Asian economies to take over ‘7% Growth Club’ in 2020s, but China is not on the list www.rt.com

Asian countries are expected to be the main drivers of global growth through the next decade, with growth rates at around 7 percent. China, however, will be absent from the club, according to Standard Chartered predictions.
Five of the seven rapidly growing economies will be in Asia, the bank’s analysts, Global Chief Economist David Mann and India-based head of thematic research Madhur Jha have concluded, according to Bloomberg, citing their research. The list includes India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar, and the Philippines, while the two remaining countries in the club are in Africa – Ethiopia and Cote d’Ivoire.

AmCham May Monthly Meeting held www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The American Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia held its May Monthly Meeting hosting a panel discussion with International Finance Corporation, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank Country Representatives.

Victory Day Parade in Mongolia www.news.mn

Victory Day (9 May) is celebrated in Russia with the annual military parade marking the end of the Great Patriotic War as World War II is known. This year, a similar parade is being held in Ulaanbaatar. On this occasion, the Mongolian Ministry of Defence has organized military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Battle of the Khalkha River, in which Mongolian and Russian troops fought together to defeat the Imperial Japanese incursion into eastern Mongolia. Entitled ‘Warriors Will Be Remembered Forever’, the parade took place between the Ministry of Defence and Georgy Zhukov Square, which is named after the Soviet military commander, who participated in the action. During the parade, some roads were closed between 09.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m.

Mongolian truckers strike at Chinese border www.news.mn

Mongolian truck companies engaged in coal transport from the Tavan Tolgoi coal mine to the Gashuunsukhait border crossing went on strike on 6 May, demanding an increase in transport services fees.

Trade war: US raises tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods www.bbc.com

The US has more than doubled tariffs on $200bn (£153.7bn) worth of Chinese products, in a sharp escalation of the countries' damaging trade war.

Tariffs on affected Chinese goods have risen to 25% from 10%, and Beijing has vowed to retaliate.

China said it "deeply regrets" the move and will have to take "necessary counter-measures."

The move comes as high-level officials from both sides are attempting to salvage a trade deal in Washington.

Only recently, the US and China appeared to be close to ending months of hostilities.

China's Commerce Ministry confirmed the latest US tariff hike on its website.

"It is hoped that the US and the Chinese sides will work together ... to resolve existing problems through cooperation and consultation," it said in a statement.

Chinese stock markets were little changed after the deadline passed, with the Hang Seng index trading up 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite 1.5% higher.

The market took a beating earlier this week after US President Donald Trump flagged the tariff hike on Sunday.

The 10% duties on $200bn worth of Chinese products - including fish, handbags, clothing and footwear - were due to rise at the start of the year.

That was delayed as negotiations advanced, but Mr Trump is now saying talks are progressing "too slowly".

Trade war escalation
The US-China trade war has weighed on the global economy over the past year and created uncertainty for businesses and consumers.

The situation could become worse still, as Mr Trump has also warned he could "shortly" introduce 25% duties on $325bn of Chinese goods.

Trade talks between Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin continued nonetheless on Thursday.

A White House spokesman said US officials had agreed with the vice-premier to resume talks on Friday morning, according to media reports.

Even though Mr Trump has downplayed the impact of tariffs on the US economy, the rise will deal a blow to some American companies and consumers as firms may pass on some of the cost, analysts said.

Deborah Elms, executive director at the Asian Trade Centre, said: "It's going to be a big shock to the economy.

"Those are all US companies who are suddenly facing a 25% increase in cost, and then you have to remember that the Chinese are going to retaliate."

Mr Willems said there had been difficult periods in trade negotiations previously and that "we've always managed to get things back on track".

"Even if the tariffs do go in place, there is a lot to gain from a deal and hopefully the sides will continue engaging" he said.

The US and China have been negotiating since agreeing on a truce in December.

Even though there had been growing optimism about progress in trade talks recently, sticking points have persisted throughout.

These have included issues around intellectual property protection, how fast to roll back tariffs and how to enforce a deal.

But analysts say the Chinese are still willing to negotiate to retain the moral high ground and because they recognize the importance of solving the trade war.

"A trade war will be bad for China, both the real economy and the financial markets. It will also be bad for the world economy," said Gary Hufbauer of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

"Better for China to play the role of conciliatory statesman than angry retaliator."

Why are the US and China at odds?
China has been a frequent target of Donald Trump's anger, with the US president criticising trade imbalances between the two countries and Chinese intellectual property rules he says hobble US companies.

Some in China see the trade war as part of the US's attempt to curb its rise, with Western governments increasingly nervous about China's growing influence in the world.

What exactly sparked the US president's latest actions, which apparently took China by surprise, is unclear.

Ahead of the discussions, Mr Trump told a rally China had "broke the deal" and would pay for it.

