The Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base, one of China's largest coal production bases and a coal-to-chemical industry base, is located close to Shaanxi province and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, areas with large coal deposits.

Since last year, it has shut down 127 disorderly coal fields that occupied over 533 hectares. More than 2 million metric tons of coal has been cleaned and 90 percent of the construction above ground has been dismantled.

The coal fields were a major logistical base that stored coal from the local area and Inner Mongolia, and then loaded it onto trucks to send to local fire power plants, boilers and consumers in Yunnan and Jiangsu provinces. Annual turnover was 25 million tons, totaling 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion).

Construction of the Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base began in 2003 and is now home to around 130 enterprises. Gross industrial output value reached 117 billion yuan in 2017.

The fields, however, were poorly managed. Most never met environmental requirements. The decision to close them was resisted strongly by the coal field owners, who paid a hefty rent to the villages and created jobs for people living in the area.

"Money from the coal fields helped cover the medical and social insurance costs of the villagers. One of the villages received 4 million yuan a year for leasing out land to coal operators. Every family received a dividend of more than 5,000 yuan," said Yan Xinmin, an official with the base administration.

Yang Jia, general manager of Ningxia Xinwen Energy Technology Co, said he once had to hide from environmental inspectors because he did not have credentials to operate.

Yang was the first to shut down the old coal yard and move his business to a new coal field, a 133-hectare area at the southern part of the base.

Thirty-four companies have been chosen to move their coal storage facilities into the new coal field, which cost 600 million yuan to build.

Ma Sanqing, an official with the base administration, said the villagers will find new jobs and sources of income at the new field, becoming shareholders of a special service company.

"If we have 1,000 trucks every day, the management of the trucks, dining and cleaning services will generate 5 million yuan annually," Ma said.

Yang Fu, head of the Huiminxiang village, said, "It is a necessary step to clean up the old coal yards. We are planning to build parking lots, dining facilities, auto repair shops and other services."

Efforts are underway to clean the black slag and mud that have blocked flood discharge channels. Trees will be planted to restore greenery in the coal fields, Ma said.

During the visit, the Minister held bilateral meetings with the country’s Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev and State Secretary - Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Viktor Evtukhov, talking on the opportunities to increase trade and eliminate trade imbalance between the two countries and raise Mongolia’s export to Russia including agricultural products such as wool, cashmere, and hide, Montsame reports.

The agriculture ministers pointed out that first and second phases of the project on improvement of livestock health in Mongolia have been completed successfully under bilateral agricultural cooperation and expressed their interest in co-implementing the third-phase. Minister Ch.Ulaan put a proposal to work together in raising Mongolia’s export of meat and meat products to Russia and to establish a complex of joint meat factory and at the border area. For his part, Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev stressed that the amount of agricultural products in total trade turnover between Mongolia and Russia has been growing constantly in recent years. In conclusion, the sides agreed to cooperate in bringing purebred livestock from Russia to improve livestock quality of Mongolia and to collaborate with research and academic institutes of the country on protection of livestock gene pool.

In the meeting with Mr. Viktor Evtukhov, Minister Ch.Ulaan underlined this year marks the 60th anniversary of development of virgin land cultivation and independent agriculture in Mongolia and expressed his interest in continuing the project on renovation of agricultural machinery. Accordingly, the sides decided to organize an agricultural expo this fall on the occasion of the aforementioned 60th anniversary. Present at the meeting were Mongolian Ambassador to Russia B.Delgermaa and Head of Veterinary and Animal Breeding Agency D.Tumendemberel.

Moreover, during his visit, the Agriculture Minister together with Ambassador B.Delgermaa and other officials laid wreaths to the ‘War Horses’ monument which was gifted by the people of Mongolia on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War.

"Our country is now experiencing poverty and debt crisis. So, we all need to strengthen our unity in order to create a bright future of the country and ensure the economic security," Gombojav Zandanshatar, speaker of the Mongolian parliament, told lawmakers during the opening ceremony of the extraordinary session.

"When we strengthen our unity and solidarity, we will overcome and solve any problem. I hope that we will be able to successfully discuss and approve all issues which have been planned to discuss during the extraordinary session of the parliament," he added.

During the extraordinary session, which will run until March 29, lawmakers in Mongolia's unicameral parliament are expected to discuss several issues, including draft revisions to taxation law and minerals law of the country, and appointment of the head of the country's top anti-corruption body.

The extraordinary session came after Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga submitted an official letter to Zandanshatar on Feb. 20 to call an extraordinary session of the parliament.

"Autumn session of the Mongolian parliament closed on Feb. 2, after the parliament failed to discuss the majority of the 23 originally scheduled draft bills and resolutions during the fall session of 2018 due to the halt in the functions of the parliament for over 40 days, caused by disagreement between the chairman of the parliament and lawmakers," Battulga said in the letter.

