Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/  MONTSAME, National News Agency names top 10 events happened in the country throughout the year of 2018.

1.    Expansion of North-East Asian Super Grid proposed

This year, the President of Mongolia Kh.Battulga attended four international forums including 18^th Expanded-format Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and World Investment Forum and put some proposals.

In particular, President Kh.Battulga proposed to set up a joint working group to establish North-East Asian Super Grid when attending the 4^th Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok, the Russian Federation on September 11-13 and  the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in Belgium.   

2.    Prime Minister visits four countries 

This year, Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh paid official visits to the Republic of Korea, People’s Republic of China, the United States of America and Japan and signed important agreements to develop socio-economy.

Specifically, the PM visited the Republic of Korea on January 15-17 where he signed general loan agreement on soft loan worth USD500 million to be issued within the International Monetary Fund.  When he visited China on April 8-12, the PM agreed to receive soft loan worth 300 million for renovating the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

During his official visit to the USA in September this year Mr. Khurelsukh signed the Second Mongolia MCC Compact of USD350 million.

Furthermore, he visited Japan on December 12-15, where he agreed to receive ‘Fiscal, Social and Economic Reform Development Policy Loan /II/’ within the framework of Extended Fund Facility of the International Monetary Fund. It will be spent on constructional works.

3. Construction of the first oil refinery launches

Construction works of the first oil refinery and the overpass near the Traffic Police Department started this year with hope of resolving some of the pressing issues of Mongolia.

With funding of USD 1 billion from the Government of India, construction of oil refinery in Altanshiree soum of Dornogobi aimag began on June 22, 2018. The refinery, planned for completion in 2022, will meet 30 percent of domestic need of fuel alone by processing 1.2 million tons of oil, extracted in Tamsag field annually. The refinery is considered as strategically important as the national economy will become relatively independent from fuel imports and fuel and commodity prices will be stabilized. 

Furthermore, construction of New Yarmag Bridge and restoration of old bridge in Khan-Uul district were completed and the New Yarmag bridge was commissioned on November 2. The project was funded with soft loan of USD 30 million from the Chinese Government. Construction of the overpass near the Traffic Police Department launched in June, 2018 with soft loan of USD 42.3 million. The overpass in the downtown is expected to reduce traffic jam in the capital city.

4. B.Gangaamaa conquers Mount K2 summit

On July 21, State Honored Athlete of Mongolia, mountaineer Gangaamaa Badamgarav successfully conquered the summit of K2 Mountain (8166 meters), the second highest peak in the world. The third attempt of Mongolian mountaineers to reach summit of K2 Mountain, known as the Savage Mountain, was accomplished and B.Gangaamaa became the very first Mongolian to obtain triumph.

A total of 337 mountaineers conquered summit of the mountain since the first successful climbing by Italian mountaineers Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli in 1954. Unfortunately, 84 mountaineers lost their lives during the climbing.

5. Representatives of 50 countries exchanged disaster risk reduction experience

A total of 50 countries and over 3000 representatives of international and non-governmental organizations participated in the second Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, co-organized by the Government of Mongolia and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), held in Ulaanbaatar on July 3-6.

At the conference the stakeholders discussed achievements and challenges of their disaster prevention activities, adopting the ‘Asia Regional plan for Implementation of the Sendai Framework for DRR 2018-2020’, ‘Ulaanbaatar Declaration’ and ‘Statement of Voluntary Commitment of Stakeholders’.

Within the framework of the outcome documents, the countries are committed to develop disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategy and plan, increase financial resources for DRR and improve institutional capacity for regional and cross-border disaster risk control by 2020.

6.Mongolian artists acknowledged by the world

One of the perfect examples that Mongolian talents are being acknowledged throughout the world is Mongolian baritones G.Ariunbaatar and E.Amartuvshin, followed by Ch.Badral and E.Ankhbayar.

As for baritone Ch.Badral, he won the Golden Star-2018 prize at the Chigiana International Competition 2018 for opera singers, hosted by the Chigiana Academy. Cash prize worth EUR 12 thousand was given to the winner along with the opportunity to perform in the part of Giorgio Germont in La Traviata in the Sferisterio Macerata Arena between the end of July and the first ten days of August.

