Mongolia group on LinkedIn

On LinkedIn, I created the Mongolia group.

I invite everyone from or with an interest in Mongolia to join this group. I know a lot of you are already on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is about building your network. So that sounds like a good reason to join the Mongolia group.

And it doesn't matter if you're a from Mongolia or a tourist who his heart to the country. Or whether you do business there, work there, are a volunteer with the Peace Corps there. Or whether you just like Mongolia. You are all welcome! So, join me in the Mongolia group.

Find more postings on Mongolia on the Shards of Photography blog.

What micro loans miss

People who know me (or have visited the Shards of Photography blog regularly) know that I'm quite interested in micro finance and what it can do to better the lives of people around the world.

Over the past few years I've heard of the debacles early on in the existence of micro finance, the stories of failed projects and insolvent micro financiers, the high amount of non-recoverable loans, etc. And in the past few years how this financial niche has grown to become mature, stable and effective and, most of all, how micro finance is hugely successful combating poverty.

However much that may be true, the What microloans miss article in the New Yorker opened my eyes to a new reality.

There's no doubt that microfinance does a tremendous amount of good, yet there are also real limits to what it can accomplish. Microloans make poor borrowers better off. But, on their own, they often don't do much to make poor countries richer.

This isn't because microloans don't work; it's because of how they work. The idealized view of microfinance is that budding entrepreneurs use the loans to start and grow businesses - expanding operations, boosting inventory, and so on. The reality is more complicated. Microloans are often used to "smooth consumption" - tiding a borrower over in times of crisis. They're also, as Karol Boudreaux and Tyler Cowen point out in a recent paper, often used for non-business expenses, such as a child's education. It's less common to find them used to fund major business expansions or to hire new employees. In part, this is because the loans can be very small - frequently as little as fifty or a hundred dollars - and generally come with very high interest rates, often above thirty or forty per cent. But it's also because most microbusinesses aren't looking to take on more workers. The vast majority have only one paid employee: the owner. As the economist Jonathan Morduch has put it, microfinance "rarely generates new jobs for others."

This matters, because businesses that can generate jobs for others are the best hope of any country trying to put a serious dent in its poverty rate. Sustained economic growth requires companies that can make big investments - building a factory, say - and that can exploit the economies of scale that make workers more productive and, ultimately, richer. Microfinance evangelists sometimes make it sound as if, in an ideal world, everyone would own his own business. "All people are entrepreneurs," Muhammad Yunus has said. But in any successful economy most people aren't entrepreneurs — they make a living by working for someone else.

I found this notion really interesting. It means there's more to do when it comes to micro finance than just promote it and facilitate it. The next step seems to be to take micro finance up a level and get the micro entrepreneur to become a macro entrepreneur. I know it can happen. Oikocredit, amongst others, takes justified pride in the success stories where a single micro entrepreneur builds a thriving company with 1-5-10-dozens of employees and a $100K turn-over. But these success stories are, as we all should realise, only the really big success stories. But what about all those other micro loaners - who really do pay back their loans? According to the New Yorker article they don't build companies with more than 1 employee... the owner. Why is that? And how, if micro finance is to help build national economies, can we change it? For me those are interesting questions and answers. I hope the questions will be posed more often and more urgently. I hope the answers will come sooner rather than later.

Find more postings on Mongolia on the Shards of Photography blog.

Mongolia Group on LinkedIn

Shards of Mongolia created the Mongolia Group on LinkedIn.

The Mongolia Group is a LinkedIn group for everyone with a connection with or an interest in Mongolia: Mongolian citizens, expats, business people, educators, photographers, social work, travellers, etc.

You're invited to join the Mongolia Group on LinkedIn. Joining will allow you to find and contact other Mongolia Group members on LinkedIn. The goal of this group is to help members:

* Reach other members of the Mongolia Group
* Accelerate careers/business through referrals from Mongolia Group members
* Know more than a name – view rich professional profiles from fellow Mongolia Group members

Here's the link to join: Mongolia Group on LinkedIn.

Hope to see you in the group,

— The Mongolia Group Team

BTW. Find more postings on Mongolia on the Shards of Photography blog.

Happy Tsagaan Sar

Find more postings on Mongolia on the Shards of Photography blog.

In the meantime... Happy Tsagaan Sar!

More Mongolia on Shards of Photography blog

Find more postings on Mongolia on the Shards of Photography blog.

