State Secretary of Foreign Ministry working in Canada www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ D.Davaasuren, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is working in Canada on January 23-25.

Finance Minister discusses on going projects with Chinese Ambassador www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On January 23, Minister of Finance Ch.Khurelbaatar held a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to Mongolia Xing Haiming.

Organic skincare label uses Mongolia’s natural bounty – sheep tail fat, yak milk and berries from the steppes www.scmp.com

Hippophae, or sea buckthorn, has been used for centuries for its reported health benefits. However, there are few places in the world where it can grow.

The small orange berries thrive in sunny areas, but grow best in places that are often too harsh for other plant life. Sea buckhorn thrives on the remote Mongolian steppe which, despite its sub-zero temperatures in winter, experiences an average of 250 sunny days per year.

Khulan Davaadorj, the CEO of Mongolia’s Lhamour organic skincare company, is determined to use her country’s natural abundance to build a sustainable business using these and other ingredients that are less common elsewhere; the company also uses pine tar, yak milk, sheep tail fat and horse oil – products that are sustainable thanks to Mongolia’s climate, bountiful livestock, and long tradition of nomadic herding.

Davaadorj began experimenting with skincare in an effort to treat her own skin, which was suffering in Mongolia’s harsh climate and the damaging pollution that blankets the capital city, Ulan Bator.

After witnessing the transformative effect of natural products, she enrolled in an organic cosmetics programme to learn about using natural ingredients to treat skin issues.

She launched Lhamour in 2014, and her products quickly received the country’s first organic certification and became popular in Mongolia.

In 2015, the Mongolian Chamber of Commerce named Davaadorj entrepreneur of the year, and in 2016, the prime minister named her woman of the year.

Having achieved success domestically, she dreamed of offering her hand-crafted products to the world. However, building an international company in Mongolia is no small task. Because the country is landlocked between Russia and China, products for international markets must be sent by air.

High-value lightweight products such as skincare and cosmetics are therefore more profitable.

In the past year, Khulan Davaadorj has succeeded in making Lhamour an international brand – its products are now available with free delivery in Hong Kong, and are also distributed in Thailand, Taiwan, Australia, and the United States.

Davaadorj is committed to growing her business in an environmentally sustainable way. She says: “[Lhamour] is more about quality than quantity and it is more about sustainability than profit.” The company uses eco-friendly packaging, shipping its products in recycled paper or reusable containers. In its flagship stores, it features “no-waste corners”, where regular customers can refill their tins and bottles.

Five Asian skincare brands promoting clean beauty
Avoiding waste is integral to Mongolian culture. When an animal is killed every part is used. Meat is eaten, hides are tanned to make leather, and wool is made into Mongolian cashmere.

Lhamour is staying true to the roots of the country’s culture, finding new uses for such precious resources.

Those familiar with Mongolia’s exports will recognise that organic skincare is an anomaly. In 2016, more than 88 per cent of the country’s exports were mined natural resources, primarily coal and copper. Because of transport challenges, nearly all of Mongolia’s exports go by train to neighbouring China. This overreliance on a single, highly volatile sector and trading partner opens Mongolia up to high levels of economic instability.

Lhamour’s hydrating facial oil uses a unique blend of plant-derived oils to hydrate and balance the skin and ward off the damaging effects of pollution exposure.
While creating a skincare company may strike some as frivolous work, in making Lhamour products available internationally, Khulan Davaadorj is helping to stabilise her country by diversifying its exports.

In addition to relying too heavily on its mining sector, Mongolia is also at a disadvantage because it exports most of its materials in their raw form rather than refining them or engaging in other processes that add value and create employment.

Lhamour does the opposite – a dedicated team of employees makes and packages all of its products in Mongolia. Davaadorj employs 36 people, nearly all women, and many from disadvantaged backgrounds. Those who were taken on in the company’s early days are still working with her, because, as she says, “they see a purpose in doing something good for the country and other people”.

She hopes that, through international expansion, she will be able to create more jobs in her home country, providing people with sustainable employment.

Davaadorj, who is 31, believes her work can inspire other young entrepreneurs. “We are trying to tackle a universal problem and show people all around the world that even start-ups from developing countries can create impact and lead others by example.”

