Petro Matad spuds Red Deer-1 well in eastern Mongolia www.sharecast.com

Mongolian oil explorer Petro Matad announced on Monday that the Red Deer-1 exploration well in the Asgat Sag Basin of Block XX in eastern Mongolia was spudded on 4 August.

US, Mongolia Share Airfield, Emergency Medical Expertise www.pacom.mil

ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA -- The United States and Mongolian military leaders conducted airfield and emergency medical subject-matter expert exchanges to share cultural expertise, technical competency and vital training with Mongolian participants in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, July 22-26, 2019.

The air advisor and medical response exchanges were part of Pacific Angel (PAC ANGEL) 19-3, and combined humanitarian assistance engagement incorporating subject matter expert exchanges with medical outreach and civic engineering projects, led by U.S. Pacific Air Forces.

U.S. Air Force air advisors and Mongolian Air Force officers shared experiences and knowledge on an array of operational topics, to include humanitarian aid and disaster response procedures that incorporate the use of MI-17 helicopters, a transport helicopter often used by the Mongolian air force. Discussion topics also included runway and airfield maintenance, airspace classifications, ground-to-air signaling and flight notification procedures.

Lt. Col. D. Shatarragchaa, Mongolian air force State Division Department commander, coordinated and oversaw much of the exchange. He specifically noted some of the most valuable information the Mongolian officers gained from the week included learning to identify and select landing zones, and gaining more search and rescue methodology.

U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Mark Hoover, 36th Contingency Response Support Squadron air advisor, explained U.S. Pacific Air Forces maintains contingency response forces ready to respond to emergency humanitarian assistance or disaster relief, "Air advisors go to our partner nations and we perform these exchanges and build partnerships, so when something like that happens, we already have those relationships established."

Simultaneously, in Bayongol Soum, Mongolia, community doctors, nurses and civilian volunteers took part in a trauma and mass casualty response training exercise.

Mongolian Armed Forces and U.S. Air Force medical personnel equipped the participants with vital knowledge and experience for first responders, ending the week with hands-on exercises to employ procedures learned throughout the week.

Initial injury assessment, burn treatment and tourniquet application were some of the first-responder skills demonstrated by the U.S.-Mongolian medical personnel before involving the participants for practice.

“We spent a lot of time teaching the volunteers how to handle a trauma in general and give basic care,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Joshua Cragun, 96th Medical Operations Squadron emergency medicine physician, noting the large number of volunteers who attended with minimal medical experience. "Since the region is so short staffed, our training was trying to provide an opportunity for the civilians and local volunteers to encounter a trauma and perform minimal care until they can be taken to a doctor or nurse."

For the rural areas surrounding Bayongol, equipping motivated citizens can be life-saving since formal medical care can sometimes be hours away.

Both the air operations and medical training, as part of Pacific Angel 2019, continue to deepen the long-standing partnership between Mongolian and U.S. forces, while building Mongolia’s capacity to respond to humanitarian need and natural disasters.

Pacific Angel 19-3 continues through August 5 with multilateral international Indo-Pacific participants working together to assist the local community and improve regional partner capabilities. PAC ANGELs have built positive relations through engagement such as these for the last decade in multiple countries throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

International coal trade, investment conference and exhibition for 9th year www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Mongolia’s biggest coal trade and investment conference and exhibition “Coal Mongolia-2019” is going to be held for the 9th year on September 5-6, 2019 in Shangri-La Hotel, Ulaanbaatar. This year’s conference motto will be “Lead the market”.

Mongolia's agreement with US will not affect relations with Moscow, Beijing — expert www.akipress.com

The declaration on strategic partneship between Ulaanbaatar and Washington signed during Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga's visit to the United States represents a political gesture aimed at demonstrating growing international support for Mongolia, chairman of the Valdai International Discussion Club Andrey Systritsky told TASS on Friday.

National database for trade to be established www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. An agreement to establish a national integrated database for foreign trade was signed by IFC Country Representative Rufat Alimardanov and Director General of the Customs General Administration B.Asralt on August 1.

Defense Minister checks construction progress www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On August 2, Minister of Defense N.Enkhbold worked in Dornogobi aimag, getting acquainted with the construction progress of the 7780th and 7781st units.

Gobi cashmere brand to open another store in Los Angeles www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ A duty-free treatment for certain imports, including cashmere products imported directly from Mongolia into the customs territory of the United States was high on the agenda during talks held within the scope of Mongolian President Kh.Battulga’s recent visit to the US.

US officially labels China a 'currency manipulator' www.bbc.com

The US has officially named China as a "currency manipulator", a statement which will intensify tensions between the world's two largest economies.

The announcement by the US Treasury follows a sharp fall in the value of the Chinese yuan against the dollar.