Changes

It's been more than a year since I last posted anything here. Reasons? Many.

Anyway, I'm going to change the way I approach this blog.

First of all, I'm not going to report on Mongolian news anymore. At least not on a regular basis. There are far better places for that, that put much more time and effort in it than I ever can or want.

Secondly, my passion is photography and photography will be the most influential angle for my ramblings on Mongolia. That means that most postings on Mongolia will appear on the Shards of Photography blog.

And last but not least, most postings will happen when I've had the chance to visit Mongolia again. I don't have unlimited resources of money and time, so be prepared to find long gaps between my visits to Mongolia. Alas.

However, I'm always available to answer any questions, respond to any recommendations or remarks, or make suggestions you ask for. Just leave a comment on this blog or contact me by email.

Mongolia wins medals at Asian Games

Mongolian athletes have won two gold, three silver, one bronze (judo wrestling) and other one bronze (shooting team) at the Doha-2006 15th Asian Games.

Boxing athletes have satisfied the conditions of one silver and two bronze medals.

Thus, Mongolian athletes have had a total of ten medals.

The boxers E. Badar-UUgan (54 kg) and U. Munkh-Erdene (60 kg) will play for silver medals even for gold medals. Other boxer Z. Enkhzorig (57 kg) will compete with an athlete from the Republic of Korea for the champion of the Asian Games.

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Photo exhibition on human rights opened

For the International Human Rights Day, a photo exhibition has jointly been featured by the National Commission on Human Rights and non-government and public organizations, which are acting in this sector.

In particular, the Gender Equality Center has earmarked its exhibits to the topics Prevent yourself from sexual violence, the National Center against Violence - Ward of violence in family, and the Center of Children's Rights - Children free from hard labor.

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Shards of Mongolia http://shardsofmongolia.blogspot.com/

WTO essay writing contest announced

The tenth anniversary of Mongolia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is taking place on January 29, 2007.

On the occasion of the jubilee celebration, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has announced an essay-writing contest among the third and fourth courses' students of trade and economic higher schools.

The contest with an award fund of Tg 500 thousand aims to raise knowledge of students on the WTO and supporting their intellectual works.

Students who have an interest to participate in the competition could write an essay on advantages of the WTO and multilateral trade agreements, results achieved by Mongolia by using the multilateral agreements, positive influences of Mongolia's accession to the WTO and ways of developing the national production within the scope of the WTO agreements.

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Hydro trials in Mongolia

Trial operations have begun at a 960kW capacity hydro power station on the Uyench river in Khovd aimag, Mongolia.

The station - developed by the Khovd Tulga company - has the capacity to supply energy to the Uyench, Bulgan and Altai soums of the aimag.

The station will be put into permanent use after review by a working commission of the State Professional Control Authority.

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Government has to be transparent

MonInfo reports:

The Open Society Forum organized a forum called "Government's transparency: Social wealth allocation" yesterday [December 7, 2006] in order to assess activities implemented by the government and citizens, to define difficulties and to discuss ways of further implementation. The Mongolian government, civic society and representatives from local and international businesses have participated in the forum and discussed numerous important subject areas, including: transparency which is a peer principle of democracy, legal and judicial framework to provide transparency of law, state budget and process of tenders, Ulaanbaatar city land issuance and transparency of the extractive industry.

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Call to Citizens to Report Human Rights Violations

Amnesty International will give the opportunity to all citizens of Mongolia whose rights have been violated to write down accounts of his or her opinion and will submit them to the relevant authorities to mark International Human Rights Day this Sunday.

Amnesty International officials said anyone can write about woman's rights violations, food and medicine safety and other issues on December 10, the day for human rights which this year has a slogan of, "Being a human and respecting human beings."

"Anyone can express his or her opinion on this day. We will write a letter about human rights violations to the related authorities. If people agree after reading it, they will sign. In particular, we wrote a letter and call to action to L. Gundalai, the Minister of Health. Of course everyone who agrees with this slogan will sign," said B. Altantuya the director of Amnesty International's Mongolia office.

"Our letter is mostly about food and medicine safety. We are launching it so everyone will write a letter to protect his or her own rights," said Altantuya.

The human rights organizations organize this campaign each year on International Human Rights Day. 438 people wrote about their rights on this campaign and 315 of them were delivered to the related authorities and organizations and solved last year, according to the officials.