Both sides have already imposed tariffs on billions of dollars worth of one another's goods

Last year, the US slapped duties on $250bn worth of Chinese goods and China levelled duties on $110bn of US products.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the row poses a "threat to the global economy".

"As we have said before, everybody loses in a protracted trade conflict," the body which aims to ensure global financial stability said in a statement, calling for a "speedy resolution".

Renewables growth is stalling, warns IEA www.rt.com

Renewable energy deployment stalled out last year, raising alarm bells about the pace of the clean energy transition.
In 2018, total deployment of renewable energy stood at about 180 gigawatts (GW), which was the same as the previous year. It was the first time since 2001 that capacity failed to increase year-on-year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Adding 180 GW of clean energy is a massive total, but still falls short of what is needed to clean up the electricity sector. It equates to roughly 60 percent of what is needed each year in order to meet long-term climate goals, the IEA said. The agency said that the world needs to add about 300 GW of renewable energy each year through 2030 in order to meet the targets laid out in the Paris Climate Agreement.

“The world cannot afford to press “pause” on the expansion of renewables and governments need to act quickly to correct this situation and enable a faster flow of new projects,” Fatih Birol, the IEA’s Executive Director, said in a statement.

“Thanks to rapidly declining costs, the competitiveness of renewables is no longer heavily tied to financial incentives. What they mainly need are stable policies supported by a long-term vision but also a focus on integrating renewables into power systems in a cost-effective and optimal way. Stop-and-go policies are particularly harmful to markets and jobs,” Birol added.

For the last four years, growth of wind had slowed, but the gap was made up by faster growth from solar. The difference in 2018 was that solar’s exponential growth flattened out. The reason for that lies in China, where the government pared back incentives on solar in order to cut expenditures and cope with grid integration challenges, the IEA said. Still, China added 44 GW of solar last year, the most by far out of any other country and nearly half of the 97 GW global total. But that was down from 53 GW that China installed in 2017.

Costs continue to fall, making renewable energy the cheapest option in many markets, which should ensure strong growth going forward. In the US, wind and solar are now cheaper than operating existing coal plants in much of the country. In fact, in April, renewable energy surpassed coal in terms of electricity generation for the first time, accounting for 24 percent of the total, compared to coal’s 20 percent market share.

But, despite the momentum, the transition is not fast enough. A new UN report finds that the world is facing a mass die-off of biodiversity, with as many as one million plant and animal species at risk of extinction. Also, the world is on track to blow through its carbon budget within 12 years.

Because of this urgency, a wave of new policies supporting a faster roll out of electric vehicles and renewable energy is inevitable. At the state level, renewable energy mandates are proliferating. In the Democratic primary for president, candidates are trying to outdo each other in terms of ambition on clean energy and climate change. For instance, what was once considered an extreme position, such as banning oil and gas drilling on public lands, has now become a mainstream position in the Democratic Party, at least for the candidates running for president.

Another example of the shifting Overton window came in late April when former Texas Congressman and presidential contender Beto O’Rourke recently called for $5 trillion in spending over the next 10 years in an effort to cut emissions to zero by 2050. It’s ambitious by any measure, but faced some pushback for not going far enough, which says a lot about the growing concern about climate change. In fact, climate change ranked as the top issue for Democratic voters, according to a recent poll.

The oil and gas industry has enjoyed a golden era under the Trump administration, but it may only be temporary.

China vows 'necessary countermeasures' against Trump tariff hike www.cnn.com

Hong Kong (CNN Business)China said Friday that it regrets President Donald Trump's hike in tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese goods, and reiterated its promise to retaliate against the United States.

Mr. Traian Laurentiu Hristea: Mongolia has possibility to export 6200 types of goods to the EU without taxes www.montsame.mn

This year marks 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and the European Union. Moreover, Today- May 9 is Europe Day that recognizes the formation of the European Union with 28 state members.

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Mongolia-the EU diplomatic relations and the Europe Day, H.E. Mr. Traian Laurentiu Hristea, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the European Union to Mongolia, has been interviewed.

-Happy to have you interviewing on the occasion of the Europe Day. Please give us a brief introduction about this day?

-Today – May 9 - is Europe Day. The day when the European Union (EU) celebrates its being one, united. Sixty-nine years ago, in 1950, on this exact day, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, Robert Schuman, put forward a revolutionary idea for those times: that European States could share part of their sovereignty to prevent any future war in Europe.

Two world wars, the most devastating conflicts in human history, started in Europe and spread to the whole planet after thousands of years of European conflicts. After 1945, across a continent ravaged by war and famine, European people looked for a way to rebuild their future. A handful of European leaders decided that the best way to prevent war was to share the things which nations had been fighting for, and to build closer bonds of friendship and trust. The first step was the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951.

