UN Secretary-General Congratulates Mongolia on Fiftieth Anniversary of United Nations Membership, Praises Country’s Active Role in Organization’s Work

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message on the fiftieth anniversary of Mongolia’s membership in the United Nations:

It is a great pleasure to congratulate the Government and people of Mongolia on the fiftieth anniversary of the country’s membership into the United Nations.

United Nations agencies first became engaged in Mongolia in the early 1960s. Today, 11 agencies are working with Mongolians to achieve the country’s development goals and to improve the lives of all Mongolians.

We are also pleased to have witnessed the country’s successful and peaceful transition to a democratic society. Indeed, Mongolia has been at the forefront of promoting democracy as evidenced by its current leadership role in the Community of Democracies.

Mongolia has been an active member of the United Nations. It has ratified and acceded to more than 140 international treaties and conventions. It is taking action against climate change and desertification. And it has declared itself a nuclear-weapon-free zone, and played a critical role in creating the annual observance of Disarmament Week.

Mongolia has also become a generous contributor to United Nations Peacekeeping, and is expanding its capacity and role through the Peacekeeping Training Centre and generous contributions to operations in Darfur and South Sudan. The country’s proposal to establish an international think tank for landlocked countries will give further voice to these nations as they face a set of unique challenges.

I had the immense pleasure of visiting Mongolia in 2009, and saw first-hand the country’s natural beauty, its traditional culture, and above all, the commitment of the Government and people to building peace and prosperity for all at home and around the world.

Congratulations again on this milestone. I thank Mongolia for being such an enthusiastic and supportive partner over the past half century. We look forward to strengthening our ties in the years ahead.

Source:UN Press Service

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Truck kills herder in China Inner Mongolia protest: group

(Reuters) - A herder in northern China's Inner Mongolia who had been protesting destruction of traditional grazing land has died after being hit by an oil transport truck, an overseas rights group said on Monday.
A similar incident in May, when another herder died after being struck by a coal truck, set off rare protests by minority ethnic Mongolians demanding better protection of their lands, rights and traditions.
The latest case happened in Uushin Banner, near Ordos city, where the dead herder, identified as Zorigt, was part of a group
trying to protect grazing lands from trucks carrying oil and gas which had killed livestock, the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center said.
"During a number of confrontations between the local Mongolian herders and the Shuurhei Oil-Gas Field transporters, Zorigt and others were beaten and hospitalized several times previously," the New York-based group said in an emailed statement.
Zorigt, the group said, "was killed by a Chinese oil transport truck as he tried to protect his grazing lands."
The Uushin Banner, or county, government said in a statement on its website (www.wsq.gov.cn) that Zorigt died after being hit by the truck while trying to overtake it in a motorcycle. Many ethnic Mongolians in China go by only one name.
The statement, posted on Saturday, said truck driver Li Youliang drove around a man standing in the road, later confirmed to be Zorigt. The herder, it said, sped after the truck on a motorcycle and tried to overtake it, but collided with it and was seriously injured, dying later in hospital.
The truck driver was taken into custody, the government said.
The rights group said the government had been putting messages on Internet chatrooms urging people to disregard rumors about what it said was a simple traffic accident.
"Some people who have hidden intentions are interpreting it as an ethnic problem or a conflict with the oil and natural gas development. The government of Uushin Banner is taking the case extremely seriously," it quoted one message as saying.
Inner Mongolia is a region of China bordering Mongolia -- a separate, independent country.
Ethnic Mongolians, who make up under 20 percent of Inner Mongolia's 24 million population, say their grazing lands have been ruined by mining and desertification and that the government has tried to resettle them in permanent houses.
Inner Mongolia, which covers more than a tenth of China's land mass, is supposed to enjoy a high degree of self-rule, but Mongolians say the Han Chinese majority holds the power and has been the main beneficiaries of economic development.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Source:Reuters

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Mongolian Mines Are Open for Business, But Just Who’s Making the Money?

Mongolia’s resource riches are bringing it new attention. While activity in the extractive industries is creating a spike in government revenue, extreme winters are killing livestock and driving nomadic peoples into the slums of Ulan Bator. Mongolia is confronting the same question all resource-rich countries eventually face: how to distribute the spoils of resource wealth beyond a few well-connected elite.

Mongolia’s economy has been predicted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to grow by 9 percent this year and 12 percent in 2012 as a result of increased activity in the mining sector.

Much of this growth stems from a rush of foreign investment. In August, Mongolia hosted officials from the United States, China, South Korea and Finland in meetings touted by the Mongolian press as highly successful. The visitors left with plans to expand ties with Mongolia and gain further access to the country’s natural riches.

This increased interest raises the question of how Mongolia will be changed by foreign investment and whether its administration can handle the onslaught. Mongolia isn’t known for particularly shrewd management of its resources. Genghis Khan’s son Ogadei is said to have paid visiting merchants whatever price they requested. Jasper Becker, in his book “Mongolia: Travels in an Untamed Land,” describes Ogadei’s comment on a storeroom full of gold, “What profit do we get from storing this, since it has to be constantly guarded?”

But there are signs that the Mongolian government might be guarding its wealth more vigilantly. In a Sept. 22 Parliament session, the Mongolian government decided to seek to increase its share of the Oyu Tolgoi mine，currently controlled by Australian firm Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe Mines of Canada. Parliament members pushing to increase state control claimed the Mongolian state should claim a larger portion of mining profits.

Mongolia has spent much of its history squeezed by Russian and Chinese interests. It became a Soviet satellite after looking to the victorious Bolsheviks for protection from China. The Chinese administration at the time wanted to claim both Inner and Outer Mongolia as Chinese territory. Under communism, which officially began in 1924, 95 percent of Mongolia’s trade was with the USSR, which bought Mongolia’s raw materials on the cheap and sold them on the world market at a large profit.

Now, Mongolia is striving to use its mineral wealth to establish ties with a wide range of partners and carve out an independent position.

As the anti-Chinese graffiti on walls throughout Ulan Bator would indicate, there is a lingering mistrust of China, Mongolia’s rival and partner. Regardless of how Mongolians may feel about China, they cannot afford to ignore its regional clout. China is Mongolia’s largest trading partner and investor. Mongolia is a major exporter of coal, copper and gold to China. Chinese demand mitigated the effects of the 2008 economic crisis on Mongolia.