"Our organization widely participates in issues about kidnapping, the death sentence and torture. About 100 people appeal to us to solve their problems and complaints every year. Thus we pass it to the President, Parliament and the Ministers of our country," said the organization officers.

According to their speech, this organization did research about human rights protectors and woman's right during 2006. Journalists, prosecutors, judges, and defense lawyer's rights are the most violated according to the research.

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Mongolian citizens demand justice from Malaysian government

As terrible and shocking the murder of Sh. Altantuya was, Mongolians shouldn't reproach Malaysia for doing not enough to establish justice. Mongolia's police and legal system is probably more corrupt, incompetent and fraudulent than Malaysia's is. In stead of putting so much effort in condemning another country, Mongolians should put in loads of energy to make their own country's police, legal and judicial systems transparent, competent and just.

A public gathering entitled "We demand justice" took place Wednesday in the National Information Technology Park in Ulaanbaatar. Mongolian NGOs, which run their activities for the protection of human rights and women's and children's rights, arranged the above gathering with the purpose of demanding to fairly judge the case regarding to a Mongolian citizen Sh. Altantuya, who was brutally murdered in Malaysia on October 19.

The gathering attendees appealed to combat for justice by establishing a temporary committee for the solution of the unimaginable murder case. The attendees also discussed issues related to delivering a petition to the Malaysian court by demanding to stand for justice and letting an advocate of Mongolia take part in the official trial, which will take place on December 14 to solve the revolting case.

The petition reads that "In the event that the case was not solved fairly, the Government of Malaysia will be considered as an accomplice of the criminal. The Government of Malaysia must remedy the damage caused to the family of the late Sh. Altantuya, because the murder was a contract killing committed by two Malaysian policemen".

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UB's trolley buses

UB's trolley buses are a mishmash of Korean, Japanese and godknowswhatothercountry buses in more or less dilapidated state of repair and maintenance. They're ugly, smelly and slow yet ever so useful and cheap. I wouldn't give them a second glance but someone does. Meet the UB trolley bus blog. :) Presented this way, these trolley buses all of a sudden become kinda cute.

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Shards of Mongolia http://shardsofmongolia.blogspot.com/

Bend It Like Chuka!

Competing in the 2020 Olympics seems a very distant dream for Mongolians, and the rest of the world would be very surprised if it actually did. But for a forward-thinking man like Brazilian Jardel Da Silvia, 2020 was in the forefront of his mind when he created UB United, a football club of 6-18-year-olds aimed at preparing future Beckhams and Ronaldinhos for 2020 and beyond.

Da Silvia went onto new pastures, and the club is now run by a Mongolian, D. Chuluunbat, nicknamed 'Chuka'. Of course with Da Silvia being from Brazil, a country which constantly produces world class players, one would expect he left a very good foundation for Chuluunbat to build on.

UB United was established in 2003 primarily to provide young people with an activity to focus on in their spare time and also to provide an opportunity for the children to learn life skills and the ways of good moral living. At training and during the matches they also make friends and, as they come from various walks of life, learn about the diversity of one another's situation.

"The club now has between 150 and 200 children and team members from different backgrounds and they are very happy being a part of UB United," said Chuka, speaking at a training session at the 72nd school in the Hailaast district. There are three age groups at the club; youth (6-11yrs), mid (12-15yrs) and seniors (16-18 yrs).

The teams are entered into competitions throughout the year, the next big tournament being Sensation 2007 which takes place in March next year. In the meantime, UB United plays other clubs from around Ulaanbaatar and is also stretching out farther to more teams from the countryside. Matches normally take place on a Saturday.

Football clubs like these are funded mainly by sponsors such as Joint Christian Services (JCS) International – an NGO which was behind the formation of the club 13 years ago and which continues to support it even now. And hopefully in another 13 years, the support for these will pay emotional dividends as Mongolia celebrates its football olympic gold.

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Residents Upset Over Garbage in Cemetery

If no-one is going to clean it up now, things will get worse. There's already garbage there and people will just chuck their garbage on the existing pile. Does it really matter who cleans it up? Is it not possible for the Chingeltei Urbanization department to clean things up and then settle the issue of who was responsible? Yet, the fact that the sub-districts say they have no plans to clean it up also doesn't show much sense of responsibility. These are elected local government officials, being paid by the tax payer's money. Their whole reason for being should be the welfare and interest of the community, not whether this or that responsibility lies with the district or the sub-district. Clean it up and then fight it out with the district.

