By Elena Fehrbach
May 5 – The Government of Mongolia has approved 8 percent interest rate for long- term housing loans. The duration of the loan can be up to 20 years for the purchase of both old and new houses and apartments with the total area not more than 80 square meters. The compulsory condition is the provision of deposit in the amount of 10 to 30 percent of the purchase amount. Continue reading
By Elena Fehrbach
May. 2 – The Government of Mongolia is expecting the fuel prices in Mongolia to stabilize due to diversification in the quantity of fuel suppliers. The current situation in Mongolia is almost 100 percent fuel dependence from Rosneft, one of the key fuel producers in Russia. Such direct dependence causes unexpected fluctuations in fuel price due to company’s corporate and regional conditions. The Deputy Minister of Mongolia is discussing the amendment to the fuel purchase agreement allowing Mongolia to buy fuel from Rosneft based on international market prices. Continue reading
By Elena Fehrbach
Apr. 20 – Total 2013 year budget for urban infrastructure development including electricity, heating, potable water supply and sewage is 240 billion MNT (equivalent to 171 million USD). The funds will be sourced from both the State and Ulaanbaatar city budgets. In the interview to journalists, Ts. Bayarsaikhan, Minister of Construction and Urban Development informed that 17 new apartment complexes will be built this year, and the next year budget is expected to be approximately the same budget number as this year. The first apartments complex is planned to be open soon this year. The Ministry is also planning to build housing projects aimed for certain categories of people, such as senior aged people or young families. The housing project for senior aged people will be located in the southern part of Ulaanbaatar, the area with cleaner air compared to other parts of city. Continue reading
By Elena Fehrbach
Apr. 15 – Ch. Saikhanbileg, Minister of the Cabinet of Mongolia met Francisco J. Sanchez, the Under Secretary for International Trade of the U.S. Department of Commerce to discuss economic and trade cooperation between 2 countries. During the meeting, the Minister noted that Mongolia is willing to widen the economic relationship between Mongolia and USA. One of the important steps taken by the Ministry recently is introduction of the amended Strategic Foreign Investment Law creating encouraging investment opportunities for private companies. Continue reading
By Elena Fehrbach
Apr. 4 – The new foreign labor force quota ratio for different types of business activities has been recently introduced. The quota outlines what per cent of employees can be foreign citizens in a company operating in Mongolia. The ratio will vary depending on the actual business activity, the number of Mongolian employees and paid-in capital. The new rules are only applied to HG type work visas. Below are the changes introduced for 2013.
The quota ratio has changed for some of the business activities, such as:
Sept. 19 – The United States can help Mongolia to balance the pressure from two large authoritarian neighbors, Russia and China, American eminent political scientist, Francis Fukuyama writes in his blog “Mongolia, Mining, and Malfeasance.”
“The country needs support from outside powers and particularly from the United States,” said Fukuyama without going in details about how in particular the United States could help the Northern Asian democracy squeezed between its two massive neighbors.
The American professor and his colleagues Larry Diamond and Steve Krasner from Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law faculty (CDDRL) traveled to Mongolia at the invitation of President Elbegdorj to teach an abridged form of the Draper Hills Summer Fellows program to a group of young Mongolians under the auspices of the Mongolian Institute for Strategic Studies. Continue reading
Jul. 16 – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested that those who doubted Mongolia’s excellent example of freedom and democracy should visit the country while visiting Mongolia on her Asian tour dedicated to broadening the U.S. renewed focus on the region.
She praised Mongolia for its transition from one-party communist rule to a pluralistic political system while addressing the fourth meeting of the Community of Democracies Governing Council and the International Women’s Leadership Forum in Ulaanbaatar.
“Advancing democracy, as all of us who are here at this Governing Council meeting know, is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing as well. … And although every country’s democratic journey is unique, there are universal principles we share and that’s what I think brings us together – to support each and to help emerging democracies succeed.” Continue reading
Jun. 28 – Today is the day for Mongolians to vote in the 2012 Parliamentary Election. The Mongolian 76-member legislature – the Grand Khural – is sovereign with ultimate power over laws.
The Parliamentary Election of 2012 is scheduled to be carried out from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. today, June 28. Due to the election, 11 political parties and two coalitions have submitted their platforms and nominated their candidates for new proportional representation party lists and majoritarian electoral ridings. Continue reading
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