During his Aug. 26 meeting with Zhou Yongkang, a senior official of the Chinese Communist Party, Mongolian Prime Minister S. Batbold spoke of a coming “golden era” in Mongolian-Chinese relations, despite historical antagonism.

In a 2009 report, the US Agency for International Development found three major concerns in its assessment of governance in Mongolia: The weakening system of checks and balances, the coalescence of business and political power and the inconsistent implementation of law and the execution of government functions.

These concerns are particularly acute at a time when new money is pouring in. While government revenue is increasing, industries are not keeping pace with employing Mongolians or committing to keeping earnings in the country.

Mongolia ranked 116 out of 178 countries on Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Index. In recent years its government has joined international anticorruption regimes and protocols, such as the Anti-Corruption Plan of the Asian Development Bank, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and the UN Convention Against Corruption. In 2006, Mongolia passed a new anticorruption law and created an Anti-Corruption Agency, moves generally considered as ineffectual so far.

For its long-term prosperity, Mongolia will need a middle class with buying power to support domestic enterprise. Landlocked and next to China, competing in manufacturing or agriculture is difficult. With a poorly educated population, Mongolian officials have a long way to go in building a solvent middle rung.

Its government is looking to transfer payments to the poor to help narrow the gap between haves and have-nots. On Aug. 27, Mongolian Finance Minister S. Bayartsogt announced that the government planned to invest a budget surplus into welfare measures designed to improve employment and health. In July, revenues were 248.8 billion Mongolian tugrik, ($194.7 million), more than projected, due to big increases in industrial and mining production. The government will increase spending by up to 92.6 billion tugrik.

As Mongolia’s international profile grows, so to do the slums on the outskirts of Ulan Bator, and are now believed to be home to more than 750,000. Mongolian herders struggle to adjust to life in the city where they have no experience living and little opportunity to find work. Many new arrivals turn to alcohol.

The government has provided primary schools and a system of daily water delivery, but climate and conditions pose a serious challenge to making the informal settlements more livable.

The demand for government assistance is significant. Mongolia has a minimum wage of $83 per month; an average salary is around $250 per month. That doesn’t go far when a basic meal in a low-end restaurant costs $3 and a one-bedroom apartment in Ulan Bator costs $800 per month.

Consumer prices in the capital are increasingly unaffordable and many Mongolians lack basic services. According to the World Bank’s August 2011 Mongolia Quarterly Economic update, inflation in Ulan Bator was up 11.4 percent year-on-year in July, up from 5.5 percent in the previous month. Over the same period, core inflation increased by 13.7 percent on a year-on-year basis. That measure doesn’t include food or energy prices, both of which are volatile and consume much of poor Mongolians’ income.

Regular Mongolians will also be squeezed by their country’s advancement in less quantifiable ways. Anyplace that attracts large amounts of foreign direct investment is changed. The influx of capital and well-paid workers generally drives up prices and will likely further erode Mongolia’s traditional ways. Cities suddenly spring up around project sites. These new settlements are often thrown together with little planning or thought towards creating a cohesive community.

The most significant question facing Mongolia’s leaders, and those who invest there, is how either through resource wealth or another channel, the majority of Mongolia’s population may maintain dignified lives that aren’t dependent on government assistance.

YaleGlobal

Steven Borowiec has written for the Guardian, the Toronto Star, Adbusters and other publications.


Source:YaleGlobal

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BBC blasted over Edinburgh Woollen Mill's workers claim

A high street clothes chain whose boss lives near Carlisle has hit back at a claim from the BBC that it has handed over foreign workers’ wages to the totalitarian regime in North Korea.

Bosses from Edinburgh Woollen Mill have described the allegation – aired in on the BBC's Newsnight show on Thursday – as inaccurate and “sensationalist”.
The company, whose chairman and chief executive is Philip Day, who lives in the Brampton area, has mounted a robust defence of its treatment of workers in Mongolia who make some of the cashmere jumpers which are sold in the firm’s 500 UK outlets.
The Newsnight report focused on jumpers which carry labels stating they are “Designed in Scotland,” but which are made in some cases by North Korean workers based in Mongolia.
The report claimed an official from the Mongolian company Eermel said the wages of the 80 North Koreans concerned are paid to the North Korean government, widely recognised as one of the most totalitarian and oppressive regimes in the world.
But Edinburgh Woollen Mill officials have been infuriated by the BBC's treatment of the story, saying it failed to point out that the firm told reporters that it had been given proof by the Mongolian factory that wages were paid not to North Korea but directly into workers’ bank accounts.
The firm said it cares for customers and staff and operates ethically.
Its statement said: “The North Korean workers are free to leave the factory and all of their wages are paid into personal bank accounts with the State Bank of Mongolia.
“We understand that they have debit cards and freely spend from their bank accounts. There is a Mongolian tax deduction of 10%. This is the only deduction made. We made the BBC aware that the factory owners had provided us with proof of the individual bank accounts of the North Korean workers and confirmation that the wages were paid by the factory to these accounts with the State Bank of Mongolia and not in any way to the North Korean government.
“There appears an edited statement on the Newsnight report from one of the Mongolian managers of the factory that ‘money is being sent from here.’
“We have specifically challenged the factory owner on this point and they have made a categorical denial that they pay the North Korean government or any agency of the North Korean government.
“The factory provides training to all of its staff. The North Koreans are also provided with accommodation and medical care. EWM understands its social and moral responsibility in relation to the treatment and working conditions of the workers in the factories where the EWM products are produced.”
The statement said Edinburgh Woollen Mill is committed to its corporate responsibilities in the UK and overseas and runs its business for a sustainable future. The labelling of the jumpers made in Mongolia is factually correct.
The statement adds: “We find it frustrating and disappointing that the BBC have chosen to sensationalise this story. We consider the reporting to be unfair, unbalanced and unrepresentative of the full truth. We are proud of our heritage and the fact that we continue to develop high quality products and design from the UK."