The drop caught markets off-guard as Beijing usually supports the currency.

Last week, China pledged to retaliate after US President Donald Trump vowed to impose 10% tariffs on $300bn (£246.7bn) of Chinese imports.

On Monday, the yuan passed the seven-per-dollar level for the first time since 2008, prompting Mr Trump to accuse China on Twitter of manipulating its currency.

The US government said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will now engage with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) "to eliminate the unfair competitive advantage created by China's latest actions".

The move is largely symbolic because the US is already engaged in trade discussions with China and has implemented tariffs on the country's imports.

However, it fulfils a presidential campaign promise by Mr Trump who pledged to name China a currency manipulator on his first day in office.

The decision is likely to increase stock market jitters after sharp falls across the US and Europe on Monday. Wall Street's main stock market indexes recorded their worst trading day for 2019.

Analysis
By Michelle Fleury, New York Business Correspondent

The move doesn't change much. Not legally speaking.

But it is a big deal, accentuating just how fast things have gone south between the world's two largest economies.

When the US Treasury labels a country a currency manipulator - as it has done here with China - the next step would normally be for negotiations to begin between the two countries. In this case, trade negotiations have already been going on for more than a year.

The process also opens the path for America to introduce tariffs. Again, that's already happening as part of Mr Trump's 'America First' approach to trade.

Under the designation, Mr Mnuchin is also expected to work with the IMF to address its concerns. It's not clear yet what that will yield.

Still it's worth remembering that while the decision may not change much technically, it will have significant political ramifications. Nobody thinks this will increase the odds of a compromise by the Chinese side when it comes to trade.

So don't be surprised if the prospect of a currency war further rattles investors' already frayed nerves.

The US defines currency manipulation as when "countries manipulate the rate of exchange between their currency and the United States dollar for purposes of preventing effective balance of payments adjustment or gaining unfair competitive advantage in international trade".

No country has officially been named a currency manipulator by the US since Bill Clinton's administration did so to China in 1994.

In its announcement, the US Treasury said: "China has a long history of facilitating an undervalued currency through protracted, large-scale intervention in the foreign exchange market.

"In recent days, China has taken concrete steps to devalue its currency, while maintaining substantial foreign exchange reserves despite active use of such tools in the past."

MIL-OSI Russia: In Mongolia at the start of the first ever competition international Army games “Horse marathon” read the address www.foreignaffairs.co.nz of the President of Mongolia www.

Today, during official events dedicated to the opening of the first in the history of the international Army games of the competition, “Horse races”, the main judge of the competition in a solemn ceremony read out a message from the President of Mongolia khaltmagiin of Battulga.

“Distinguished guests, representatives of the war, the participants of the first international marathon. Welcome to Mongolia”, – was said in the beginning.

Later in the address the President expressed his appreciation for the holding of the contest in Mongolia and reported the organizer of the contest – “I Want to Express my enthusiasm that in our country within the international Army games, organized by the Ministry of defence of the Russian Federation, for the first time held a competition “Horse races”.

“History of Mongolia, is the story of a cavalry,” said the chief judge of the competition, continuing to voice the President’s address.

“International horse marathon, first organized in our country and restoring his historical memory and opens a new page in history,” it was said further in the address about the importance of the competition.

In the conclusion of appeals stated: “we Hope that horse races will be a special test, which requires our soldiers training, patience, courage, dexterity and skill, and will be an event contributing to the improvement of professional skills, discipline, organization, knowledge, experience and stamina, strengthening cooperation and understanding. I want to wish you success equestrian marathon “Aravt”, the organizers, participants, observers of this competition. Let under the auspices of the eternal blue heaven bless us all the great flag of the Mongolian army.”

In addition, the President of Mongolia has been a lot said about the history of “Aravt”, honoring the history of the great Empire of Genghis Khan and the emergence of Mongolia. The head of state was voiced by the country’s large-scale competitions in which men tested their strength, agility and skill, defines criteria of masculinity.

The solemn opening ceremony of the contest took place on the territory of the United training center of the Armed Forces of Mongolia, “Tavan Tolgoi”, which will host the international contest of “Horse races” within the international army games – 2019.

In the new competition, “Horse races” held in the framework of the army-2019 on the territory of Mongolia are participating equestrian units from 4 countries Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

The contest will run until 8 August 2019, and end with a solemn closing ceremony with the awarding of the winners of the competition.

The Department of information and mass communications

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure will not be perfect.

JICA to implement project on 10,000 programmers www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Officer in charge of innovation and technology projects of the capital city M.Khaliunbat and Head of the Industrial Development Innovation Agency B.Bat-Erdene held a meeting with representatives led by Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tamura Eriko on July 31.