Dalan Davkhar cemetery, located less than ten kilometers from the center of Ulaanbaatar, is facing problems with urban growth in changing from a place of remembrance to a landfill site. Local residents said they fear the increase of waste buildup within the graveyard.

"Every other day, individuals and organizations come with trucks to dump their garbage at night. At least one truck gets unloaded everyday," said local resident Ye. Gantumur.

The cemetery’s guard, who lives onsite and spoke on condition of anonymity, said those responsible for the garbage don’t pay attention to the law.

"I have warned the people who bring garbage many times, but they always ignore me," he said.

The waste, mainly consisting of construction materials, broken bottles, livestock carcasses and old car frames is strewn along a 300 meter long side of the cemetery. Some local residents also stated that people go through the garbage to find useful items.

"Most of the garbage is useless. But sometimes I can find some things that could be useful for our home. Cans and bottles are what we really need, but those are not dumped here. Normally only very bad trash is left," G. Lhagvadorj, a local resident, told MonInfo while picking up trash Wednesday morning.

However some residents of the surrounding ger districts feel like those living within the cemetery also generate trash, and say not all blame can be placed on the trucks.

"There wasn’t as much garbage before when fewer people lived in the area," said E. Herlen, a resident who said she has been living in the area for more than a decade.

"People, who live here largely, contribute to forming a big amount of trash. They dump their garbage here, as though it was a dumping area."

The government bodies responsible for the garbage collection in the areas said it was unclear under what jurisdiction the cemetery lies.

"The 7th and 8th sub-districts are independent and responsible for this cemetery. They collect money from residents and use it for cleaning garbage. Thus these sub-districts should be cleaning the area when someone dumps garbage," an official at the Urbanization department of Chingeltei district said in an interview.

Yet residents and sub-district workers said the district should still be responsible, even with their independent status, and had no plans to organize clean ups.

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Herders May Not Have Their 50,000 Solar Converters

It's sad to see this kind of misuse and abuse. These solar convertors are very useful in the countryside powering radio, electric light and TV; and thus giving people access to information and extending their options for work, study and entertainment.

The National Auditing Office has recently made an inspection on the "100,000 Solar Houses" project, which is being implemented by the government from 2000 to 2010. According to the report, the misappropriation of funds, lack of financial documentation and no oversight may lead to the projects demise.

Passed seven years ago in government resolution #158, the goals were set to supply herder and rural families with 5,000 solar converters in 2000 as the first stage of the project and 45,000 units between 2001 and 2005. In the final stage the remaining 50,000 solar energy converters would be distributed in 2005-2010.

"However, only 740 converters, which is less than 20 percent, were supplied in the first stage, and 31,790 out of the planned 45,000 in the second. In our results, the first two levels were fulfilled with a performance rating of only 65 percent," L. Javzmaa, the general auditor of Mongolia told MonInfo Thursday.

The auditing report stated that the performers of the project contributed the solar converters without making contracts for orders and also gave the items to families who were not supposed to receive the expensive equipment. Solar converters were distributed to the center of Bayan-Ulgii province and other soums without any receipts or documentation, which auditors said made it impossible for them to know if families actually ever received the government purchased items. Also, some MP’s trustees took energy converters from the project and contributed them by themselves, when in fact the converters needed to be contributed through the office of parliament, auditors said.

"Some of the funds for the project have been spent for non related purposes, and some repayment loans have not been repaid," Javzmaa said.

In total, MNT 465.3 million was funded from the state budget for the "100,000 Solar Houses" project implementation from 2001-2005, according to the report made by the National Auditing Office. But in the results of the financial reports and receipts from the project officials, there were several breaches such as MNT 8.8 million spent for the lightning outside of the Ministry of Roads, Transportation and Tourism building.

Moreover, officials from the Auditing Office said that there were no independent inspections made on the project in the last six years.

"From the results of these breaches, we have submitted recommendations on more attentive performance to the related organizations and officials. Additionally, we have submitted our demand to the provincial governors for compliance," said Javzmaa.

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UB-Railway Administration Misappropriating Funds: TUC

Members of the Ulaanbaatar Train and Locomotive Depot's Trade Union Committee (TUC) presented information Thursday, regarding alleged misuse of authority and the embezzlement of public funds by high level UB-Railway officials.

