Mongolia Brief February 6, 2015 Part III
Official
ceremony to honour the 3 millionth citizen and contemporaries
By B. Ireedui
February 6
(gogo.mn) First baby girl Mongoljin to father E.Khatanbold, natives of
Dalanzadgad soum, Umnugobi aimag has been announced as the 3 millionth citizen
of Mongolia.
Contemporaries
will be awarded with MNT 3 million. It is expected that about 250 babies are to
be included in the list and moreover, local authorities are permitted to award
contemporary baby born at the local region in close proximity of timeframe with
the 3 millionth citizen with apartment worth of MNT 70 million as well.
All aimags and
districts are to award contemporary baby born at the local region in close
proximity of timeframe with the 3 millionth citizen.
Ministry of
Population Development and Social Welfare initiated to organize official
ceremony to honour 3 millionth citizen and contemporaries.
Official
ceremony will hold at 11am at Mongolian Children`s House.
Prime
Minister will pay an official visit to Japan
February 6
(news.mn) As reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister of
Mongolia Ch.Saikhanbileg will pay an official visit to Japan from February 9 to
11.
This visit will
be his first foreign visit since his appointment as Prime Minister of
Mongolia.
During his
visit to Japan, the Prime Minister will meet with Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe and Head of the Japanese Parliamentarian's Counselor Cabinet Masaaki
Yamazaki, and will participate in a business meeting organized by the
Japanese foreign trade support organization JETRO and the Mongolian government.
The Prime
Minister will also meet with several Japanese officials during his official
visit to Japan.
One of the most
important aims of this official visit will be the strengthening of strategic
partnership and co-operation with Japan.
Related:
Premier
to visit Japan – Montsame,
February 6
Draft
resolution on overcoming economic difficulties presented
By B. Khuder
Ulaanbaatar,
February 6 (MONTSAME) Head of the Cabinet Secretariat for Government
S.Bayartsogt Friday submitted to the Speaker Z.Enkhbold a draft resolution of
parliament on overcoming current economic difficulties.
A difficulty in
payment balance, which started late 2012 at the national economy, became a
crisis in 2013 and affected the economy throughout 2014. If the downturn of the
biggest projects’ implementation and a poor chance of external market continue,
the national economic will decline and the growth of fiscal supply will
decrease. Thus, the government has drawn up the draft resolution that will be
implemented for five years in three phases until 2030.
In accordance
with the document, outcomes of developmental works will be put into an economic
circulation by developing industrial and technological parks, industrial
cluster and logistic network. It is believed that Mongolia will become a
competitive exporter of final products thanks to realizing the document.
Minister
submits draft amendments to Law on Minerals
By B.
Amarsaikhan
Ulaanbaatar,
February 6 (MONTSAME) Chairman of the State Great Khural Mr Z.Enkhbold received
Friday a draft amendments to the Law on Mineral Resources from the Minister of
Mining R.Jigjid.
The latter said
that it is demanded, considering the current economic situations, to earn the
yield of mineral deposits with strategic importance, to define and stabilize
the percentages of state stakes, and to increase the revenue according to
current rates, through establishing a legal environment where a certain amount
of payment is collected from a license-owner in return for keeping the state
ownership percentages.
Therefore, the
amendments have been developed for regulating the setting of payments to be
collected from license-owners in cases of withholding the state ownership
stakes.
Bill
on ratification of financing agreement submitted
By B. Khuder
Ulaanbaatar,
February 6 (MONTSAME) The Minister of Finance J.Erdenebat Friday submitted to
the Speaker Z.Enkhbold a draft law on ratifying a financing agreement on
implementing the “Sustainable livelihood-3” project.
The financing
agreement has been established between the government of Mongolia and the World
Bank’s International Development Association (IDA).
A method and
mechanism of the previous projects implemented in Mongolia will be fully formed
in frames of the “Sustainable livelihood-3” project. Moreover, technical
assistance will be rendered to support the implementation of the budget law in
localities and to improve skills and knowledge. Works will be done to analyze
actions of local developmental funds, to encourage the best performance and to
run monitoring over budgets.
A soft-loan
from the IDA will be given Mongolia for the project’s implementation with the
special drawing rights (SDR). The IDA expresses a readiness to give extra money
as a non-refundable aid of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
(SDC).
Draft
resolution about Gatsuurt deposit presented
By B.
Amarsaikhan
Ulaanbaatar,
February 6 (MONTSAME) The Minister of Mining R.Jigjid presented to the Speaker
Z.Enkhbold the draft parliamentary resolution on designating the state
ownership percentage of Gatsuurt deposit, on February 6.
A working group
for negotiations, formed under the direction of the Minister of Mining, held a
meeting with leaders of Centerra Gold Mongolia LLC and agreed on the state and
company ownership percentages from the deposit.
The motives for
the inclusion of Gatsuurt into the list of deposits of strategic importance is
"its identification as a part of the North-Khentii Gold Ring and it riches
of high-content ore, as well as the deposit’s future contribution to the local
infrastructure and development", said the Minister. "The estimated
reserves of the deposit have a probability to increase," he added.
