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Monday, 01 September 2008 |
 Business: New US $22-million Coca-Cola plant opened; Mongoliin Alt to build railway; Call to increase German investment in mining; Agency starts probing petroleum importers; Gobi reports another loss; Entree Gold discovers coal in Lookout Hill.
Economy: Labor union places demands; Money not enough to buy up all Cashmere with herders; Plans for nuclear energy; Sponsored skills training in China; Free trade zone in Altanbulag waits for road.
Politics: Deadlock broken, Parliament members take oath; Bayar asks Chinese leaders for energy aid; Batzandan warns of another big protest; Candidates’ expense limits set; Tg 14 billion subsidy to keep school fees down; Standardized training made mandatory for lawyers; Use of more coked coal to reduce air pollution; Mongolia ends up 5th in Olympic gold MPC and 16th in total MPC rankings.
NEW US$22 MILLION COCA-COLA PLANT OPENED
A US$22 million green field Coca-Cola bottling plant was opened in Ulaanbaatar on August 24 by Muhtar Kent, President and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, and Odjargal Jambaljamts, Chairman & CEO, MCS Group. This new plant will be the second and largest Coca-Cola plant in Mongolia, after the one built in 2001 by MCS Coca-Cola, the exclusive bottler of Coca-Cola products in the market.
"I'm delighted to see MCS Coca-Cola continue to exceed all projections in sales volume and profit. By posting an average annual volume growth of nearly 50% year on year, the Mongolian business has established itself as one of the strongest performing operations globally,” said Mr. Kent on the occasion.
On his part, Mr. J. Odjargal credited “the burgeoning beverage market in Mongolia” for the existing plant “running out of manufacturing capacity 7 years ahead of schedule". In 2002, the average annual per capita consumption “was 4 Coca-Cola products, but right now, we are selling an average of 67 beverages to every Mongolian consumer,” he said.
The new plant spread over 6 hectares has two state-of-the-art bottling lines - one for sparkling PET-bottle "Cold"/ambient filling, and another for still "hot" filling to cover the production of juice, tea and water products. A recyclable glass bottling line will also be relocated from the existing plant. The new plant will implement cutting edge water treatment processes in line with the stringent quality assurance system of The Coca-Cola Company.
For more on the plant and the inauguration ceremony, go to the BCM web site, Business Profiles.
MONGOLIIN ALT TO BUILD RAILWAY
The Government has accepted the proposal of Mongoliin Alt LLC to construct a railway in Umnugobi province linking the Nariin Sukhait coal mine with Shivee Khurent on the Chinese-Mongolian border, a distance of 47.2 km. It can then be connected to the Uigur Xinjiang railway of China. The company will bear the entire costs of the construction. After it has recovered its costs, or after 10 years of running the railway, whichever is earlier, the Government will take over 51 percent share of the operations.
The Minister for Transport and Tourism, R.Rash, who will monitor the progress of the work, has said that lack of resources stands in the way of the Government taking up the long proposed Dalanzadgad-Oyu Tolgoi-Tavan Tolgoi-Shivee Khuren railway project. The initially estimated cost of US $300,000 for laying one km of railway track has now gone up to over US $600,000, Rash said.
DEADLOCK BROKEN, PARLIAMENT MEMBERS TAKE OATH
With elected members of all parties taking their oath at a hastily summoned meeting of the new Parliament on Thursday afternoon, the political deadlock has at long last been broken. The breakthrough follows the Democratic Party members deciding on Wednesday to reverse their earlier stand that all 76 results have to be officially announced and approved before they would join Parliament.
The way is now clear for a Government to be formed. Most members were happy that they could be sworn in on a Thursday, auspicious in the Mongolian calendar as the day of the rabbit.
BAYAR ASKS CHINESE LEADERS FOR ENERGY AID
Prime Minister S.Bayar called on his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao and Vice President Xi Jinping when he was in Beijing to watch the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games. Bayar told both leaders the development of ties with China “is the top priority of Mongolia's foreign policy”, and that Mongolia would like to work more closely with China in several areas. The areas Bayar suggested for cooperation were all in the energy sector and underscored the urgent necessity for Mongolia to develop the means to meet its energy requirements without having to depend on other countries.
For the present, he wanted to import more oil products from China and to get the crude Mongolia would receive from Kazakhstan to be refined in China. The need for both might come down if China helped modernize the petroleum production system and an existing oil refinery in Tamsag basin, and in building a new joint refinery which would be a landmark symbol of the two countries’ cooperation. He thought China could also help construct a large coal-based power station near the Shivee Ovoo mines.
The leaders agreed that the 60th anniversary next year of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries would be a good opportunity to promote bilateral relations, with an emphasis on expanding areas of trade cooperation.
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