UN: Mongolia pays USD 645 million annually for air pollution related expenses www.zgm.mn

Mongolia’s economic costs associated with air pollution are estimated at USD 645 million or MNT 1.6 trillion annually, according to a new report released by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The country’s air pollution problem, caused by an alignment of various conditions and circumstances, has risen to internationally high levels in its city center.

ERD commences second phase of Khundii Gold Project www.zgm.mn

Erdene Resource Development Corp. announced its commencement of the second phase of the 2019 drill program at its 100 percent owned Khundii Gold Project.

Ard Credit spends MNT 4.75 billion on lending www.zgm.mn

Ard Credit NBFI JSC reported monthly spending of MNT 5.2 billion raised from the public investment in March. According to the report, 90 percent or MNT 4.75 billion of total investment income were spent on lending, while the remaining 10 percent was spent on additional fees, marketing, and printing expenses.

Mongolia keeps the dialogue going on North Korea www.upi.com

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Mongolia has been quietly playing a mediating role in North Korea talks, hosting representatives from Pyongyang when they seek informal discussions with counterparts from Japan and South Korea.

The Mongolian foray into hosting North Korea-related bilateral talks has made progress since the launch of informal Track 2 dialogues in 2015, Ambassador Jargalsaikhan Enkhsaikhan said Thursday at a closed-door roundtable hosted by the Global Peace Foundation in Washington.

Enkhsaikhan, now retired, is the chairman of Mongolian NGO Blue Banner. The group, together with the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, a regional network, has been organizing the talks known as the Ulaanbaatar Process to help grease the wheels of dialogue even during times of tension on the Korean Peninsula.

Mongolia may be in a unique position to host North Korea-related meetings at a time when the long abandoned six-party talks on denuclearization, last held in China in 2009, have become a distant memory. Under Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang has instead favored one-on-one, high-stakes summits with world leaders.

Enkhsaikhan, who said his views are his own, didn't rule out a future U.S.-North Korea summit in Ulaanbaatar. He also told UPI that Washington and Pyongyang will need to lay the groundwork ahead of the summit. Talks collapsed in Hanoi, Vietnam in February because not much was discussed at the expert or ministerial level; all the nuances came from the top.

"Now they're talking about working-group meetings," Enkhsaikhan said. "That's very good. Hopefully they will meet soon."

Mongolian cooperation on sensitive issues has helped countries like Japan to build low-level dialogue on the issue of abducted Japanese citizens. At the meeting on Wednesday, a Japanese academic from a university in Kyoto said Mongolia's mediating role for countries that "lack trust" has enabled Japan to provide financial support to Mongolia so that it could use the funds to invite North Koreans.

The issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons has dogged past U.S. presidents. Mongolia is a traditional partner for North Korea, and their relationship dates back to the Cold War, when the two countries were part of the Soviet bloc.

"We have not changed our attitude toward North Korea," the former diplomat said. "We don't forget friends."

Friendship does not mean Mongolia is not concerned about North Korea's weapons of mass destruction --- a program that has been on Ulaanbaatar's radar since the '90s.

"First it was a 'nuclear program,' now they say it is a 'nuclear weapons program'," Enkhsaikhan said.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mongolia and North Korea took divergent paths. Pyongyang maintained isolation and may have secretly started a uranium program in the '90s, while Mongolia pursued democratization and declared itself a nuclear weapon-free zone.

Mongolia's decision to reject weapons was rooted in a historical lesson, according to Enkhsaikhan.

The landlocked Asian republic may have faced an existential threat when rivals China and the Soviet Union were on the brink of a potential nuclear war in 1969. Moscow at the time stored dual-use weapons, including midrange missiles and planes in Mongolia, which could have made Soviet bases in Mongolia a target of Chinese fire.

"A duck is calm when the lake is calm," he said, referring to a Mongolian saying that summarizes how national interests are best served by a stable regional security environment. "That is why Mongolia tries to stay as active as possible."

Enkhsaikhan said he supports a U.S. security assurance for North Korea that comes with a "double assurance" from Russia and China, a guarantee that could help build trust with Pyongyang.

"And no matter how detailed the agreements, they should be ratified by government, meaning parliament," he said.

Mongolia's willingness to host North Korean officials has also served as a barometer for the mood in Pyongyang.