Draft
resolution on state policy on industry presented
By B. Khuder
Ulaanbaatar,
February 6 (MONTSAME) The Minister of Industry D.Erdenebat MP Friday submitted
to parliament a draft resolution on approving a state policy on industry.
Total
production of industrial goods accounted for 30.3% of the national Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013, reaching MNT 9.8 trillion. This growth was
directly affected by the mining exploitation, but the amount of processing
industrial sector tends to decline in the GDP, said D.Erdenebat.
Moreover,
policies and programmes on the industrial sector, approved by resolutions of
parliament and government, have not been implemented successfully due to an
unclear mechanism of realization. Thus, the draft resolution has been worked
out by a working group, he said.
The policy’s
main objective is to make the industrial sector the prior sphere that will
ensure the sustainable development of Mongolia, by boosting high-competitive
industries and services based on progressive techniques and technologies, he
explained.
Mongolian
and Japanese scholars meet in Tokyo
By B. Khuder
Ulaanbaatar,
February 6 (MONTSAME) Anthropology and genetics scientists from the two
countries gathered February 3 in Tokyo, Japan.
Executive
director of the “Mongol Tolbo” /Mongolian spot/ society Dr J.Batsuuri delivered
scientific reports titled “Origin and prevalence of Mongolian blue spot” and
“Studies of Mongolian blue spot in Mongolia”, and proposed conducting a joint
research into this phenomenon.
At the were
also Ts.Gombosuren, head of the “Mongol Tolbo” society; H.Toda, head of the
society’s branch in Tokyo; K.Omoto, an honorary professor of the University of
Tokyo; Yo.Satta, a professor of the Japan’s National Institute on Genetics;
scholars from the universities of Tokai, Ryukyu, Nagoya and Kitasato;
Mongolists K.Konagaya and Sh.Kubota.
The
participants shares information on the issue and concurred to run a join
research.
UB
ice-hockey Cup tournament starts
By B. Khuder
Ulaanbaatar,
February 6 (MONTSAME) The Ulaanbaatar Cup 2nd international tournament for
ice-hockey started Friday on the ice rink in front of Chingis Khaan’s Square.
Organized by
Mongolia’s Federation of Ice-Hockey (MFIC), the tournament attracted two teams
from Mongolia and Russia each, and six teams from China and Finland. This
year’s events are co-sponsored by some ten companies such as the “Kapital”
bank, the Mobicom Corporation and the “Erdenes Mongol” company.
The first UB
Cup took place in 2011 in Erdenet city.
The MFIC is
building ice rinks in localities with aims to develop ice-hockey sport. As of
present, ice rinks have been built in eight provinces including Sukhbaatar,
Erdenet and Khentii.
120
license application numbers to be issued per week
February 6
(news.mn) The Mineral Resources Authority has announced that it will now issue
120 minerals exploration license application numbers every Monday.
Starting on
January 26, the Mineral Resources Authority began to provide numbers for
applications for exploration licenses online.
As reported by
the Mineral Resources Authority several changes have been made to the online
application process based on proposals from enterprises.
Head of the
Mineral Resources Authority, D.Uurintuya reported, “During this period, 536
enterprises bought VPN equipment and 458 of them have received the authority
to enter the system.
"As of
today, we have assigned 90 application submission numbers and received 71
applications and have reviewed them. Thirteen entities have not submitted their
applications on time and six enterprises entered wrong coordinates, thus, their
applications haven’t been registered.
"So, after
the review process, it has been decided that it is possible to issue
exploration licenses for 47 applied areas.
"Moreover,
based on proposals made by enterprises in compliance with appropriate
organizations, it has been decided to issue 120 application numbers each week
instead of 30."
Open
house at the Mongolian Stock Exchange takes place
February 6
(news.mn) An open house at the Mongolian Stock Exchange was carried out at the
Commercial Hall of the Mongolian Stock Exchange today.
Representatives
from the Ministry of Finance, Financial Coordination Board, Mongolian Stock
Exchange, and representatives from security, payment, savings, and share
holding companies participated in the event.
During the open
house, the Mongolian Stock Exchange provided information on the following
topics:
Information
regarding dividends
Advice
regarding investments
Advice on stock
and shares dealers
How to create a
brokerage account
How to open a
payment account
Registration of
public proposals on securities
Essential
knowledge regarding securities
Glutted
Mongolia
By D.
Jargalsaikhan
February 6
(gogo.mn) It is said that everything constantly changes and the only thing that
does not change is change itself. Some changes, especially the changes in
technology, start a revolution in our life. For example, a computer was bigger
and thicker than a person in 1990 whereas people have been getting bigger and
computers have become thinner for the last 25 years.
Another example
would be mobile phones. There were very few households that owned a mobile
phone in 1990, but the statistics today suggest that we have more mobile phones
than our population in Mongolia. More importantly, smartphones are used by half
of the population and it has become very common to use a mobile phone to get
many kinds of services. This revolutionary change took place because of fierce
competition between communication companies from the private sector, but not
the government.
Meanwhile,
Mongolia's society has undergone a significant change. In our past history, we
have never used as many cars, variety of food, and good quality apartments as
we have today. Mongolians have never been able to travel to any desired country
in the world as we do today. It turns out that the life expectancy in Mongolia
grew by 7 years in the last 15 years.