"The authorities defeated our TUC after we revealed how they give presents to each other from the public's fund saying we have stupefied and destroyed the public. Thus, we came here to stand firmly on our position and to protect many other railway employees with facts and evidence to reveal their swindling", Kh. Erdene, the head of the Train Depot TUC, read from a TUC statement.

According to their statement, V. Magdey, the director of Ulaanbaatar Railway and Mongolia- Russian joint stock association, ordered J. Ganbaatar, the head of Construction and apartment office, to give 3-room apartment totaling more than MNT 90 million to financial office director D. Saikhantsetseg. This order was included in his # A-229 order on 5 September, 2006. Therefore, a 2-room apartment privatized by D. Saikhantsetseg was transferred to her daughter N. Tegshkhorol, assistant teacher at the 5th kindergarten which belongs to the UB-Railway.

According to the law, no entity or organization has the rights to transfer and dispose of individual's possessions to any other individual.

"Apartment supplication for Railway empoyees is not enough. D. Nadmid, a 90 years old man, who worked for the UB-Railway for more than 30 years and participated in two wars, is living in a room of someone else's apartment with his spouse who has been bedridden for 10 years. He has been trying to find an apartment from the company, but can't afford it. Why can't the Railway give this poor old man one room considering his contribution?" noted Kh. Erdene.

Therefore, the director of "Bayanbuural" resort that belongs to the UB-Railway was forced to resign before his contract ended, and the authorities appointed Batj. Enkhee, who used to work as a teacher in Khentii province, and brother of MP Batj. Batbayar.

"According to the study of personnel's census, there were 300 working places in 2004, but this number increased to 570, in 2006. There must be some professional people who can control the operation of ‘Bayanbuural' resort. But the former Prime Minister's brother Arslandorj, who's facing his 2nd year at auto base as a director, is checking the operation of the resort and organizing meetings. Where are the officials who are supposed to do this work?" he added.

"Just one day after the accident which took 3 persons' lives, loading train # 3423 was stopped at junction # 30 and at that moment train # 285 was coming from the opposite side. Luckily junction duty man ordered the train to ‘stop'".

"If the communication network didn't work at that time, there would have been a terrible accident. Later on, the administration had an immediate meeting with Batsaikhan, the sub-director of the sector and fired the junction duty man saying he is not experienced" stated Ts. Byambaa, the director of the Locomotive department TUC.

He added, "On the 27th of last month, a train broke down at station # 8 and called for help. But the driver fixed it on his own and left without letting the center know. If other trains were going there for help, a terrible accident would have been repeated."

According to the TUC's statements, the Railway authorities were hiding this information because of their fear to take responsibility.

"Only ordinary employees get fired because of the accidents, not the authorities. They are not considering the laborers' rights, but pocketing the public funds, and make poor employees take accountability," they said.

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Fiber optical network handed over

This sounds very cool and hi-tech but what is the purpose? A FC network is fast, can handle high loads of data but is also expensive in maintenance, fragile and the cost for users is also high. I'm wondering what this network will be used for. Education? Police, border guard or military communications? The media? Internet access? The article says it will provide the public with information but in what form, who the 'public' is, what kind of information, and by whom that information will be supplied is unclear.

Under the program to provide the public with information, a project has been carried out successfully to connect the aimags in the west, northwest and south directions of Mongolia with fiber optical network. The Government of Mongolia and the Information and Communication Technology Authority have jointly implemented the project. The fiber optical network, which has been installed, was handed over on Thursday [November 30, 2006]. As a result of the project, which has been realized with domestic investment of Tg 12.8 billion, a total of 2,310 kilometers long fiber optical network has been built and 1,630 kilometers of which passes through 14 soums of five aimags in the west and northwest directions and the remaining 680 kilometers cover seven soums of three aimags in the south. A total of 12 domestic companies conducted the project activities.

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Photo exhibition opened

Though the last remark about the defeat of fascism in WW2 is a bit one-sided (as if the Allied forces in Europe, Asia and the Pacific never played any part), this nevertheless seems like an interesting exhibition. Jukov was one of th great military leaders. I wish I could attend the exhibition.