During the closed-door meeting on Wednesday, a former U.S. State Department officer and Mongolian specialist said after talks collapsed in February between President Donald Trump and Kim, North Korea stopped showing up at the dialogues in Ulaanbaatar.

Enkhsaikhan said Mongolia, with its steady ties to both Koreas, supports Korean unification, and that his country is ready to share its experience of democratization with Pyongyang.

"If they are interested, we will tell them" about democratic systems, he said.

The Global Peace Foundation is affiliated with the ultimate holding company that owns United Press International.

Chinese key rail projects to boost regional socioeconomic development www.chinadaily.com.cn

China is accelerating the planning of a number of key railway projects, as the government looks to boost connectivity and fuel its prodigious economic growth, according to the country's top economic regulator.

Meng Wei, spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission, said strengthening railway infrastructure construction will play a key role in improving public transport, boosting regional economic and social development, and fostering a robust market.

"To give full play to the basic supporting role of the railway to major strategic plans - the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the development of the Yangtze River economic belt, and the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the NDRC and related parties are speeding up the preparation of the specialized transportation planning," Meng said on Wednesday during an NDRC news conference in Beijing. "Several major projects have begun initial work. When the conditions are in place, they'll get approved."

China invested 449.6 billion yuan ($63.4 billion) in rail fixed assets in the first eight months of 2019,NDRC data showed.

According to the 2019 government report, 800 billion yuan will be invested in railway construction by the end of this year.

"We will work with related parties to focus on targeted investment and effective investment, to promote economic and social development,"Meng added.

The announced investment drive comes as the Chinese economy moderated in August amid mounting downward pressure.

In the first eight months of 2019, investment in fixed assets, excluding rural households, surged 5.5 percent year-on-year, 0.2 percentage point lower than that in the first seven months, data from National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Meanwhile, investment in infrastructure increased 4.2 percent year-on-year, 0.4 percentage point higher than that in the first seven months. Among the total infrastructure investment, investment in rail transport increased by 11 percent.

Experts said the focus of steady investment in the second half of 2019 is to stabilize manufacturing investment and increase investment in infrastructure.

"Despite some structural highlights, the slower growth in production, investment and consumption means that we are likely to see a slowdown in economic growth in the third quarter," Orient Securities said in a new research note. "We need to focus on the infrastructure investment, which will be key to stabilize the investment."

Tang Jianwei, chief researcher at the Financial Research Center of the Bank of Communications, noted in a new report that the significant jump in infrastructure investment came as the government has taken a series of measures to boost infrastructure construction and address inadequacies.

"As the country ramps up the issuance of local government bonds and the construction industry recovers, we may see strong growth in infrastructure investment," Tang said.

Illegal licenses of artisanal mining to be revoked www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The Cabinet gave orders to corresponding government organizations and officials to speed up the works targeted to erasing negative environmental impacts of artisanal mining, protection of environment, land rehabilitation and stop illegal mining activities and take enhanced control.

IMF: ‘aid flood’ to Mongolia to end www.news.mn

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team led by Mr. Geoff Gottlieb visited Mongolia from 19 to 28 June, 2019, to conduct discussions for the 2019 Article IV consultations. The IMF’s Executive Board for Discussion and Decision has concluded the reports presented by the team and made the following statement:

Powering the West www.news.mn

The Mongolian Cabinet has decided to take a total of 28,000 hectares of land in the Erdeneburen and Myangad Soums of Khovd Province, the Bayannuur Soum of Bayan-Ulgii Province and Umnugobi Soum of Uvs Province for hydroelectric power station construction. The government’s top plan is to construct the Erdeneburen Hydroelectric Power Station within four years with a total investment of USD288 million. Nearly 90 percent of the financing will come from a USD 1 billion soft loan by from the Chinese Government.

Mongolia’s mineral exports dependence may curtail economic growth www.zgm.mn

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with Mongolia, highlighting the country’s vulnerability to external shocks given its high debt levels and the economy’s dependence on mineral exports. Collapses to mineral demand can lead to a sharp fall in exports, weakening growth outlook and fiscal accounts, said the IMF in the report.

Changing the face of mining in Mongolia www.cimic.com.au

Thiess’ Erdenetsetseg Narantsatsralt is part of the first wave of women legally allowed to work underground in Mongolia.