Innovation funds for SME, start-ups and the creative industry starts www.mongolianbusinessdatabase.com

Mongolia needs to cut number of livestock www.news.mn

According to a government report, it is estimated that almost 80 million livestock roam the Mongolian steppe. They have reduced the variety of vegetation and degraded 70% of the pastoral land. Every year, Mongolia emits 34 million tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Mongolia performs ninth successful liver transplant www.news.mn

Yesterday (January 23rd), surgeons from the National Centre for Cancer Research successfully performed their 9th liver transplant surgery. The operation took 15 hours with a team of 47 staff involved. The surgery was observed by representatives from the Irkutsk Regional Cancer Center who were there to observe the practices carried out by their Mongolian counterparts.

Four tons of traditional pastries delivered to the US www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ ‘Anglo Freight’ Mongolia-the US joint company had four tons of Mongolian traditional pastries (Ul Boov) transported earlier last year’s Tsagaan Sar traditional holiday at the order of Mongolians in the USA. For this year, orders have increased, said D.Oyunbileg, general director of the company.

Putin vows to launch first Russian-built nuclear plant in Turkey in 2023 www.rt.com

One of Russia’s major energy projects in Turkey, the Akkuyu nuclear power plant (NPP), will soon become operational. It is expected to provide 17 percent of the country’s electricity needs.
“The implementation of a large-scale project for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Turkey, Akkuyu, is under way and complies with the schedule. They are building its first power unit, which we plan to launch in 2023,” Russian President Vladimir Putin announced.

China blocks Bing; Ghosn quits Renault; Central bankers talk www.cnn.com

New Delhi (CNN Business)1. Bing blocked in China: China just took Microsoft's search engine offline.

Microsoft confirmed on Thursday that Bing is "currently inaccessible" in China and said it was trying to figure out what was going on.
Bing is the last major foreign search engine operating in China after Google (GOOGL)pulled out in 2010, but it accounts for only 2% of the market.
US tech companies like Google, Facebook (FB)and Twitter (TWTR) have been largely blocked from the Chinese internet for years, but Microsoft (MSFT) has been able to operate a local version of Bing after agreeing to censor search results.
It was not immediately clear why Bing was taken down. Microsoft's president and chief legal officer, Brad Smith, said it's not the first time the company has encountered this kind of issue.
"These do arise periodically," he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "But we're not aware of any ongoing negotiation or disagreement so we're working to understand it better."
Microsoft's setback comes as China and the United States are locked in a widening confrontation over technology and access to each other's markets that experts warn could be the start of an economic cold war.
2. Ghosn out: Carlos Ghosn has stepped down as head of Renault.
The high-profile auto executive, who has been in a Tokyo jail for more than two months, resigned as chairman and CEO of the French carmaker Wednesday night, a spokesperson for France's finance ministry said. The French government owns a 15% stake in Renault (RNLSY).
Ghosn's arrest on November 19 and subsequent detention has strained the global alliance he built between Renault, Nissan (NSANF) and Mitsubishi Motors. Japanese prosecutors have accused him of financial misconduct during his time as head of Nissan, charges Ghosn denies.
Nissan and Mitsubishi both fired him as chairman soon after his arrest. Renault is due to hold a board meeting on Thursday at which it is expected to name a new chairman and CEO to replace Ghosn.
Among the likely candidates are Chief Operating Officer Thierry Bolloré, who was appointed acting CEO after Ghosn's arrest. Jean-Dominique Senard, who is set to step down as CEO of tire manufacturer Michelin (MGDDY) later this year, could be named Renault chairman.
3. Central bankers talk: The European Central Bank will host its first policy meeting of the year on Thursday, with investors watching for signs that the continuing global slowdown could dent the region's growth, and delay the first ECB rate hike since 2011 expected this year.
"Risks are mounting that the current slowdown could be longer and deeper than the ECB had expected," Florian Hense, an economist at Berenberg, said in a note Thursday. Almost all economic data since the bank's last meeting in December has been "disappointingly weak with no sign that the current slowdown could peter out soon," he added.
Slowing economic growth, and the limited ability of central banks to fight it, has been a major talking point in Davos this week. The International Monetary Fund downgraded its global growth forecast on Monday shortly after China reported its slowest annual growth since 1990.
Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda and Bank of England governor Mark Carney will speak at Davos on Thursday.

Mongolia: Warning of a “kids’ crisis” as influenza outbreak grips www.media.ifrc.org

Ulaanbaatar/Beijing/Geneva, 24 January 2019 – An outbreak of Influenza A (H1N1) in Mongolia has been called a “kids’ crisis” by the Mongolian Red Cross Society, with children under five accounting for more than two-thirds of cases reported up to 18 January.