On the occasion of the 110th birth anniversary of Russian Marshal G.K. Jukov, a photo exhibition featuring the life and struggle period of G.K. Jukov was opened last weekend in the Russian Science and Cultural Center (RSCC). The exhibition's opening ceremony was attended by delegates of veterans, who participated in World War II; G. Baldandorj, the Head of Mongolian-Russian Warrior Friendship Union; I.S. Mostyka, the Advisor to Russian Embassy in Mongolia; and members of the Administrative Council of Mongolia-Russian Friendship Society.

In his opening speech, RSCC Deputy Director G.N. Kluchnikov said that this year is full of special events for Mongolia and Russia. The 25th anniversary of space travel of Mongolian and Russian astronauts and the 85th jubilee of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries were celebrated this year. The first victory of Russian army, who defeated the fascism of Germany, was a merit and victory of Mongolian veterans not only of Russian army.

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Detailed survey on water resource management

The National University of Mongolia and the York University of Canada have agreed to conduct a joint detailed survey on water resource management. The first stage of the bilateral cooperation has launched by an arrival of the York University students, who are studying for master degree, in Mongolia to exchange their experiences and knowledge with Mongolian students. The York University students collaborate with Stein Forward Program (SFP) international organization, which has carried out a project in Omnogobi Aimag (southern gobi region) of Mongolia to raise livelihoods of locals and properly use natural resources. The Canadian students together with the Mongolian National University students have conducted a survey through SFP channels on water resource of two herding families and the Vegetable Growers cooperative in the Gobi Reserve. They have discussed on how to solve urgent problems related to drinking water supply.

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Photo contest announced

For its first year jubilee, the Mongolian Photographic Union has announced a photographic contest with Tg 10 million-award fund. The contest organizational issues were reported at a press conference that was called on Monday [December 5, 2006] by the Union, which is led by Ts. Tsengel, the Minister of Road, Transportaiton and Tourism. The contest will be held with the intention of developing the photographic art in Mongolia and publicizing the highlight events, which took place in 2006 in Mongolia. A total of 16 organizations will take part in the competition and a selected photographer will be awarded with Tg 500 thousand. Moreover, the best photo and photographer will be selected for the Grand Prix Prize and Tg two million. Works for the contest will be received by the Union until December 8 to be selected in ten nominations.

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Artificial rain in Mongolia?

Though drought is affecting Mongolia every year, water shortages all over Mongolia are becoming increasingly serious, and aquifers are becoming depleted by over-use, I'm wondering whether the following measures (reported November 16) are wise. Mongolia would do well to establish sounds water conservation policies, implement water purification projects and in general restrict the abundant over-use of water from aquifers that now quench UB's thirst.

A total of 360 million Tg will be spent next year on purchasing necessary equipment to make artificial rainfall by shooting clouds. This financing will additionally be reflected in the package of the Minister of Environment in the 2007 draft law on state budget. The issue was discussed on Wednesday at the second reading of the draft law on state budget, which was performed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment, Food and Agriculture. Moreover, a proposal made by MP. Ts.Damiran was accepted by the Standing Committee to reflect 11 million Tg in the state budget to finance running operations of newly established meteorological station in Khovd Aimag.B. Bolortuya

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First photo gallery opened

The first photo gallery was opened in Ulaanbaatar on Wednesday [22 November]. The gallery will run constant and independent activities with the purpose of displaying the best works of professional photographers, photo agencies and studios and of raising the knowledge of citizens on photography. The gallery located in the building of Democratic Party will function an exhibition hall, render support to professional photographers and agencies to display their works abroad and will organize seminars and trainings. A photo-correspondent of the Unen daily, Sh.Otgonjargal and a photographer of the Look photo agency, T.Altanzagas will shortly arrange in the gallery an exhibition featuring the best race horses of Mongolia.

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Officials Shy on Vostok Nefte Gaz Stability Agreement

Big business, big investments, big money and once again secrecy and obscurity all around. Tsk tsk tsk!

Mongolian government workers declined to give out information about a stability agreement with the Russian invested Vostock Nefte Gaz Company which was signed in October, 2005, according to government and company officials.

"The Mongolian government signed a stability agreement with Vostock Nefte Gaz Company to establish an oil refinery. I support this project because it is very profitable for Mongolia such as increasing jobs, Mongolian people will get more income from this refinery, it would reduce the petroleum price in Mongolia and other productions following this industry," B. Jargalsaikhan, Minister of Industry and Trade told MonInfo Monday.

"This company is investing in Mongolia and it is very good for us. The refineries capacity could be as high as 5 million tonnes of crude oil per year," he said.

