U.S. Ambassador supports reforms in judiciary and legal organizations www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ Parliament Speaker G.Zandanshatar received U.S.Ambassador to Mongolia Michael S.Klecheski on April 1.

At the outset, Mr. Zandanshatar said that Mongolia considers the United States as its third neighbor, while expressing gratitude for its continued support for Mongolia to build its market economy and democracy that respects human rights and freedom.

Mentioning that Mongolia-the U.S. relations are highly valued by Washington, Mr. Klecheski said it is willing to expand bilateral relations in politics, economy and social sectors and render constant support for Mongolia’s goals of prosperity and reforms. The Ambassador was also interested about amendments to the Law on Legal Status of Judges, recently passed by the Parliament.

In turn, Mr. Zandanshatar said, “Our citizens are criticizing judiciary very seriously. There is clear evidence that there are violations of human rights, failures of a principle to work ethically and acts to serve politicians but not to citizens. Our fundamental objective is to combat corruption and white collar crime and build justice. Also, this is what our people desire for. …Acts of some officials of courts, Independent Anti-Corruption Agency and Prosecutor’s Office are a serious threat to Mongolia’s young democracy. Legal organizations that must have a legal control on each other turned into self-defendants and shield of their own illegal acts. We are taking steps to change this immoral system. We aim to have independent, transparent and just judiciary.” He also gave some information on judicial system, legislation and appointments.

Moreover, they also exchanged views on issues to strengthen government, make a reform in public service and implement the Law on Civil Service which has come into force.

One more issue touched upon during the meeting was about the Mongolia Third Neighbor Trade Act. Mr. Zandanshatar requested the Ambassador to back the trade act on duty-free treatment of Mongolian cashmere and other textile garments export to the U.S. Mr. Klecheski said, “Even though it is currently unpredictable what decisions the Congress will make, I, as the Ambassador, will support any initiative on expanding trade and economic relations established with Mongolia.” “Supporting aspirations of you to reform judiciary, we are willing to share experience and train and re-train staff of legal organizations,” added the Ambassador.

During the meeting, Mr. Zandanshatar and Mr. Klecheski emphasized the importance of expanding cooperation between the State Great Khural (Parliament) of Mongolia and the U.S. Congress, organizing reciprocal visits of parliamentarians for sharing experience and intensifying relations of inter-parliamentary groups.

Mongolia keen to strengthen parliamentary cooperation with DPRK: parliament speaker www.xinhuanet.com

Nationalistic purchase-National production-2019 exhibition held www.zgm.mn

"National Production-Public Procurement" 2019 exhibition, which is aimed at connecting local producers with government organizations and promoting products opened at Misheel Expo yesterday. At the event, government agencies reviewed the qualities of goods and services purchased from domestic manufacturers over the years. It also provided advice on how to prepare public procurement, how to obtain a certificate of conformity, and how to manage tender offers.

The Municipality of Ulaanbaatar City has bought more than 100 types of products from domestic manufacturers this year. In 2018, 74 products were purchased at MNT 6.4 billion and this number is expected to increase to MNT 10.6 billion this year. As a result of the exhibition, the sales of domestic factories have increased; thus, the organizers are planning to hold the event annually.

About 150 industrialists and 50 governmental organizations have attended the exhibition. The fair exhibited domestically manufactured wool, leather, and wooden products. Furthermore, several local products, such as construction materials, souvenirs, cosmetics, innovative products, and work clothes were displayed.

The government announced the year 2019 as "Public Purchasing Year", calling for the promotion of national production in order to reduce imports, increase employment and budget efficiency. In February, the government revised the list of goods and services that meet the quality and standards of domestic purchasers. The list included 155 types of products such as machinery, parts, leather, fur, wool, cashmere, woven, felt goods, wood, and packaging.

70 percent of Mongolians use Facebook www.news.mn

The number of Facebook users in Mongolia has reached 2.2 million – no less than 70 percent of the population! The 2019 ‘Social Media and Appropriate Use’ forum has been held at the State House in Ulaanbaatar. The event was jointly organised by the Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC), the Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs and the Authority for Family, Child and Youth Development.

Panel discussions are being held at four general sessions, namely: ‘social media usage of Mongolia and international tendencies’; ‘social network security and child protection’; ‘opportunities of social media – creating a positive approach’; and the ‘appropriate use of social media and social media literacy’.

Opening the fourth session, Mr. George Chen, Head of Public Policy for Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mongolia at Facebook, delivered a presentation. He noted that the company is mostly focused on privacy policy and security. He said, that the company will cooperate with Mongolian regulators in fighting fake news and in deleting fake accounts.

Mongolia Subscribes to the IMF's Special Data Dissemination Standard www.imf.org

Mongolia subscribed today to the International Monetary Fund’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), the first case where implementation of the enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS) has facilitated advancement to the SDDS. Under the e-GDDS, Mongolia launched a National Summary Data Page—a one-stop online publication portal—laying the foundation for moving to the next tier of IMF data standards, the SDDS. In this process, Mongolia has benefitted from a project in the Improvement of Data Dissemination in the Asia and Pacific Region, financed by the Japanese government, which aims to assist countries to improve data dissemination under IMF’s data standards initiatives.