"Thus, I am submitting the proposal on summoning an extraordinary session of the parliament before March 1 in order to recompense for the times wasted and take urgent steps towards immediate resolution of the pending issues that our country and people face," Battulga said.

More than half of the lawmakers in the 76-seat parliament, most of them belonging to the ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP), have boycotted plenary sessions and meetings of standing committees of the parliament for more than 40 days, demanding then parliament speaker Miyegombo Enkhbold's resignation over alleged conflicts of interest.

Audio recordings made public last year indicated that some officials of the MPP, including Enkhbold, allegedly used their government positions as a tool to run in the parliamentary election in 2016.

Enkhbold was removed from his post by the majority of the parliament in an ad hoc meeting on Jan. 29, and the former head of the cabinet secretariat Zandanshatar replaced him.

Trade, economic and humanitarian activities have been active between the two countries that have had a long history of friendly relations. Defense sector’s relations and cooperation came into a new level from 1999.

During the visit, tete-a-tete and expanded meetings were held to exchange views on defense sector’s cooperation and relations.

Within the visit, the Minister got acquainted with operations of Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation, which supplies Turkish armed forces with military products.

Moreover, the Minister met with Mongolian cadets studying in Ankara and participated in a wreath laying ceremony at the Chinggis Khaan statue in Chinggis Khaan Park, Cankaya district of Ankara.

Elberelt is competing in the men’s 25, 50 and 100 m individual events. He claimed gold in 25m breaststroke.

He will compete in men’s 200m freestyle tomorrow on March 19. Mongolian team has claimed eight medals at the Special Olympics.

The official explained that the association he leads wants “to help people understand what Crimea is, establish reliable relations with the peninsula, and implement joint private projects under the Belt and Road Initiative.”

It is also ready to contribute to the establishment of “reliable partner ties” and the explanation of legal details of business cooperation with Crimea, Ge Zhili said. “The Chinese society hopes for the development of friendly cooperation with Crimea; we are ready to overcome difficulties for fruitful results.”

There are also plans to renew cooperation between Crimea and southern China’s Hainan province, as well as between such cities as Yalta and Sanya, Sevastopol and Dalian, Sudak and Heihe.

Crimea has been under US and European sanctions after the region seceded from Ukraine and rejoined Russia following a referendum in 2014.

The ambitious development and investment megaproject BRI was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. It aims to involve 152 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa.

Munkhtur Munkhshur, spokesperson of the NPA confirmed: "Since 2015, Mongolia has become one of the user countries of drugs. The number of drug-related crimes has continued to increase."

Munkhshur added: "A total of 29 drug-related crimes have been registered in Mongolia in the first two months of 2019," as the data is similar to the score of this kind of offences recorded in the first half of 2018.

The key motives behind the raising cases of drug-linked were the ignorance regarding drug dealing, curiosity, trying to earn easy money and loose laws.

“This is a consequence of unaccountable mining activity being done by unprofessionals and those who do not follow instructions of professionals and engineers, but seek profits only.”

He informed the ministry’s decision to cancel all of four mining licenses of Eco Altan Zaamar Company, adding that the Ministry is waiting for a conclusion to be issued by the State Professional Inspection Agency.

“The incident is an example of dispersed responsibilities and duties of the mining-related higher and lower level government organizations and local organizations. It needs a legal change. For instance, the Ministry is authorized to issue a license, but does not have the right to cancel it. Instead, the State Professional Inspection Agency is authorized to cancel licenses,” stressed the Minister.

So far, there are 3022 licenses: 1342 exploration and 1680 mining licenses, registered at the Cadastre Registration System. The total licensed area makes up 5.4 percent of the country’s territory.

M.Unurzul

The publication notes that the interest of the Mongols in the Russian language existed during the Soviet era and revived in the 2000-ies, when came to power, President Nambar Enkhbayar, who studied in the Literary Institute named after Gorky. With its filing in the country there were private kindergartens and schools with teachers, and teachers — native speakers of the Russian language, has increased the demand for Russian-speaking Tutors.

Popular teachers with good pronunciation and correct speech. The most popular specialty — the teacher of initial classes, mathematics, Russian language and literature. Knowledge of Mongolian is not necessary because lessons are conducted exclusively in Russian. Teaching language is sometimes begins with three years.

Average salary of a teacher in Ulan-Ude — 15-25 thousand rubles. In the Mongolian kindergarten Russians earn two thousand mnt per month (about 70 thousand rubles), in schools — about four thousand mnt (140 thousand). Some employers provide dormitories and visa support. An added bonus is the respect of the Mongolian parents and children to teachers. The newspaper points out that the country has "a huge cult teacher," this profession is considered very prestigious. Among the disadvantages of working in Mongolia is not good ecology, traffic jams and language barrier.

According to the publication, on returning home, teachers often do not want to return to the Russian education system, become demanding employers reject bureaucratic principles. Those who fail to adapt to Russian realities, leaving again to another country to work.