According to the website of the company www.vostokneftegaz.com, "The Company's primary business in Mongolia is the realization of two large related investment projects – gasification of the country and the creation of an oil refinery with the annual capacity of two million tonnes of crude oil."

"I can't comment about the stability agreement of Vostock Nefte Gaz Company although I am responsible for this issue, I have not received any information until now," said Ts. Ulemjbayar, specialist of commerce and economics cooperation department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

On Tuesday an advisor of the Vostock Nefte Gaz Company said the directors are currently abroad and after a week they can give out more information.

"We can't give out more information than that because after the Mongolian President's visit in Russia the project's issue, such as the stability agreement, will be clearer. After the president's visit we hope a memorandum will be signed," Lkhagva, advisor to the director of the Vostock Nefte Gaz Company said Tuesday.

Other Mongolian government officials were not able to comment or declined to comment on the specifics of the agreement.

"The stability agreement between the government and Vostock Nefte Gaz Company was done when Ch. Ulaan was Minister of Finance and was signed by me when I was Minister. I can't give out any information about the agreement because I don't have it right now," said D. Altankhuyag, former Minister of Finance.

According to the website information Vostock Nefte Gaz Company has established a stability agreement for 15 years and the refinery is planned to be located in the vicinity of the largest consumer of oil products – the city of Ulaanbaatar, on a land plot of 162 hectares, of which 120 ha will be occupied by the plant, 30 ha – by the railway tracks and 12 ha by the residential area for the workers. The plot is located on the territory of the 21st area of the Songinokharkhan district.

A spokeswomen of the Ministry of Finance replied that Minister of Finance N. Bayartsaikhan was very busy on Monday and Tuesday and thus couldn't hold discussions with media personal.

"I was responsible for this issue under the previous Minister and I know the agreement but now I have no right to give out information because I'm responsible for another issue at the present time," J.Ganbat, chairman of the Budget Regulatory and Coordination Department of Ministry of Finance said Tuesday.

"I can't tell you the amount of the investment from Vostock Nefte Gaz Company because it is a secret of business," said Minister Jargalsaikhan Monday.

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Shards of Mongolia http://shardsofmongolia.blogspot.com/

Mongolian State not to accept boycots on law

When a law is wrong or simply not doing what it was intedned for, a law should be reviewed en reviced when found necessary. The wind fall tax law, signed last May, is one such law. Thugh its intentions are right and just, the way it tries to reach those aims was ill thought out. The law faced severe critique from (foreign) minign companies as well as economists and politicians. The Speaker of Parliament, however, opened his mouth in favour of an unaltered and unlatereated implementation of the law. Now that the law is under review, the Speaker mouths off again

A windfall profits tax law on sales of gold when the world prices rise above US $500 per ounce and $2600 per ton of copper was passed by the parliament last May. Just after that, the speaker of parliament said, "The state of Mongolia will not change the law just because of somebody's oppression," when many gold mining companies expressed their opposition. Ts. Nyamdorj, the speaker, had to repeat his word recently for the reason that the government formulated a project to change the threshold price up to US $650. He blamed the government for coming under the influence of others, while doing nothing to implement the law.

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Shards of Mongolia http://shardsofmongolia.blogspot.com/

In Memoriam Tsog Shagdarsüren

In Memoriam Tsog Shagdarsüren
by Simon Wickham-Smith

The death on November 24th of my friend and colleague Tsog Shagdarsüren has dealt a severe blow to the Mongolian literary community. Tsog had been educated during the 1970s in Dresden, and his fluent German meant that he was able to translate texts from both literature and economics (a subject with which he had been professionally involved) into Mongolian. He had also spent some years working on translating books about history and economics into and out of English, including Francis Fukuyama's The End of History.

But in recent months, Tsog had decided to put his energy into translating Mongolian literature into English. He and I spent August preparing Ancient Splendor, an anthology of Mongolian poetry from the earliest sources until the communist era, and had only in the last few weeks finished our translation of poetry by six of Mongolia's most important young poets. Next year, we were hoping to start a translation of Injanashi's Khökh Sudar. Tsog had such a keen understanding of nuance in language, a willingness to learn, an eagerness to develop and expand his knowledge: he was an enthusiast, his mind was like a sponge.

