operations to reduce the risk of serious harm to our team members,” Bold Baatar, Rio’s CEO for energy & minerals, said in the statement.

(By Felix Njini and David Stringer)