Moreover, at the threshold of a new year, another Mongolian baritone E.Ankhbayar won the first place in categories of opera and romance at the Rimsky-Korsakov International Competition of Young Opera Singers, which took place on December 13-19.

7. Visits of Sergei Shoigu, Wang Yi and Ri Yong-ho to Mongolia

In 2018, Mongolia received many guests including the Prime Minister of Turkey, the Defense Minister of Germany as well as the Minister of Home Affairs of India. Of these, visits of Defense Minister of the Russia S.Shoigu, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of China Wang Yi and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Ri Yong-ho were of wider scope and great importance.

State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Wang Yi officially visited Mongolia on August 23-25, getting acquainted with construction process of the Development Center for children with disabilities being constructed with USD 30 million grant from the Government of China. He also attended an opening ceremony of a project to build a new Wastewater Treatment Plant of Ulaanbaatar city with the soft loan worth USD 300 million of the Government of China.

Defense Minister of the Russian Federation, Army General S.Shoigu made an official visit to Mongolia on October 18. During his visit, Mr. Shoigu signed Long Term Program on Development of bilateral relations in defense sector and military cooperation and attended a handover ceremony of the military equipment provided by the Russian Ministry of Defense to the Mongolian Armed Forces.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Ri Yong-ho paid a visit to Mongolia on December 8-9, having talks with Foreign Minister D.Tsogtbaatar on cooperation possibilities in socio-economic sectors and they reaffirmed the two countries position for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

8.Ancient well discovered in Ordu-Baliq citadel

The ancient well at the capital of Ordu-Baliq of the ancient Uyghur Empire in the 8^th-9^th century, which was discovered in the frameworks of the Orkhon project, that the Institute of History and Archeology at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, the Archeology and Anthropology Department of the National University of Mongolia and the Institute of Archeology of Germany has been jointly implementing since 2007, is considered as one of the rarest archeological discoveries of this year.

Providing the palace with water during the 8^th-9^th century, the well’s discovery was the first for this type of structure to be found from the remains of nomadic settlements during the Ancient and Middle Age periods. At the bottom of the 12-meter-deep wall, there was not only water, but also various artifacts that were well-preserved, such as a bronze bell that had inscription in ancient Chinese, pieces of a marble lion statue as well as two broken wood poles coated in black lac with finely engraved patterns of pine needle and plants.

9.         Credit rating upgraded and banking sector assets reached MNT 30 trillion

Standard & Poor’s upgraded Mongolia’s long-term credit rating from “B-” to “B” on November 9, 2018. The transfer and convertibility assessment was changed from “B” to “B+” and the short-term credit rating remains unchanged at “B”. It was influenced by development of the country’s financial market. Specifically, total assets of the banking sector surpassed MNT 30 trillion for the first time.

This year, a total of five banks increased their assets by MNT 140 billion, of which Khan Bank’s active asset reached MNT 8 trillion.

Trading value of the Mongolian Stock Exchange, which was MNT 1.2 trillion in 2015, reached MNT 2 trillion 398 billion with IPO issuances of ‘LendMN’, ‘Mongol Basalt’, ‘Ard Daatgal’ and ‘Mandal Daatgal’.

In addition, according to the Resolution of the Parliament and the Cabinet, a decision to issue IPO and trade up to 30 percent of ‘Erenes Tavan Tolgoi’ shares on international markets was made. The Cabinet instructed the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry and the relevant agencies to study the trade opportunities of the Tavan Tolgoi shares on the Hong Kong and New York Stock Exchanges. It is estimated that the trade of 30 percent of Tavan Tolgoi shares will accumulate USD 1.5-6 billion.

10.Mongolian surgeon’s skills recognized globally

General Director of the National Cancer Center, Medical Doctor, surgeon J.Chinburen became an honorary member of the French Academy of Surgery, globally recognized for his skills as a Mongolian surgeon in January.

When electing its new honorary member, the French Academy of Surgery considers the nominees’ new methods of treatment they introduced as well as their original scientific works and discoveries. Dr. Chinburen is a skilled surgeon, who has been introducing French surgical methods and equipment since 2004, specializing in pancreatic cancer.

Previously, from Asia, the Honorary title was received by Masatoshi Makuuchi of Japan and Thanh Tung of Vietnam.