What is interesting about the Schuman declaration of 9 May 1950 is that it proposed action be taken immediately on one limited but decisive point: production of coal and steel be placed under a common High Authority, within the framework of an organization open to the participation of the other countries of Europe.

A few years later, in 1957, the signature of the Treaty of Rome created the European Economic Community that later became the European Union, which is based on common policies and a common market. Borders and barriers were removed for goods, people, capitals and services. This allowed cross border trade to flourish making war between neighbours simply unthinkable and generating prosperity and opportunities for millions of Europeans.

Choosing cooperation over confrontation, Europeans built the most successful peace project in history. Our founding fathers and mothers imagined a renewed European continent – a continent that instead of exporting war would promote peace, democracy and human development within its borders and in the world.

-This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between EU and Mongolia. What kinds of activities are being planned?

-The EU has been supporting Mongolia's democracy for almost three decades. We have been a third neighbour for thirty years, and this isan occasion to celebrate but also to reinforce and expand our cooperation.

In celebration of the 30th anniversary the Delegation of the EU in collaboration with its Members states, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Governor's office of Ulaanbaatar city, for the first time we will organize a Europe Square– European Open day event on Sunday 26 May from 10.00-18.00 at the Sukhbaatar square. We welcome everybody to attend this event. The citizens of Mongolia are invited to taste various European country specific food and drinks at once, get to know about the European Union funded projects, European companies and cultural institutions, and thus to have a better understanding why the European Union is spending the European Union tax payers’ money on projects in Mongolia. We hope this event will bring closer European and Mongolian peoples and cultures.

-What kind of projects and programmes are you implementing in Mongolia?

-Our actions are meant to help our partner, Mongolia, to increase its resilience in this geopolitical environment and to diversify its rules based market economy beyond the mining sector. That is why we cover four main priorities:

We promote better employment opportunities, focusing on diversifying Mongolia's economy and trade patterns by helping small and medium size enterprises. The EU has a very comprehensive strategy that goes from vocational training, to improve value chains, provide better access international markets and providing access to finance to SMEs.

We are supporting the effective implementation of human and labour rights in Mongolia, including the rights of persons with disabilities, as well as the development of civil society organisations in various fields (agriculture, environment, corruption and press freedom).

The EU is finally supporting Mongolia in reducing pollution by moving to renewable energies and switching to more sustainable consumption and production.

We also support the implementation of an ambitious public finance management reform agenda through technical assistance.

-Mongolian side has been continuously expressing the need for strengthening trade and economic related cooperation. Are there any particular activities are taken over in regard of this issue?

-The EU and Mongolia share many common values: respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law are the foundation of our relationship. However, from an economic and trade perspective, our elations leave a lot of room for improvement.

The EU is looking into possibilities to enhance trade relations, and is assisting Mongolia's businesses to better use the EU's Generalised Scheme of Preferences – an EU policy allowing developing countries to pay fewer or no duties on exports to the EU, giving them vital access to the EU market and contributing to their growth. Many products of Mongolia that could find a market in the EU.

The EU is supporting Mongolia with Trade Related Assistance for Mongolia (EU-TRAM) project that has already identified four types of products that have potential to be exported to the EU. These are organic cosmetics, yak and baby camel wool, seabuckthorn oil and leather. For each of these four types of products EU-TRAM project established clusters where all value chain problems are identified and tackled. There is however a need to improve standards, rules of origin, certifications and market intelligence to facilitate access of Mongolian products into the EU market.

This will help Mongolia in making better use of the GSP+ scheme, which allows around 6200 products to enter the EU market without taxes, if market access and quality standards are met.

-You are the first resident EU Ambassador to Mongolia, and a person who has been studying in Mongolia in 1990s. How does it feel like coming back after 23 years?

-I really appreciate the investment that Mongolia did into a young Romanian student. I studied at the National University of Mongolia between 1990 and 1995.

It is a great privilege to come back as Ambassador of the European Union. I have seen many changes, but what has remained intact it is the hospitality friendship and the openness of the Mongolian people.

Mongolia is still a country in transition: economic, social and political. I will do my best to facilitate the fostering of our political dialogue and sectoral cooperation. My goal is to strengthen the EU-Mongolia partnership for the benefit of Mongolian society and its citizens and to bring the Delegation's contribution to developing bilateral relations beyond the 30th anniversary in full compliance with the vision and content of the EU-Mongolia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.

BY.M.Unurzul

"CEO of Turquoise Hill is in Mongolia actively working on this matter" www.mining-journal.com

The Mongolian parliamentary working group had last month reportedly recommended one of the agreements underpinning the giant copper mine should be scrapped and another changed, adding to the giant project's political problems.

Chinggis city-Berkh road construction commences www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. A construction work of a 70km road between Chinggis City and Berkh, a part of planned 265km road of Chinggis city-Berkh-Dadal route, commenced yesterday during the rural working trip of Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh to Khentii aimag.