AsiaDev.org - RSS - Mongolia Web

Peter Morrow to retire as Khan Bank CEO in August (Jul 30)

An iconic fixture in the banking and financial world of Mongolia, Mr. Peter Morrow, Chief Executive Officer of Khan Bank, will be laying down office soon, staying on as a

Director of the bank for at least two more years. In a broad-ranging interview, Mr. Morrow answers questions on his many years in the country, the changes he has been witness to (and, in come cases, initiated), and on what he sees lying ahead. A selection of the questions and Mr. Morrow’s answers follows.

What was Mongolia like when you came here ten years ago?
When I came Ulaanbaatar was like an old socialist city with much air pollution and little infrastructure. There have been a lot of improvements in the 10 years since. The last two years have been difficult but Mongolia has grown rapidly. The city has changed. It now has lots of money, cars, more buildings and bustles with activity.

Why did you choose to work in Mongolia? It was not common then for a foreigner to come and run a Mongolian bank?
I saw the offer a...

Media reports on Khan Resources case wrong, says NEA official (Jul 30)

Mr. G.Bayarbayasgalan, Director of Nuclear Material Department at the Nuclear Energy Agency, has told media they have got it all wrong about the court ruling that canceling

Khan Resources’ licenses was illegal. According to him, the court merely said the NEA director’s authority extends to re-registering or refusing to re-register a license, and it has no power to cancel a license. The court did not say anything about the validity of the license. “We were right in rejecting their application to re-register their license” after the company had repeatedly been guilty of breaking the law, he said.

Asked about the possibility of the company taking the issue to an international tribunal, Mr. Bayarbayasgalan said his agency “cooperates with several human rights organizations” abroad and if the company “does take any aggressive action against our country, we will take counter measures through them”.

Source: Ardiin Erkh

The Business Council of Mongolia aims to advocate increased trade and ...

Anod Bank goes into liquidation (Jul 30)

The Central Bank has finally decided that Anod Bank will go into liquidation. The Central Bank’s representative at Anod Bank, Mr. S.Enkhbat, clarified at a Press conference to

reveal the decision that this was not an announcement of bankruptcy, which is something that only a court can do.

The State Investigation Authority is inspecting 40 organizations that took loans from Anod and claims to recover loans worth MNT 40 billion are being filed in courts. Director of Mongol Gazar Ts.Myanganbayar is being investigated for not repaying MNT10 billion to Anod and MNT60 billion to Zoos Bank that has also been wound up. No account holder in the bank has lost any money. All accounts with Anod Bank have been transferred to Savings Bank.

Source: English.News.mn

The Business Council of Mongolia aims to advocate increased trade and investment in Mongolia and serve as a forum for dialogue on the important business climate issues. Join us at the Business Council Mongolia Official Website.

Mongolia, a compelling investment target (Jul 30)

In the vast expanse of Eurasia, a trained investor eye might notice a subtle dust cloud rising on the Mongolian steppes from the gently trotting economy. This trot is set to

become an unstoppable gallop as the country, roared on by the mining sector, emerges from the shadows of the Asian Tigers and takes its place as one of the fastest growing in the world.

Currently, the Mongolian economy is experiencing a vigorous recovery from the recent slump. It is expected to expand over 8% in 2010 and then average 20% growth per annum over the next decade, thanks to massive investments into resource projects and the subsequent rise in exports. The government plans to attract USD25 billion into several major mining and mining-related infrastructure projects over the next five years. Development of some 10 of the largest mineral deposits estimated to be worth USD1.3 trillion will provide a huge boost to Mongolia. The USD5 billion economy is expected to triple over the next five years and grow 12...

Mrs. Clinton agrees to visit Mongolia (Jul 30)

Mrs. Hillary Clinton, the U.S Secretary of State, has promised Foreign Minister G. Zandanshatar that she would visit Mongolia at a convenient time. They met at the ASEAN

Forum in Hanoi last week. Mr. Zandanshatar invited Mrs. Clinton to pay Mongolia a visit in 2011--the year of celebrating the 100th anniversary of Mongolia's national freedom movement and the 90th anniversary of the People's Revolution.

