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22. Wild Growth: An Assessment of Erdenes Mongol
- Author:
- Andrew Bauer and Dorjdari Namkhaijantsan
- Publication Date:
- 06-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Natural Resource Governance Institute
- Abstract:
- Erdenes Mongol is Mongolia's most influential state-owned mining enterprise. It was established in 2006 to represent the government of Mongolia's interests in strategic mines, manage mineral licenses and promote the mining sector. In recent years Erdenes Mongol has evolved into a complex conglomerate with interests in many sectors, including unconventional oil and gas, roads, hospitality, power generation, steel, and asset management. The company's expansion represents an implicit government choice to invest in specific sectors rather than others, such as education, healthcare or renewable energy. Erdenes Mongol does not publish financial information on most of its subsidiaries and joint ventures. However, many are unprofitable. Those that are profitable, such as the Tavan Tolgoi coal project, have yet to pay any dividends to the state treasury. The Government of Mongolia may wish to consider several reforms, such as: (1) Enacting a new state-owned enterprise or Erdenes Mongol-specific law; (2) Clarifying the company's financial and governance relationship with subsidiaries; (3) Performing project-by-project market assessments in order to determine which assets to purchase and sell; (4) Developing clear criteria and an open process for appointment and dismissal of board members and managers; and, (5) Requiring greater public disclosures and audits, especially of subsidiaries and joint ventures.
- Topic:
- Natural Resources, Business, Mining, and Trade
- Political Geography:
- Mongolia and Asia
23. Mongolia's Missing Oil, Gas and Mining Contracts
- Author:
- Robert Pitman
- Publication Date:
- 02-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Natural Resource Governance Institute
- Abstract:
- Many of the most important contracts for publicly owned oil, gas and minerals in Mongolia remain secret, despite government promises to make contracts public. A review of publicly available contracts in Mongolia suggests that contracts are unlikely to contain the kinds of information about a project that are commercially sensitive. Likewise, evidence suggests that there is no reason to think that confidentiality clauses prevent disclosure of contracts. Contracting regimes in Mongolia are complex and therefore in many instances, it will be necessary to publish several contracts and associated documents for each project. There are five steps that the government can take to make contracts public: 1) explain the contracting landscape, 2) define the scope of disclosure, 3) establish a contract disclosure rule, 4) make contracts accessible, and 5) support contract use.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Government, Oil, Gas, Journalism, Tax Systems, Mining, Private Sector, and Contracts
- Political Geography:
- Mongolia and Asia
24. How and Why the Myanmar Government Should Publish Petroleum and Mining Contracts
- Author:
- Sebastian Sahla, Hosana Chay, and Robert Pitman
- Publication Date:
- 05-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Natural Resource Governance Institute
- Abstract:
- Contract disclosure is a growing global norm. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) board agreed to require all member governments to disclose the contracts they sign with oil, gas and mining companies beginning in January 2021. Around the world governments, companies and civil society are increasingly advocating for disclosure. In Myanmar, progress has been extremely slow. Despite civil society activists and several major investors supporting reforms, the government has not disclosed any petroleum or mining contracts so far. With new licenses expected to be issued in the petroleum, minerals and gemstone sectors, the Myanmar government should act now to keep pace with a global trend.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Natural Resources, Regulation, Negotiation, Legislation, Transparency, and Contracts
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Mongolia, Asia, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Myanmar, and Cameroon
25. Demand-Driven Youth Training Programs: Experimental Evidence from Mongolia
- Author:
- José Galdo, Bayarmaa Dalkhjavd, Altantsetseg Batchuluun, Soyolmaa Batbekh, and Maria Laura Alzúa
- Publication Date:
- 08-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Distributive, Labor and Social Studies (CEDLAS)
- Abstract:
- Because of its high incidence and potential threat to social cohesion, youth unemployment is a global concern. This study uses a randomized controlled trial to analyze the effectiveness of a demand-driven vocational training program for disadvantaged youth in Mongolia. Mongolia, a transitional country whose economic structure shifted from a communist, centrally planned economy to a free-market economy over a relatively short period, offers a new setting in which to test the effectiveness of standard active labor market policies. This study reports positive and statistically significant short-term effects of vocational training on monthly earnings, skills matching, and self-employment. Substantial heterogeneity emerges as relatively older, richer, and better-educated individuals drive these positive effects. A second intervention that randomly assigns participants to receive repetitive weekly newsletters with information on market returns to vocational training shows positive impacts on the length of exposure to and successful completion of the program. These positive effects, however, are only observed at the intensive margin and do not lead to higher employment or earnings outcomes.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, Labor Issues, Employment, Youth, and Labor Policies
- Political Geography:
- Mongolia and Asia
26. U.S. Embassy Tokyo Role in the Establishment of U.S.-Mongolia Relations
- Author:
- Alicia Campi
- Publication Date:
- 11-2018
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- American Diplomacy
- Institution:
- American Diplomacy
- Abstract:
- The U.S. and Mongolia established diplomatic relations in 1987, after earlier failed attempts and many years of Cold War frostiness. In this account, Dr. Campi describes the negotiations leading up to relations with the Mongolian People’s Republic, at the time a communist country closely allied to the Soviet Union, and her own role in the process.