Source:www.newsandstar.co.uk

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Mongolia abandons nuclear waste storage plans, informs Japan of decision

PARIS -- The Mongolian government told Japan government officials and others concerned in late September that it had decided to abandon its plans to cooperate with Tokyo and Washington and build facilities to temporarily store and dispose of nuclear waste, it was learned on Oct. 14.
Mongolia appears to have judged the plan unfeasible because of opposition movements in the country.
It is the latest turn of events that underscores the difficulties in carrying out international projects to build nuclear waste storage facilities. A similar project was also abandoned in Australia in 2002 due to strong public backlash.
Negotiations on the Mongolian nuclear projects started when U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel B. Poneman visited Mongolia in September, 2010. Officials of Japan, the United States and Mongolia held their first round of talks on the projects in Washington in February this year. Then, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which wants to procure nuclear fuel from Mongolia, joined in the negotiations. In early July, Poneman sent a draft of an intergovernmental memorandum of understanding (MOU) to then-Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Banri Kaieda in an effort to secure a deal by the end of this year.
The Mainichi reported on the secret talks between the three countries in May, but the Mongolian government has officially denied the existence of such negotiations. After the Mainichi's report, Mongolian citizens harshly reacted to the envisioned projects and demanded the government withdraw the plans and disclose information.
Following such developments, Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj issued a presidential order on Sept. 13 banning negotiating with foreign governments or international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on nuclear waste storage plans in Mongolia. Elbegdorj sacked government officials, including Ambassador A. Undraa, who had attended trilateral talks with the United States and Japan in Washington from Feb. 3 to 4 as representatives of Mongolia.
In the meantime, the Japanese government had told the U.S. Department of Energy that it was difficult to continue with the negotiations because it was busy dealing with the crisis at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant as well as public backlash.
According to a survey conducted by the IAEA, Mongolia has abundant resources of uranium estimated at 1.4 million metric tons. The Mongolian government was considering processing uranium into nuclear fuel and exporting it in an attempt to make good use of the uranium resources. For this purpose, Mongolia was exploring the idea of introducing "nuclear fuel lease contracts" in which Mongolia would receive spent nuclear fuel from countries that buy uranium nuclear fuel from Mongolia.
The U.S. Department of Energy took the idea and came up with a proposal that Mongolia collect, store and dispose of spent nuclear fuel from other countries. Since then, the United States and Japan had been negotiating with Mongolia on the project.


Source:mainichi.jp

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Mongolian contract just the beginning - Macmahon

WEST-Perth based Macmahon Holdings boss Nick Bowen says the company’s latest $491 million contract in Mongolia is an “enormous opportunity”.
In a statement to shareholders, the company announced it would team up with German Operta GmBh to work on the state-owned Tavan Tolgoi Coal Mine in Mongolia.
Mr Bowen said the new contract put the mining and construction company at the forefront of the “world’s largest emerging mining regions”.
The project involves large scale open cut mining operations and mining at a rate of 3 million tonnes a year is expected to commence in January next year.
“Our operations in Mongolia pave the way for developing a long term business in the region and will see our world class mining expertise on show through this project,” he said.
Once all the mine and transport infrastructure is in place, the mine is expected to produce 15 million tonnes a year.

The company’s share fell 0.79 per cent, to 62.5 cents at 1043 AWST today, after coming out of a trading halt yesterday.

Source:perthnow.com.au

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Mongolian company employing North Koreans exports to UK, according to BBC report

ermel factory manager David Woods shows Newsnight reporter Edinburgh Woollen Mill products ready for despatch to Scotland

By Simon Ostrovsky and Meirion Jones BBC Newsnight

Garments labelled "Designed in Scotland" and sold by a UK high street chain are being made by North Korean labour in Mongolian factories, the BBC's Newsnight programme has found.

Newsnight discovered that some cashmere jumpers sold by Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) are made in a factory where 80 of the workers are from North Korea.
Edinburgh Woollen Mill said the labels are "factually correct" and they do not discriminate about who they employ, but there are questions about what happens to North Korean workers' wages.
Edinburgh Woollen Mill has 500 outlets around the UK which sell garments including cashmere jumpers, labelled James Pringle and "Designed in Scotland", which are produced by a company based in Mongolia called Eermel.

They are looked after by Eermel. They have a dormitory, they have food, they have showers, they have a television Former Eermel manager David Woods on conditions for the North Korean workers

The North Korean workers in the Eermel factory in Mongolia are given food and a place to sleep, but according to Eermel's export director, Bayar, their wages are paid to the North Korean government.
"We are transferring the money to the account of the light industry of North Korea," Bayar told Newsnight.
He said he did not know how much of the wages were given to the workers: "How they split - divide the salary - we don't know."
Contradictory statements
David Woods, a manager at the Eermel factory who has recently left the company, told Newsnight:
"We're very proud to be working with Edinburgh Woollen Mill, they joined us about five years ago."
Mr Woods said the North Koreans are "hard workers, they don't complain", and that "they are looked after by Eermel. They have a dormitory, they have food, they have showers, they have a television".

Read statement from Edinburgh Woollen Mill

But when Newsnight contacted Edinburgh Woollen Mill about the arrangement the company told us they had been given a different explanation of the set up by Eermel
"No funds are paid to North Korea or any North Korean agency," they said.
The statement was in stark contradiction to what Newsnight's reporters were told on the ground, which was "the North Korean government is getting money from here".
For decades North Korea has been one of the world's most secretive societies. It is one of the few countries still under nominally communist rule.
Following North Korea's nuclear test in October 2006, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on Pyongyang. The "targeted" sanctions include an embargo on military and technological materials and luxury goods, as well as a set of financial sanctions.
Labelling regulations
The US State Department estimates that around 100,000 North Koreans are employed in work brigades in Russia, China and Mongolia, generating hundreds of millions of pounds a year for leader Kim Jong-il's regime.

Kim Jong-il leads North Korea's totalitarian regime

The labour brigades are usually overseen by North Korean officials who maintain similar tight controls to those faced by the workers back in their totalitarian homeland.
At the Eermel factory in Mongolia, the-then manager Mr Woods showed Newsnight factory workers, including those from North Korea, making James Pringle cashmere jumpers.
Mr Woods also showed us the finished product, ready to be sent to Scotland, complete with "Designed in Scotland" labels.
Newsnight purchased an identical jumper in one of Edinburgh Woollen Mill's stores in the Scottish capital Edinburgh.
There is no legal requirement to label clothes with their country of origin, but it is an offence to mislead customers about where a product is made.
The Trading Standards Institute told Newsnight that "on the face of it" labelling a jumper as "Designed in Scotland" and not saying where and how it had been made "could be in breach of the regulations" to protect consumers from unfair trading.


Source:BBC 

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Release of Alleged Spy Angers German Investigators

nly weeks before German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Ulan Bator, a court in Germany ruled that a Mongolian official detained as part of an investigation into an illegal kidnapping must be released. Criminal investigators here say the decision was "removed from reality" and "counterproductive".

Official visits between heads of state, worldwide, follow strict protocols and schedules determined far in advance. That means the schedule on Thursday, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel carries out the official part of her visit to Mongolia, is already common knowledge. First, the Mongolian prime minister will welcome the chancellor to Ulan Bator, the capital, with military honors. Then she is scheduled to meet with Mongolia's president, followed by lunch with the prime minister.

In between, scheduled for precisely 10:15 a.m., comes the signing of a trade agreement. Mongolia, once the heart of Genghis Khan's empire, is considered a highly attractive emerging market, with a small population but large reserves of coal, iron ore, copper and gold. Berlin provides development aid totaling around €25 million ($34 million) annually. That provides a number of conversation topics during a visit that will last only a few hours, meaning there likely won't be time to discuss the case of Bat Khurts, the head of Mongolia's National Security Council. The case, which played out across France, Belgium, Great Britain and Germany, reads like a political murder mystery. And it caused a battle between the highest institutions in German jurisprudence: the Federal Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Court of Justice.
Like any murder mystery, it began with a killing.
On Oct. 2, 1998, in Ulan Bator, a masked duo, or perhaps an entire gang, broke into the home of Sanjasuuren Zorig, the country's young infrastructure minister, a leading member of the Democratic Union and a man with an excellent shot at becoming prime minister. The attackers killed Zorig, 36, by stabbing him and striking him with an axe. The brutal crime served as a setback to the country's fledgling democracy movement. The former communist party, MPRP, returned to power with a promise to track down the murderers, presumably hoping to gain favor with the people. In other words, they needed to find a guilty party.
A Spook at the Center
The man who came under suspicion -- or toward whom suspicion was directed -- was Enkhbat Damiran, who was 43 at the time. If the account of Mongolian authorities is to be believed, he was sent to a penal colony as a teenager and later to prison for theft, assault and fraud. He was released in late July 1998, they say, two months before Zorig's murder. In 2000, and this much has been confirmed: Damiran immigrated to Germany with his family. In 2002, he moved to France and applied for asylum there under an assumed name. Around this time, Mongolia's Interpol branch began searching for him again -- though not in relation to the Zorig case, according to German investigators.
When these police actions proved unsuccessful, Mongolian authorities came up with another idea: abduct Damiran and pin the political murder on him back home. It's unclear who precisely gave the order to do so. Mongolia's attorney general and the former ambassador to Berlin later claimed the country's intelligence agency acted alone.
That's a curious defense, given the body of evidence -- and this is where Bat Khurts comes into the picture. According to investigations by two German institutions, the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation and the Federal Prosecutor's Office, it is believed that Khurts was an intelligence agent for Mongolia, although he was officially working as First Secretary at the Mongolian Embassy in Budapest.
Two women, one of whom knew Damiran personally, allegedly led Khurts to him in May 2003, in the northern French port city of Le Havre. Damiran was lured into a trap, overpowered, drugged and brought first to Brussels, and then to Berlin. On May 18, his abductors flew him out of Germany on a jet belonging to the Mongolian national airline, MIAT. They presented him to airport border guards as a Mongolian minister who had gotten into a fight in Brussels and urgently needed to be brought back home. According to witness testimony, Shirbazar Altansukh, consul at the Mongolian Embassy in Vienna, contrived this story. Altansukh was later removed from his post. The embassy declined to comment on the matter to SPIEGEL.
Legally speaking, Damiran's ordeal up to this point could be defined as nothing more than false imprisonment and assault. But German federal prosecutors classified what followed in Ulan Bator as a "Verschleppung," the German word that, in legal terms, is used to mean a specific type of abduction driven by political motives. As an offense against national security, this fell under the jurisdiction of the Federal Prosecutor's Office.
In Ulan Bator, Damiran was told to confess to Zorig's murder and to name who had hired the hit, perhaps a prominent politician from Zorig's party. Damiran insisted he'd had nothing to do with the crime. He insisted it once, twice and a third time.
Masked men sat in front of him, Damiran said in describing one interrogation, and "two civilians with guns stood behind me. I was shaking." He said he was so weak that he fell from his chair many times, and he also described a mock execution in the woods near the capital.
'The Charges Were Clearly Invented'
Damiran had his defense attorney, Lodoisambuu Sanjaasuren, to thank for making a record of these statements. Sanjaasuren smuggled a video camera into the cell and recorded his client's statements, in a video of just under 40 minutes. On Sept. 27, 2003, about four months after Damiran's forcible return to his homeland, the Mongolian private TV channel 25 broadcast the video.
Soon after, the country's attorney general dismissed the murder charge against Damiran, on grounds that there was no incriminating proof. Viennese law professor Manfred Nowak reinvestigated the case on behalf of the United Nations and reached the same conclusion but with different reasons. The case was dropped, Nowak believes, "because the charges were clearly invented."
However, Damiran remained in custody. As a result of the TV broadcast of his statements, he was then charged with betraying state secrets, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison. Critically ill, he was released on April 17, 2006, and died only five days later.
His family has since filed charges with the French police, who turned the case over to the Germany's Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) in Karlsruhe. The BKA in turn engaged the Federal Prosecutor's Office, and the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice issued a warrant that soon went into effect across Europe.
Agent Khurts was now a German case, file number 1 BGs 13/2006. By then the head of Mongolia's National Security Council, Khurts arrived at London's Heathrow Airport on Sept. 17, 2010, for diplomatic talks in Britain, only to be arrested at passport control. He claims he was lured into a trap, and should be protected by diplomatic immunity as well. Two different courts rejected both of these arguments. After 10 months in custody, Khurts was extradited to Germany, arriving in Berlin on August 19 of this year.
Release Criticized by Prosectutors

Soon, though, the Federal Court of Justice released Khurts at the request of his defense attorneys, Frankfurt lawyer Egon Geis and his Berlin colleague Rolf-Werner Bock. Geis maintained his client had "tracked down Damiran and brought him to Berlin, nothing more." The judges at the court's Third Criminal Division declared that the attack on Damiran hadn't been "Verschleppung," the type of abduction charged, since the "injured party wasn't facing political persecution." Even then, the ruling continued, it wouldn't have qualified as "Verschleppung" if there was "danger that the foreign state would ... resort to means which are unacceptable from a legal point of view and which would endanger the victim in life and limb." Observers of Germany's justice system have long been aware of in-fighting between the court division responsible for state security and the Federal Prosecutor's Office. The ruling on Khurt's case, sources with knowledge of the investigation say, was not only "removed from reality," but also "counterproductive."
Upon arrival in Ulan Bator two weeks ago, the long-detained secret agent was met by TV teams, and the deputy foreign minister shook his hand. British newsmagazine The Economist commented wryly that many in Mongolia likely believe Khurt's release "is a goodwill gesture intended to smooth Mrs. Merkel's way" during her upcoming visit.

Source:www.spiegel.de

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Chechen terrorist leader talks about Mongols as destroyers of Muslim community in middle century

Extremist  Chechen terrorist leader Doku Umarov fighting with Russians in Caucasus mountains used example of Mongols in the middle century for his appeal to other Chechen terrorists.
This was published in Kavkazcenter.com news site of the Chechen terrorists .

This shows Mongols delivered lethal blow to Muslim world and it is  not forgotten after many centuries.



"
We make appeal for the death of those who fell for the sake of Allah, that Sharia be established in their countries and that Muslims realize the truth and follow it.
 
Not once has the Islamic Ummah, or Community, experienced difficulties in their history. And it always occurred when the Muslims were divided. At the time of the Mongols, the first one to fall was Khorezm Shah. Neither the Abbasid Caliphate nor Egypt has offered him assistance.
 
The Mongols destroyed the caliphate. The Caliph himself was killed. Muslims went into panic. Mullahs and corrupt scholars of the time, like today, carried out their bastard work. They argued that the Mongols were Ya'juj and Ma'juj (Gog and Magog). No way to fight against them, we should wait for the coming of Prophet Isa (peace be upon him) in prayer that God would respond and destroy both Gog and Magog. Having heard such opinions, many Muslim armies just fled in order not to engage in battle with the Mongols.
 
The Mongolian army numbered 100,000 men, and their maximal number reached 150,000. However, they killed about 10 million Muslims.
 
At that difficult time, the Egyptian Muslims, who remained in such small numbers that if they died, the religion of Islam could disappear, showed Iman, or faith, on the will of God, resilience and courage. They fought against the Mongols, defeated them and saved the religion of Allah.
 
The enemies are trying to distort this fact (I recall it specifically to our brothers in Egypt that they would not forget their true heroic history) and to spread the worship of filthy Egyptian pharaohs among the Muslims.
 
Fitnah, or split, existed in the past, also exists today. However, we are continuing the Jihad, God's willing, because it has been entrusted to us by Allah.
 
And those Muslims who are not following the jihad (may Allah save us from that), or do not intend to pursue it will die as hypocrites."


By:Research unit of Mongolianviews

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Mongolia Relaunching Key Mining Talks Later This Month

By SIMON HALL

BEIJING–Mongolia is relaunching talks with international miners on developing its huge Tavan Tolgoi coking coal reserves following the controversial award of a contract in July and its cancellation just two months later.
Negotiations, which are set to kick off later this month, will include Japanese and Korean companies excluded from the July deal to develop the western half of the block, but hammering out a pact could take many months, government and company officials say.
The goal, said one Mongolian official familiar with the situation, is to award the contracts before Mongolian parliamentary elections in June. Failure to reach a deal could hinder plans for a multibillion dollar international initial public offering of the eastern portion of the mine slated for next year.
"We also need to keep the interest of Russian, Chinese, U.S. and now the Japanese and Koreans...we are now going slow on it and the previous announcements... don't hold anymore," he said.
Any eventual deal will need to accommodate increasing resource nationalism ahead of the elections, the need to satisfy neighboring Russia and China's demands and pressure from countries and companies that were excluded in early rounds of bidding.
In July, the Mongolian government awarded the rights to develop the western half of Tavan Tolgoi to China's Shenhua Energy Co. with a 40% stake, Peabody Energy Corp. with 24% and a Mongolia-Russia consortium, which got 36%.
In exchange they were to invest billions of dollars to extract the site's estimated 7.5 billion tons of coking coal reserves, an essential ingredient in steel making.
The deposit is 270 kilometers from the Mongolia-China border, and proposals had included transport links to China and Russia's Trans-Siberia railway network to allow the coal to be exported.
The July decision prompted protests from the governments in Seoul and Tokyo, as it excluded Japanese and Korean companies which had originally bid in consortia including the Russian and Chinese partners which got the deal in July. Japan's government is pressing Mongolia to include Japanese companies in a new contract, although some feel Mongolia's demand that all bidders to contribute to new rail infrastructure and not only get offtake deals are excessive, two Japanese executives said.
Companies which had been in the original Russia-South Korea-Japan consortium include state-run Korea Resources Corp. or Kores, Korea Electric Power Corp., steel giant Posco, Daewoo International Corp., LG International Corp. and Japanese companies Itochu Corp., Sumitomo Corp., Marubeni Corp. and Sojitz Corp.
One of the people said Mongolia will invite all companies originally short-listed to the talks in Ulan Bator, including all the members of a Russia-Japan-South Korea consortium.
Also, companies that are not being offered a chance to re-bid, such as Vale SA and ArcelorMittal, are complaining to the Mongolian government "so there is a chance that the whole process could start again from scratch...so this could take many months to sort out," one person said. Shenhua originally bid the contract in combination with Mitsui & Co.
Mongolia recently said it wanted to revise a 2009 contract with Ivanhoe mines Ltd., in which Rio Tinto PLC has 48.5%, to develop its Oyu Tolgoi copper reserve, by immediately increasing its stake to 50% from the current 34%. That request, which Mongolia on Thursday suddenly dropped, underscores the domestic pressures driving prime minister Sukhbaatar Batbold's efforts to get better deals for Mongolia's tiny, poor, but resource-rich population.
"We expected the Government to resolve the [Oyu Tolgoi] situation, but we did not expect this to happen so quickly and swiftly. Which is a great response to restore the confidence of investors in Mongolia," said Dale Choi, chief investment strategist at Ulan Batar-based investment bank Frontier Securities.
The delays could further delay the already complex multi-billion dollar IPO slated for London, Hong Kong and the Mongolian capital some time in 2012, as the contract miners are supposed to pay royalties to Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi, according to a person familiar with the matter. Erdenes TT is a unit of the Mongolian state-run company which owns the project.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due in Mongolia next week to sign a strategic energy agreement, although this isn't believed to be directly involved with the Tavan Tolgoi process, a Mongolian official said.
—Alison Tudor in Hong Kong, Min-Jeong Lee in Seoul, Mari Iwata in Tokyo and P.R. Venkat in Singapore contributed to this article

Source:Wall Street Journal

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Germany's Merkel plans first visit to Mongolia

Berlin - Angela Merkel will be the first German chancellor to visit Mongolia when she heads to Asia for a three-day visit next week, officials in Berlin said Friday.
Merkel, who will be accompanied by a delegation of businessmen, will also be visiting Vietnam, where she plans to meet with Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Tan Dung on Tuesday. The day will also include meetings with religious leaders, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Friday.
On Wednesday, she is set to fly to Ho Chi Minh City and meet with student groups before traveling to Ulan Bator, in Mongolia.
In Mongolia she is expected to meet both President Tsakhia Elbegdorj and Prime Minister Skuhbaatar Batbold as well as members of civic organizations.
A talk with Mongolian members of the ISAF contingent in Afghanistan, as well as with their German trainers, is also on the agenda.

Source:Deutsche Press Agentur

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Joint Statement by the Government of Mongolia, Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto

1. Ivanhoe Mines, Rio Tinto and the Government of Mongolia have concluded discussions on the two aspects of the Investment Agreement that were raised by the Government of Mongolia, and are pleased to confirm that all parties have reaffirmed their continued support for the Investment Agreement.


2. The Government of Mongolia has once again confirmed that the Investment Agreement was signed in full compliance with all laws and regulations of Mongolia.


3. Since the signing of the Investment Agreement, Mongolia has achieved international stature as one of the countries most attractive to foreign investment. Mongolia"s economy has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world.  The people of Mongolia are reaping great benefit from the construction of Oyu Tolgoi project and stand to benefit even more when project becomes operational.


4. The Investment Agreement has also formed the basis for the construction of Oyu Tolgoi, which recently passed the 50% completion mark and is expected to begin initial production during the third quarter of next year. To reach this point, 2.6 billion USD have been invested by Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto and significant amount have been committed to bring Oyu Tolgoi into production.


5. Section 15.30 of the Investment Agreement provides that "Upon mutual consent recorded in writing, the Parties may amend or modify this Agreement". Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto acknowledge that the Government of Mongolia acted in accordance with this provision of the Investment Agreement in seeking to discuss these changes. Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto respect the position of the Government of Mongolia and appreciate their continued support for the Investment Agreement.


6. The shareholders are united in their commitment to secure the necessary project finance and bring the Oyu Tolgoi Project to completion and full production for the benefit of the nation of Mongolia. All stakeholders: investors, lenders, employees, contractors, civil society and local communities can have full confidence in the future of Oyu Tolgoi.

Source:Oyu Tolgoi LLC

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Ivanhoe Mines overreliant on a benevolent Mongolia

By

PIERRE FOURNIER

Investors should consider last week’s events in Mongolia as a warning shot for the long-term geopolitical risks associated with Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.’s (IVN-T15.540.946.44%)massive copper and gold project in Mongolia.
The Mongolian government’s brazen attempt to renegotiate the terms of ownership of the Oyu Tolgoi mine comes less than two years after a formal agreement was reached with Ivanhoe, following six years of tumultuous negotiations. The $6-billion project is only half completed and is not scheduled to start production before the first half of 2013.

At some level, the government’s power play to squeeze a few more nuggets out of Ivanhoe and project partner Rio Tinto is another classic case of resource nationalism. A poor country, rich in resources, and with an election looming next year, is being promised by politicians from both major parties that they can and should expect more from the mining companies. In the short term, the showdown is unlikely to lead to either a full-blown renegotiation of the contract or a significant hit to shareholders. But a few face-saving “concessions” to the Mongolian government cannot be ruled out.
At a more fundamental level, the illusion that Mongolia is an independent country runs up against some very harsh geopolitical realities. Landlocked between Russia and China, it is highly dependant on both, principally the latter. China ruled Mongolia for 300 years until independence in 1911, and many Chinese still consider it a breakaway republic. Between 1921 and 1990, the Mongolian People’s Republic was part of the Soviet empire and relied on the USSR for military protection, massive loans and aid, and most of its trade.
With the breakup of the Soviet Union, China rapidly became Mongolia’s largest trading partner and source of foreign direct investment (40 per cent of total). More than 75 per cent of Mongolia’s exports are destined for China, which is also the source of some 30 per cent of its imports, including machinery and equipment, food products, chemicals and industrial consumer goods. In addition to mining, China is heavily involved in infrastructure projects such as power stations, roads and railways. Mongolia was also given access to China’s Tianjin Port – a critical necessity for a landlocked country trying to access other foreign markets.
Most if not all of Oyu Tolgoi’s production will go to China, which consumes 50 per cent of the world’s copper. The project will also rely on the electricity from a power plant currently being built in China.
Over the next few years, the Ivanhoe project could end up as collateral damage in the event of any deterioration in economic and political relations between China and the West. Western political leaders are already sounding increasingly protectionist tones. This week, for example, the U.S. Senate voted in favour of a bill aimed at tackling China’s “predatory currency practices,” and the bipartisan support for the bill did not go unnoticed by Beijing.
While Mongolia is concerned about its growing dependence on China, and while it has revitalized its relations with Russia, it will continue to sit squarely within China’s sphere of influence as there is very little it can do to branch out. The United States has understandably chosen to remain on the sidelines, and Canada will not be of much assistance in protecting Ivanhoe’s interests.
Over the course of the 30-year agreement (and the additional 20-year option) between Ivanhoe and the Mongolian government, requests to renegotiate the terms of the deal can be expected on a regular basis. And there are many other ways Mongolia (with some encouragement from its powerful neighbours) can extract more juice from the mine and undermine shareholder value, such as new regulatory requirements (labour and environmental standards, water use, social and infrastructure needs, and so on). The Russians, among others, have shown how easy it is to drive out powerful oil multinationals without expropriations or explicit violations of contracts.
Ivanhoe is not a long-term player in Oyu Tolgoi, and will bail out long before the end of its contract. Many companies have successfully exited risky jurisdictions at the right time, with solid rewards for their shareholders. Others have overstayed their welcome. Ultimately, a successful exit strategy for Ivanhoe will depend on its ability to navigate Mongolia’s turbulent and risky geopolitical environment.
Pierre Fournier is a geopolitical analyst with National Bank Financial in Montreal.

Source:Globe and Mail newspaper of Canada

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Ivanhoe, Rio Reject Mongolian Bid to Change Oyu Tolgoi Deal

Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group, the world's second-largest mining company, rejected an approach by Mongolia to increase the country's 34 percent stake in the $10 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper mine.

Both companies got a letter from the Mongolian cabinet last week inviting them to discuss changes to the investment agreement, which included lifting the government's stake by an additional 16 percent and changes to royalties, Vancouver-based Ivanhoe said yesterday in a statement.

The approach comes after Rio Tinto is already in dispute with Guinea over the Simandou iron ore deposit and highlights risks for investors as countries seek greater control of raw materials. So-called resource nationalism is the biggest business risk for global mining companies, Ernst & Young LLP said in August.

"It's the continuing theme of governments changing the goalposts after the investment has been made," said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage about $1.1 billion at Platypus Asset Management Ltd. in Sydney. "As an investor in these countries and these projects you have to expect and demand a higher return compensating for the higher risk that is now inherent in these things."

Ivanhoe fell 6.6 percent to C$13.49 in Toronto to close at the lowest since July 6, 2010, yesterday. London-based Rio Tinto, which owns 49 percent of Ivanhoe, dropped 0.9 percent to A$58.77 at 10:15 a.m. in Sydney after plunging 4.1 percent yesterday.

"Ivanhoe Mines expects that the parties will continue to honor and implement the terms of the agreement as previously negotiated and has asked the government to affirm its full support for the agreement," the company said.

Mozambique, Guinea

Rio Tinto is facing similar government moves in Mozambique and Guinea, where the company owns the proposed $10 billion Simandou iron ore project in a joint venture with Aluminum Corp. of China. Lawmakers in Guinea on Sept. 9 adopted a mining code that will hand the nation 35 percent of local commodity companies.

Both Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe have sent written responses to members of the government's National Security Council which includes the president and prime minister, Ivanhoe said.

"The letters also cautioned that the government's actions could seriously undermine the confidence that international investors have in Mongolia's future as a safe and stable country in which to invest," Ivanhoe said.

Copper Prices

Oyu Tolgoi, 66 percent owned by Ivanhoe, is halfway through completion and will be one of the world's five-biggest copper mines, according to Rio Tinto, which is managing development. Copper prices in London reached a record high in February this year, before declining due to concerns over demand amid sluggish global growth.

"This sort of thing prolongs the cycle a lot longer because the commitment for the investment to bring on new supply will not be there amongst the board members," said Platypus Asset's Patkar. "You don't want to sanction a $10 billion investment in a place like Guinea or the Democratic Republic of Congo when you know you may get nothing back or you may lose half the equity to the government."

A group of 20 Mongolian lawmakers wrote to Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold on Sept. 7 demanding the Oyu Tolgoi accord be revised to give the country a 50 percent holding, China's Xinhua News Agency said Sept. 20.

Oyu Tolgoi, which means "turquoise hill," will boost the country's gross domestic product by 30 percent by 2020, when it reaches full production, Andrew Harding, chief executive officer of Rio Tinto's copper unit, said at a Sept 24. briefing.

--Editors: Andrew Hobbs, Tim Smith

To contact the reporters on this story: Jesse Riseborough in London at jriseborough@bloomberg.net; Elisabeth Behrmann in Sydney at ebehrmann1@bloomberg.net

Source:Bloomberg news service

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Inner Mongolia: Mongolian Rights Activist Is Believed To Have Been Severely Beaten By Authorities

ovruud Huuchinhuu, a writer and advocate for equal rights and the preservation of Mongolian culture, who has been missing since January 27th, is believed to have been severely beaten while being held by Chinese authorities.

Below is an article by Radio Free Asia:

An ethnic Mongolian dissident writer has been subjected to repeated harassment and beatings by authorities while in detention in northern China, according to new photos obtained by a Mongolian rights group.

The New York-based Southern Mongolia Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) said in a statement Thursday that it had received new information showing Govruud Huuchinhuu, a former activist in the 1981 Mongolian student movement, with severe bruising on her face and arms.

“SMHRIC obtained a written communication and new photos dated from July 20 to July 30, 2011, showing that Ms. Huuchinhuu Govruud … was frequently beaten by police from the Tongliao city Horchin district Public Security Bureau in eastern [Inner] Mongolia,” the statement said.

Huuchinhuu has been held in Tongliao city under “enforced disappearance” since Jan. 27, when she was released from the hospital following treatment for a stroke.

SMHRIC said Huuchinhuu, an activist and member of the banned Southern Mongolia Democratic Alliance (SMDA), is shown in a photo dated July 20 with a swollen contusion on her forehead, which was “likely caused by a blow from a baton.”

It said fresh bruises on her elbow and the area surrounding her eyes on photos dated July 22, 23, and 30 suggest “she had been beaten multiple times within an interval of 10 days.”

An officer who answered the phone at the Horchin district Public Security Bureau said he had no knowledge of Huuchinhuu being brought to the station.

“We have received no news of the missing person and she has never been detained at our facilities,” the officer said.

Members of Huuchinhuu’s family could not be reached by phone.

Huuchinhuu was placed under house arrest on Nov. 11 last year after a brief detention by the Tongliao city Public Security Bureau for rallying Mongols online to gather and show their support for SMDA chief Hada on his expected release from prison.

Hada, who completed a 15-year jail term for “splittism” and “espionage” on Dec. 10 last year, is believed to have been released, but later taken into custody again with his wife and son.

During her house arrest, Huuchinhuu had extremely limited access to the outside world. Her Internet and phone lines were cut off by authorities and more than 20 police in two vehicles guarded her home 24 hours a day.

Huuchinhuu was admitted to the hospital under round-the-clock police guard in late December, but suffered from severe headaches for more than a month before being given medicine to temporarily relieve her pain.

She was believed to have been released from the hospital on Jan. 27 and immediately placed into police detention.

In a November interview, Huuchinhuu said she had not been presented with any legal documents during her arrest.

The U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China said at the time that Huuchinhuu's house arrest “may have amounted to a form of home confinement that lacks basis in Chinese law.”

Huuchinhuu is an active member of the SMDA, an ethnic Mongolian organization that seeks the protection of Mongolian culture, language, and identity, and eventual independence from Chinese rule.

She has written two books dealing with the problems faced by China’s ethnic Mongolians, and hundreds of political essays.

Both of her books, The Stone-hearted Tree and Silent Stone, were recently banned by the Chinese authorities and withdrawn from bookstores.

Huuchinhuu is also a keen advocate of press freedom, helping to run a number of online Mongolian discussion forums, all of which have now been shut down for posting "separatist content" and “discussing ethnic problems."

In August 2007, she was deemed a “possible threat to the national interest and state security of China” after applying for a passport to travel to Mongolia. Her passport application was rejected and she was informed by the Tongliao Public Security Bureau that she could not travel abroad for five years.

Source:www.unpo.org

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Inner-Mongolian Throat Singers Take the Stage

By Benjamin Soloway, Features Editor

Last Friday, Inner Mongolia’s AnDa Union played a vigorous fusion of songs from various steppe traditions for a full house at Crowell Concert Hall. They succeeded in tearing the roof off the building.
AnDa Union, a tight-knit group of ten musicians, has a mission: to preserve and breathe new life into traditional Mongolian music, which has survived, like the rest of Mongolian culture, for thousands of years through the oral traditions of the nomadic peoples who now occupy Mongolia (Outer Mongolia), Inner Mongolia (a massive province in northern China), and Tuva (a region of Russia).
on stage and relaying their musical influences to foreign audiences.” Genghis Khan’s grandson Kublai, by the year 1260 BCE—just two generations after his grandfather first united the tribes of the steppe—ruled over an empire that reached from the east coast of China to the gates of Vienna. Today, Mongolian culture lives on in Mongolia, China, Russia, and in immigrant communities across Europe. If groups like AnDa Union continue to make music, the culture will live for another thousand years still.
In Mongolian, “Anda” means “blood brother or sister.” According to the group’s official profile, “Anda is more important than a birth brother as you choose a person to become anda, a life-long blood brother. AnDa Union is a brotherhood of Andas.”
Traditional Mongolian music is based on a unique vocal capability: throat singing, or “khoomii”—a form of guttural chant, the practitioners of which are able to produce simultaneously as many as four distinct vocal tones through the manipulation of resonances. Nearly impossible for most people to learn, the sound is otherworldly and enthralling.
The Union members’ English is close to nonexistent, but the music spoke for itself. The band is a non-western chamber orchestra of sorts, but their instruments (morin huur, or “horse-head fiddle”—a sonorous two-string instrument that sounds like a cross between a viola and cello—along with other two-string instruments, drums, a percussion instrument made out of vertebrae, and a reed flute) take a back seat to the singing, which is the heart of the music.
The band’s dynamic sound had the audience enthralled, if a room full of stunned, open mouths is any indication. The final song, “Galloping Horses,” evoked a frenzied stampede that sent concertgoers stumbling, crazed and uplifted, out into the night.
Horses are central to Mongolian grassland culture. So is Genghis Khan (or “Chinggis,” if you want to speak correctly, according to the band’s profile). And the songs had plenty of room for the Great Kahn and the beasts that bore his armies. But there was also room for love, loss, and everyday storytelling—not that I could understand any of it.
On Saturday morning, the band held a small throat singing workshop in the World Music Hall. A few students came close to producing the distinctive sounds. All I did was hurt my throat.
After the Union had left town for a show in Boston, I caught up with Andrew Colwell, a graduate student studying Mongolian throat singing in the ethnomusicology department.
“I think it’s really important to promote a more complete understanding of what Mongolian music is, or what music from another culture is,” he said. “And that ties into a general need for better intercultural understanding across the board.”
Colwell lived in Mongolia for several years, teaching English and learning to throat sing. He enjoyed the concert, partially because it presented an opportunity to speak Mongolian again.
“[AnDa Union is] damn good,” he said. “They’re very attuned to being on stage and relaying their musical influences to foreign audiences.”
Genghis Khan’s grandson Kublai, by the year 1260 BCE—just two generations after his grandfather first united the tribes of the steppe—ruled over an empire that reached from the east coast of China to the gates of Vienna. Today, Mongolian culture lives on in Mongolia, China, Russia, and in immigrant communities across Europe. If groups like AnDa Union continue to make music, the culture will live for another thousand years still.


Source:wesleyanargus.com

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Director General of NATO International Military Staff meets senior officials in Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), 29 Sep 2011 - Lieutenant General Juergen Bornemann, Director General International Military Staff (DG IMS), concluded a three-day visit to Mongolia’s capital today at the invitation of the Mongolian Minister of Defence.

During the visit, Lt Gen Bornemann and the delegation from NATO  HQ  had the opportunity to meet with the Presidency and the Security Council of Mongolia, as well to visit the Mongolian Institute of Strategic Studies.
The programme included meetings with H.E. Luvsanvandan Bold, Minister of Defence, Mr Surenkhuui Baasankhuu, Vice Minister of Defence, and Lt.Gen. Tserendejid Byambajav, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Mongolia and Mr. Ulziisaikhan Enktushvin, Secretary of the National Security Council.
This visit reinforced NATO’s ongoing engagement with Mongolia. In particular, LtGen Bornemann took the opportunity to discuss NATO-Mongolian cooperation at the strategic level and Mongolia’s current and future involvement in international crisis management.
Mongolia’s contribution to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan was also discussed and Mongolia’s intention to increase its contingent was welcomed by DGIMS. 
Current threats and security challenges were also covered, including cyber attacks and terrorism as well as the current global financial crisis and its effects on defence planning.
LtGen Bornemann also met with Brigadier General Boldbaatar Zagdsuren, the Director of the Defense University of Mongolia, where DGIMS was invited to a deliver a speech to the directing staff, in which he gave an overview on the current NATO agenda.


Source:www.nato.int

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