Daily Business News Mongolia

Mongolian Opposition Leader Finds Limits to Protest

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia — Standing down doesn’t come naturally to Elbegdorj Tsakhia, who was a 27-year-old newspaper editor in the winter of 1990 when in subzero temperatures he helped lead a series of mass demonstrations and hunger strikes here that ended seven decades of communist rule.

Now a seasoned politician with two stints as prime minister behind him, Mr. Elbegdorj is more sensitive to the limits of protest in this young democracy.

The 45-year-old leader of the nation’s leading opposition group, the Democratic Party, brought Mongolia’s government to a halt this summer by refusing to have his party members take their seats in Parliament following elections in June that he says were corrupted by widespread fraud. (more…)

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Hopes rise for huge Oyu Tolgoi copper/gold mine agreement ratification as Mongolian Pariament sworn in

The eternal flame of hope burned more brightly for miners and explorers as Mongolia’s Parliament resumed its first session since a July 23rd walkout by the main opposition party.

Legislators were sworn in Thursday as the new parliament hopes to quickly elect a new chairman who will form a new Mongolian government.  The original swearing-in day was halted after opposition Democrats staged a walkout.

Rioting after Mongolia’s disputed June 29 election left five people dead, as thousands of people took to the streets to protest against alleged election fraud. The election gave the ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) a comfortable margin of victory with 47 of the 76 seats in parliament, while the Democratic Party won 26. (more…)

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New Mongolian parliament sworn in

ULAN BATOR, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) — Mongolia’s new parliament resumed its first session and swore in legislators Thursday.

Proceedings at the opening session on July 23 had been stalled when the main opposition Democratic Party staged a walkout alleging vote fraud in the June polls.

The country’s two biggest parties, the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) and the Democratic Party, won 42 and 25seats respectively In the 76-seat parliament.

The new parliament will elect a chairman soon and form a new government. (more…)

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NGO reaches out to students abroad

Talk about learning by doing. A project launched recently by a Czech nongovernmental organization is giving university students in Mongolia a chance to gain firsthand experience in Central Asia’s social and healthcare service scene.
Caritas Czech Republic — or Charita Česká republika — is one of the country’s largest NGOs that focuses on social and healthcare services. The organization first began its operations in Mongolia in 2006 when it submitted a bid on a four-year internship project for students of social work and for workers of NGOs.
The main goal of this 12 million Kč project is to improve the quality of education for future social workers but, at the same time, to organize regular training for employees of different Mongolian NGOs. (more…)

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Helicopter is to be bought

Yesterday a regular session of the Cabinet set the following issues for discussion:

Helicopter is to be bought

Last year, the Government and the Parliament set to buy 2 units of helicopters for the use of the Ministry of defense and agencies including border protection, emergency, police and other Government organizations. The first part of the helicopters-MI171E helicopter for searching and aiding was brought on the 4^th of this month. The assembly of the second helicopter which is for passenger and freight forwarding has been completed and is now under testing. It will be received next month. The remaining purchase price of the helicopters which is MNT 5.2 billion is to be provided as budget loan and the Cabinet meeting agrees that it should be repaid following the state budget determinatives. (more…)

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Chief of Armed Forces headquarters of Qatar visits Mongolia

In recent years Mongolia-Qatar relations and collaborations in military and defense sector undergo a drastic development. Chiefs of Armed Forces Headquarters of the two countries visited mutually last year, concluding an agreement on cooperating in exchanging mutual information, improving training efficiency of troops and providing assistance and support for strengthening material base. In accordance with this agreement, Qatari Chief of Armed Forces Headquarters, General Hamad Vin Ali Al-Attiah is to get acquainted with collaborative training results and exchange of experiences on days between 26 and 28 August. Yesterday he visited the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Mongolia N.Enkhbayar and Prime Minister S.Bayar, sharing views on bilateral defense relations. (more…)

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This year, plantation covered over 190 hectare arable land

Mongolia has a plan to harvest over 200 thousand tons of grain and wheat. As for the spring, over 190 thousand hectare arable land was used for the plantation and “the third campaign of the arable land”, implemented by the Government boosted the plantation and agriculture. According to the plan and prognose, over 200 thousand tons of grain and wheat, over 140 thousand tons of potato, over 80 thousand tons of vegetable. (more…)

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Military officials of China, Mongolia discuss regional security, defense issues

Xinhua reports that,

ULAN BATOR, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) — Mongolian and Chinese military officials held the third Defense Security Consultation here Wednesday, discussing regional security situation, international peacekeeping, bilateral ties and other issues of common concern.

Assistant chief of the general staff of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Chen Xiaogong and state secretary of the Mongolian Defense Ministry M. Borbaatar attended the consultation.

Chen said that cooperation between the two militaries in the fields of high-level exchanges, personnel training, and frontier defense had been highly effective and helped promote bilateral relations. (more…)

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Eurasia Hedge Fund Bets on Mongolia, Plans Share Sale

Bloomberg reports that,

Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) — Eurasia Capital Management plans to increase the world’s first Mongolia-focused fund fivefold to $100 million to tap economic growth fueled by the nation’s mining industry.

Eurasia’s hedge funds, which have about $200 million of investments across Central Asia, also expect to sell shares on London’s Alternative Investment Market or Deutsche Boerse AG by next June, said Alisher Djumanov, managing partner of the Singapore-based firm. Proceeds would be used to start private- equity and property funds, and expand in Central Asia, he said.

Mining in Mongolia, which has reserves of coal, copper, gold and uranium, will spur “double-digit” economic growth rates over the next 10 years as commodity prices remain high, Djumanov said in an interview. Mining accounted for about two- thirds of Mongolia’s exports last year, and foreign direct investment in the country rose more than 33 percent. (more…)

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“ANOD BANK” SHC to introduce ESOP

Anod Bank SHC is introducing Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). It is the first exercise in Mongolia to introduce ESOP in its operation and Anod Bank SHC officially signed a cooperation agreement to jointly implement the program, which is widely used throughout the world, with the Mongolian Stock Exchange on Wednesday, August 27, 2008. (more…)

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