- Topic:
- Cold War, Diplomacy, History, Bilateral Relations, Negotiation, and Memoir
- Political Geography:
- Japan, Mongolia, Asia, and United States of America
27. Fiscal Sustainability in Mongolia in 2018
- Author:
- Tsolmon Baatarzorig, Nyambaatar Batbayar, and Ragchaasuren Galindev
- Publication Date:
- 01-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Natural Resource Governance Institute
- Abstract:
- In 2017, Mongolia received an extensive bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF). Since taking the IMF loan, Mongolia has had good economic luck. A record high year of coal production combined with a surge in commodity prices has left the country with a budget revenue windfall. This has allowed gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 5.3 percent, which was higher than the forecasted 3 percent. Mongolia has reduced its fiscal deficit and public debt is declining. The country’s credit rating has improved and it has managed to repay two large foreign currency-denominated bonds. The government has also recently created a Fiscal Stability Council to improve budget oversight.
- Topic:
- International Affairs and Natural Resources
- Political Geography:
- Mongolia and Global Focus
28. A Non-Secular Anthropocene: Spirits, Specters and Other Nonhumans in a Time of Environmental Change
- Author:
- Nils Ole Bubandt, Bronislaw Szerszynski, Astrid Oberborbeck Andersen, Jessica Madison, and Victor Cova
- Publication Date:
- 01-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- AURA: Aarhus University Research on the Anthropocene
- Abstract:
- Psychologist Sigmund Freud described phenomena that are familiar and foreign at the same time as uncanny. Unheimlich – the German word for uncanny – literally means “unhomely” and captures the paradoxical mix of the homely and the strange that goes into the feeling of the uncanny (Freud 2013 [1919]). Ghosts, gods, spirits, and specters are classical icons of the uncanny. These entities are uncanny because they disturb the proper and familiar separation of things: the separation between the living and the dead, between the imaginary and the real, between the virtual and the actual. Ghosts, gods, specters and spirits are invisible apparitions, a paradoxical NO THING, a “between that is tainted with strangeness” (Cixous 1976: 543). But in 1970, the Japanese robotics engineer, Masahiro Mori, suggested that robots, too, become uncanny when they increasingly approach but still fail to achieve full human likeness. A prosthetic hand that has the fleshy look but not the proper fleshy feel of a human hand is, Mori suggested, as uncanny as a ghost. Mori called the experiential space of such phenomena “the uncanny valley”: the space where the function of increased likeness intersects with the function of decreased familiarity (Mori 2012 [1970]: 98-100). In Mori’s chart of the uncanny valley, corpses and zombies share quarters with only one human invention: the prosthetic hand. But since 1970, it is fair to say, Mori’s uncanny valley has become radically crowded with new beings far beyond robotics. Advances in genetic technology and bioengineering have added cloned animals, gene-modified crops and a host of other familiar-yet-strange denizens to the uncanny valleys of our time. The overpopulation of these uncanny valleys has also arguably grown exponentially after anthropogenic environmental disturbance has begun denaturalizing nature itself: jelly fish blooms, freak storms, and factory chicken are examples of this kind of environmental uncanniness. What are we, for instance, to make of the fact that the total biomass of the 20 billion chickens in the world’s industrial mega-farms is three times that of all wild birds combined (Bar-On et al. 2018)? A chicken is a very familiar bird for sure. But when the chicken is well on the way to becoming the signature, and one day soon perhaps the only, bird in the world, its very familiarity takes on a distinctly uncanny hue. Ecological uncanniness, one might call this.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Environment, Infrastructure, and Nonhuman
- Political Geography:
- Mongolia, Peru, Ecuador, Florida, Amazon Basin, Global Focus, and United States of America
29. Korea-Mongolia Economic Relations: Current Status and Cooperation Measures
- Author:
- Lee Jae Young
- Publication Date:
- 07-2017
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI)
- Abstract:
- Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1990, Korea and Mongolia have broadened cooperation in various areas such as politics, economy, society, and culture given their geographical proximity and cultural similarities. However, the progress of economic cooperation which has been identified as one of the pillars of Korea-Mongolia cooperation is still weak in comparison with other areas. Thus, it is important to analyze achievements and limitations of economic cooperation with Mongolia, which has emerged as a burgeoning new market of Eurasia, and find new measures to elevate their economic relations to a new high moving forward. In this context, the main objective of this research lies in looking back upon the past 26 years and developing a new strategy on economic cooperation measures. Korea needs to formulate a new strategy that provides a coherent, systematic framework for cooperation with Mongolia and implement it consistently. Holding bilateral summit meetings and Korea-Mongolian forums on a regular basis, strengthening high-level networking, and concluding free trade and visa exemption agreements are necessary.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Bilateral Relations, Trade, and Economic Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Mongolia, Asia, South Korea, and Korea
30. CHINA'S UNRAVELING ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY
- Author:
- Jeffrey Reeves
- Publication Date:
- 02-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Washington Quarterly
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
- Abstract:
- The growing consensus among Chinese analysts, both in China and the West, that elements of China's contemporary foreign policy have been self - defeating is important but limited in two significant ways. First, it focuses on China's most divisive policy stances—such as its expansive territorial claims, disruptive diplomacy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), or growing use of unilateral economic sanctions. This focus on controversial policies, while important, ignores less litigious policies which are also now contributing to regional instability. Second, analysts who look at China's foreign policy largely confine their work to China's relations with large or medium powers—such as Japan, India, Vietnam, or the Philippines—or with regional organizations such as ASEAN. This focus ignores China's relations with smaller, developing states—such as Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, or Myanmar—which are, in many ways, the building blocks of China's periphery security.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy
- Political Geography:
- Japan, China, India, Mongolia, Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar