AmCham Daily Newswire

Government withdraws proposal to increase taxes

Summary: The MPP caucus convened yesterday and reached a verdict to withdraw all eight of the government’s recently proposed tax increases. Head of the Cabinet Secretariat, J. Munkhbat announced the decision to withdraw the proposed tax increases, including property, alcohol, tobacco, gold and other tax increases.

Keywords: tax, government stability Daily News /page 1, 5/

Trilateral intellectual property conference

Summary: A trilateral intellectual property conference between Mongolia, Russia and China was held for the 4^th time in Ulaanbaatar City. The conference was held under the theme, “Protecting intellectual property rights; bringing intellectual property to the market; and encouraging innovation, technology, and SMEs.” Participants included the Head of the State Registration and Intellectual Property Rights Office of Mongolia R. Sodhuu, the Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China Shen Changyu, the Director General of The Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property Grigoriy Ivliev, and around fifty other representatives. Mongolia ranks 55^th on the innovation index and the State Registration and Intellectual Property Rights Office of Mongolia representative G. Sarnai noted that although Mongolia conducts a great deal of research, little is being done to patent the research abroad and to bring the intellectual property to the market. Head of Copyright Protection Services E. Myagmadorj stated that any commercial entity should patent their goods in the respective countries before exporting and patents received in Mongolia are only effective in Mongolia.

Keywords: intellectual property Today /page A6/

60% of bad debt is forgiven

Summary: As of July, outstanding equal 12.1 trillion MNT and non-performing loans are at 1.3 trillion MNT, which makes up 8.5% of all unpaid loans. Of all non-performing loans, loans from the mining sector constitute 44%, wholesale and retail is 14%, agriculture is 7%, manufacturing is 7%, construction is 6%, and real estate is 3%. In order to decrease non-performing loans, commercial banks have forgiven 60% of bad debt.

Keywords: debt Today /page 1/

Stock prices for mining companies decrease by 48% on average

Summary: Mining companies listed on the international stock exchange who have invested in Mongolia experienced an average drop of 48% in stock prices as of the second quarter of 2016 compared to last year. Over the course of one year, Haranga Resourced Limited’s stock price decreased by 85%, SouthGobi Limited and Mongolia Mining Corporation by 71%, Petro Matad Limited by 61% and Peace Map Holding’s stock dropped by 61%. The only company to experience an increase is Centerra Gold, which increased by 7%.

Keywords: stock, mining Today /page 1/

Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada will visit Mongolia

Summary: By the invitation of Mongolia’s Speaker of Parliament M. Enkhbold, The Honorable Geoff Regan and other representatives will pay an official visit to Mongolia from September 7^th until the 10^th. The Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, The Honorable Geoff Regan will meet with the President of Mongolia Ts. Elbedgorj, Prime Minister J. Erdenebat, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ts. Munkh-Orgil. During the visit, the two parties plan to sign a MOU regarding development assistance and an MOU regarding cooperation between the two parliaments. The Canadian Parliament has approved plans to implement cooperation projects worth 55.4 million Canadian dollars over the next four years. The projects include improvement of management in the mining sector, transparency of public departments, the competitive advantages of yak wool and other cashmere products, and food safety, This visit is critical in improving the diplomatic relationship between Canada and Mongolia.

Keywords: Canada www.montsame.mn