However, one
area that produces the least significant effect on the essence of this great
change, but is hindering the development of Mongolia, is public governance.
HOW BIG SHOULD
THE GOVERNMENT BE?
Professor James
Gwartney, an economist and an acquaintance of mine, said that the size of
government can be viewed in analogy with how much food a person consumes. If
you do not eat at all or do not consume sufficient food, you will not be able
to get enough nutrients, which could make you sick and even lead to death.
Similarly, if you consume too much food, you will suffer from cardiovascular
diseases.
Consuming
adequate amount of food helps health. Likewise, the size of government should
be adequate to its economy. However, in order to determine the optimal size of
government, the first step must be defining why governments exist and what
functions they perform.
Economist James
Buchanan, a Nobel Prize winner, wrote that the government has two main
responsibilities. The first responsibility is to ensure the protection of
rights, freedom, and property. The property should be earned or gained
lawfully, not stolen or embezzled. The second responsibility is the production
of public goods, which can include national security and flood protection dams.
When the
government starts doing additional jobs other than fulfilling their main
responsibilities, the size of government grows bigger. This process of growth
in size without control brings about a political crisis, especially in a
country like Mongolia where the government operations are secretive and without
public scrutiny.
The costs
required by the government to fulfil those two responsibilities are collected
from people through taxes. Buying something with someone else's money and with
your own money are two different things that give you two different feelings.
The authorities quickly understand this difference, get used to it, and believe
that taxes should be high while telling people that taxes should be low.
The classic
example would be Mongolian government. It has been a long time since our
government willingly assumed the responsibility to regulate the market despite
being unable to fulfil its two main responsibilities. As a result, both the
government and the economy are suffering from disruptions in their normal flow.
Therefore, the slightest disruption now leads to an economic recession.
The main reason
why the government has taken over the job to regulate the market is that one
can still find the means to do business in the name of the government and seize
opportunities outside the law to take part in highly profitable, large
projects. Such activities are still taking place in the young democracy of
Mongolia.
The biggest
channel or the most secretive tunnel where public scrutiny cannot be exercised
today is buying off political parties. The first step is to give large amounts
of donations to political parties and the second step is to enter the
management and governance of those political parties. Afterwards, using the
connections, businesses can be expanded.
MONGOLIA
GLUTTED ON ITS GOVERNMENT
Another reason
why the government is expanding is the increase of state-owned companies. The
management of state-owned companies is changed to allow donations and loans to
go to individuals or political parties, and procurements to be done at higher
prices. These activities are being allowed to take place, which is why Mongolia
now has as many state-owned companies as they claim to have privatized.
The total debt
of more than 100 state-owned companies today exceeds the debt from Chinggis bond.
It is impossible to reduce government involvement in economy without
privatizing these so-called state-owned, de facto political-party-owned
companies.
When the
government talks about cutting expenditure, public servants, including
government employees, doctors, and teachers, are targeted. However, if the
ownership of those state-owned companies is made clear, there will be less
stealing and more profits. Nevertheless, during the recession today, this topic
is barely mentioned.
Our government
has been on this path for many years and has become too large in size, which
made Mongolia glutted on its government. Our economy faces theft, not a crisis.
It was not caused by the investors going out of the country, which is being
talked about by politicians with great enthusiasm. It was caused by the
government becoming too large.
One of the main
drivers of this enlargement is political parties. Mongolia's political parties
today, especially the one that currently have the ruling power, are exempt from
public scrutiny. Their own party members who are blind followers with a distant
hope to go to a senior position someday do not know where the financing comes
from and how come they have so much money available. These political parties
are the most secretive institutions today.
Political
parties have become a secret network where power in the form of seats and
positions is traded. Only the most senior leaders are aware of where the
financing comes from. This is why it is almost impossible to change and replace
the leaders of the ruling political parties.
In order to
free the government from corruption, we need to have every political party that
has a seat in the parliament to release their revenue report of 2012, the
election year, and since. Independent audit with representation from the public
must be done. It is set out in the law.
If we manage to
disqualify the political parties who fail to provide accurate reports from the
next election, Mongolia's huge corruption network will be brought down. Until
then, the incapable government will keep changing its structure, replacing
actors to play characters, and switching deels working with the parliament. A
lot of time will be lost while they continue increasing government expenditure
and acquiring domestic and foreign loans to make up for deficits. Should it
continue from an election to an election?
The 2015 budget
amendment erased the faith and patience Mongolians had. It was the first time
ever that Mongolians made an amendment to the public budget after only two
months since the approval. The amendment did not change the government
expenditure, but they "zaisan-ed" to change the law to reduce the
budget revenue and increase the deficit 2.5 times higher. It is causing
ordinary people have red faces out of embarrassment as the 'actors' of
parliament are not. It proves that no Prime Minister, regardless of who he is,
can bring about a change.
Nothing will
change unless the roots of Mongolia's public governance are reformed, the
current political parties are changed, and all politicians today are replaced.
A new generation needs new political leaders who are young, not affected by
corruption, and capable of making a change.
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