Louis Marc Ducharme, Chief Statistician and Data Officer of the IMF, welcomed this major milestone in the country’s statistical development. “I congratulate the authorities for subscription to the SDDS. It underscores Mongolia’s strong commitment to transparency, as well as the adoption of internationally accepted best practices in statistics.”

The SDDS, established by the IMF in March 1996, is intended to guide members in the provision of economic and financial data to the public. Subscription to the SDDS enhances the availability of timely statistics according to an advance release calendar, thereby contributing to sound macroeconomic policies and the proper functioning of financial markets. Although voluntary, a subscribing member commits to observe the standard and to provide information (metadata) about its data dissemination practices. This information is made publicly available on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB).

The DSBB now provides comprehensive documentation in English on the statistical practices of Mongolia for SDDS data categories, hyperlinked to country data included in the National Summary Data Page, maintained by Mongolia’s National Statistical Office. Mongolia’s SDDS information is available at http://dsbb.imf.org/Pages/SDDS/CountryList.aspx.

Former coal-fired power plant in Ontario becomes solar facility www.mining.com

The former Nanticoke Generating Station site, located on the northern shore of Lake Erie, has been transformed into a 44-megawatt clean energy facility that hosts 192,431 solar panels across 260 acres.

The project has just been completed by PCL Construction, a company that was commissioned to design, engineer and build it, as well as supply the photovoltaic solar panels and racking system. Behind the idea and funding are Ontario Power Generation, the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

The opening of the solar facility coincides with the one-year anniversary of the demolition of the Nanticoke 650-feet smokestacks. It has also been almost five years since the station burned its last piece of coal.

In its heyday, the Nanticoke Generating Station was the largest coal-fired plant in North America, providing 15% of Ontario’s electricity. After serving the province for more than 40 years, it stopped using coal as fuel in 2013. Two years later, the site was safely closed while the switchyards, operated by Hydro One Networks, remain in operation as a significant hub for the electricity grid in the southwestern part of the region.

Official information indicates that some parts of the former facility, such as the powerhouse, still need to be torn down. Following the last demolition scheduled for September 2019, the site will undergo a restoration process in 2020.

Since 2014, Ontario Power Generation stopped using coal to generate electricity in Canada's most populous province, a move that resulted in the equivalent of taking 7 million cars off the road.

Pipistrel Eyes Mongolia for Final Assembly www.ainonline.com

Pipistrel and representatives from the Civil Aviation Authority of Mongolia (CAAM) and the MRO department of Mongolian Airlines have formed a working committee to perform final assembly of the Pipistrel Virus SW-121 in Mongolia as well as to establish an aviation training organization. The Slovenian ultra-light aircraft producer submitted an official proposal on manufacturing aircraft in Mongolia to CAAM late year. The proposal also includes export and supply of spare parts. 

Mongolian Airlines and Pipistrel intend to sign a memorandum of understanding for the project, and the Ministry of Road and Transport plans to introduce this issue to the government for final resolution. Some years ago, Japan submitted a similar proposal to Mongolia, but Mongolia had not accepted it.   

It is understood Pipistrel is currently working on six- to seven-seat aircraft project while it pursues EASA certification of its “Alpha Electro,” an electric engine ultralight aircraft. Industry observers believe that using this aircraft for training could significantly reduce the cost of pilot training. Pipistrel has produced more than 2,000 aircraft, with the Virus SW-121 model accounting for 1,300 of these.

China, Mongolia to further develop comprehensive strategic partnership www.news.cgtn.com

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan met Mongolian Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar in Beijing on Monday, saying China hopes for the continuous development of the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership.

Horse mane and tail hair processing factory opens www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ A factory to process horse mane, tail hair, yak hair and camel wool officially opened today on April 1. It is one of the main factories included in the ‘Industrialization 21:100’ national program adopted by the Government Resolution No. 36. The sterilization treatment is specified as follows:

Green loans to be granted to tourist camps www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ ‘ITM 2019’ international tourism mart was successfully held on March 29-31. Authorities of the capital and 21 aimags, more than 320 domestic tour agencies, hotels, tourist camps, aviation companies and representatives of the tourism sector of China, Turkey, Japan, Republic of Korea, Thailand, Buryatia and Tuva republics of Russia participated in the 20th edition of the expo.

In his opening speech, Minister of Environment and Tourism N.Tserenbat said that Mongolia received 529,370 tourists in 2018, with 11 percent increase compared to the previous year, earning USD 569.5 million or 29.6 percent higher than the tourism revenue in the previous year. “The Government will continue support the tourism industry, providing green loans to tourism camps with the capacity to receive 100 people at a time and making significant contribution to tourism sector. It will also focus on human resource development of the sector, conducting free training for travel and tourism specialists in 21 aimags. International tourist arrivals in Asia is growing and the fastest-growing destinations are Asia-to-Europe routes. Mongolia is a strategically important tourism destination not only among the nomadic countries and two neighboring giants, but also in the region. Accordingly, we have a full potential to increase the number of tourists each year,” he noted.

The official partner of the 20th ITM expo is Uvs aimag. The aimag is focused on the development of cross-border tourism, closely contacting with tourist camps of the neighboring countries and arranging certain works in this direction.