His contribution to other areas of Mongolian cultural life may not have been so extensive, but it should nonetheless be mentioned. He organised in 2005 an exhibition of photographs taken by his father, who had been private secretary to Marshal Kh. Choibalsan. He was also partly responsible for the Roaring Hooves music festival, having introduced the organisers to one another during the late 1990s.

Tsog's loss will be felt by all of us who knew him, for however long. He was a fine translator, a witty and scholarly man, and most importantly, he was my friend.

Tsog Shagdarsuren

14th of Feb 1951 - 24th of Nov 2006

Education:

* Dresden University of Technique in Germany
* In English class of National University of Mongolia
* Leadership Institute of Maastricht in the Netherlands
* Course of project management of Budapest in Hungary

Employment:

* As an Engineer in Ulaanbaatar Meat factory
* "Aris impeks" combination of Ministry of Foreign Trade
* Mongol Amical LLC
* Water power station of Erdenebulgan in Kuvsgul aimag
* "Open Society Forum" in Mongolia
* "Soros foundation" in Mongolia

Works:

* Translated Germain Droogenbroodt’s Prayer with Dashnyam L.
* Translated oral poetries Simon Wickham-Smith
* Mongolian ancient poetry
* Talent of Chinggis
* Khubilai Khaan
* Agai Princes
* Translated the famous poets novels and poetries such as Natsagdorj.D, Yavuuhulan.B, Rinchin.B etc.
* Published books and others: Ancient splendor; Please, lift your foot, a flower wants to blossom; The flying deer

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Shards of Mongolia http://shardsofmongolia.blogspot.com/

The truth in Mongolia's media

The media in Mongolia have made great strides over the past 10-15 years, since democratisation. But it needs to make more and larger strides yet to be truly the unbiased, impartial watchdog of democracy that it should be. The recent reporting (or rather lack thereof) on the botched hijack exercise is one clear example and should serve as a warning sign for everyone in Mongolia who loves freedom, transparancy and truth. In stead of applauding EagleTV for the reporting they did, there were many peers in the journalism field who critisised EagleTV for making such a fuss about an "exercise". Goverment officials made statements that went contrary to the statements of eyewitnesses, and in general not much useful information was presented by the government and most media on the whole issue. Still many answers haven't been asked and certainly not answered.

Tom Terry, EagleTV's big man, posted a passionate declaration of what journalism is about, and where journalism in Mongolia lacks. Yes, there are good, truthful and passionate journalists in Mongolia but they are like sunflowers in winter: few and far between, and in danger of vanishing in the next snow flurry.

Journalism is not passing on dirt that you've been handed to about political opponents, or reporting how bad it is that Mongolia's youth are being influenced into decadence by fat cat, western tourists who have nothing better to do than seduce poor, sweet, innocent Mongolian girls and sell them into a life of sex and slavery. That's not what journalism is about. That's just populist yellow press. Then what is journalism about? Journalism is to take these supposed facts, these pieces of information and find out the truth in them. And if they turn out false, it's the journalist's job to find out why and who make such false statements. What is that person trying to achieve and to what purpose? Who else is involved, and why?

The lack of truth and the lack of urge to want to know the truth is a nail in the coffin of Mongolian democracy. When the media are the plaything of people in power, democracy looses its meaning and Mongolia will be nothing more than a banana republic. And Mongolia is too good for that!

Mongolians deserve better! Mongolia and Mongolians deserve every bit of freedom, wealth and health that this world has to offer. There will always be people who crave power and don't care for the needs of others. But it's every freedom-loving person's duty to stand up and fight these power-hungry, greedy, corrupt bastards. And it's the media's duty to lead that fight by providing truthful information, by constantly probing around for lies and cheats, expose them and infuse the population with a fighting spirit to fight for their rights, their freedoms and for truth.

What follows is Tom's eloquent appeal. I cannot agree with him more.

Journalism is not the practice of imitating a parrot, or taking the word of a spokesperson at a press conference and rewriting his words into your own words. Journalism is about getting to the truth. If the person behind the mic is telling the truth – verify it, then report it. Confront the speaker during the press conference. Don't ask the question once. Rephrase it; ask it again. Summarize it and give it a new angle then ask it again. Don't simply give someone a free pass when every eyewitness on the scene gives a contrary account to the official line as we saw on Tuesday. And when the eyewitnesses suddenly change their story - radically - later in the day, don't give them a free pass either.

Investiga