Source: Montsame

Mongolia to improve methods against money laundering (Jul 30)

Mongolia is among six Asian countries whose implementation of measures against financing of terrorism financing and money laundering has been found inadequate and will

now be reviewed in depth, according to a decision taken at the last annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering held earlier this month in Singapore. The others in the list are Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Cambodia. The decision was taken after all member countries had submitted a report on the status and progress of implementation activities in their country. Until a final report on the review is available, the six countries will have to submit a monthly account of what they have done to improve their monitoring system.

Source: Udriin Sonin

MPs submit draft law to bring back skilled mongolians working abroad (Jul 30)

Eight MPs, among them Head of the Budget committee Ts.Davaasuren, have initiated a draft law on bringing qualified Mongolians working abroad back home. They feel that

the anticipated expansion in various sectors of the economy and business, especially in mining and construction, will entail the wide use of new technology, and there are not enough Mongolians in the country who can be employed for this. Local labor in construction can do only the basic building and electricity work while all the sophisticated technology that is now considered essential has to be handled by foreign specialists. Paying for their work is a drain on the country’s resources, comprising mainly of revenue from mining. The draft law, said Mr. Davaasuren, seeks to rectify this anomaly, since a sizable number of Mongolians have acquired such skills abroad and use them there. Of course, they will return home only if they are guaranteed a certain level of wages commensurate with what they earn now, as also facili...

Falcon smuggling, the world's most lucrative wildlife black market (Jul 30)

In the windswept steppe region of Bayan, 100 km to the south of Ulaanbaatar, incongruous metal structures stand silhouetted against the vast treeless expanse.

Comprising little else than half a metal barrel mounted on a 3-meter long pole, a little door cut into the side and sealed on top with a metal sheet, these are heavy duty bird houses that could well spell the survival for Mongolia’s Saker Falcons, a prized export commodity for the million-dollar Middle East falconry market.

These structures are part of the artificial nesting project managed by International Wildlife Consultants (IWC), a UK-based agency that specializes in sustainable use of wildlife and habitats. The Director of the Project, Dr. Nick Fox, is a well known raptor biologist and falcon breeder with close ties in the Middle East and is also acting advisor for conservation projects financed by the Abu Dhabi Environmental Agency, principal sponsors of the project here in Mongolia.

"This is the first example of a planne...

Is it still worth investing in Ulaanbaatar property? (Jul 29)
Article written by Christopher de Gruben for M.A.D. - Post Transition Services in Mongolia Is it still worth investing in Ulaanbaatar property? If so, what types of Mongolian property investment makes the most sense? As the summer economic growth period is reaching its traditional zenith, property prices are yet again on the slow path upwards. For all intents and purposes, it seems that Mongolia’s recession blues are over to be replaced by a new wave of optimism. Is this growth sustainable and does the UB real estate market still makes investment sense? The crisis seems to have had a lasting impact on Mongolia’s investment environment; it has served its purpose as a wake up jolt, demonstrating Mongolia’s heavy vulnerability to international economic swings with it’s over reliance on commodity prices as a catalyst for economic growth. As those commodity prices dropped, Mongolia quickly found itself in an unfamiliar situation of recession followed by a long period of economi...

KHAN RESOURCES CLAIMS VICTORY IN MONGOLIAN COURT (Jul 23)

Khan Resources has won a court challenge to a Mongolian decision to invalidate a key mining license held by a subsidiary of the company, it said on Monday. The Mongolian

Capital City Administrative Court has ruled in favor of Central Asian Uranium Company (CAUC), in which Khan owns 58%, “and declared that the previous purported decision by the Mongolian Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) to invalidate CAUC's mining license 237A is itself invalid and illegal”, the firm said.
In April, both CAUC and Khan's 100%-owned Mongolian subsidiary Khan Mongolia received notices from the NEA, which said that their respective licenses had been invalidated as of October 2009, based on unspecified violations of Mongolian law. CAUC holds the license for the Dornod uranium project, and Khan Mongolia has an exploration license for an adjoining property.
Khan said at the time that it planned to challenge the notices in Mongolian court, and then-CEO Martin Quick suggested that Mongolian officials were acting und...