Economic Policy Reform and Competitiveness Project (EPRC)

Chemonics
www.eprc–chemonics.biz 

Trade Policy Support

Customs and inspections area site layout in Zamiin Uud: News from the Customs Deputy Director is that the tender for these works will not be issued until the new Parliament approves the budget amendments. Thus, it is unlikely that the contract award for these works will occur this year.

Financial Markets Support 

Secondary mortgage market: The GOM’s Financial Regulatory Commission (FRC), with EPRC assistance, developed interim policies and procedures for the approval of securitization transactions. Following discussion of these policies and procedures with the Mongolian Mortgage Corporation (MIK), the FRC submitted them to their Board for approval.

However, the Board decided to wait for passage of the complete set of mortgage-related laws expected to go to the State Great Hural during the next session. Furthermore, the title registration department refuses to re-register mortgages purchased by MIK without payment of an unreasonable fee which threatens the financial viability of secondary market transactions. This matter is now proceeding through the Mongolian courts.

Glossary of Mortgage Terms: The Project assisted FRC in developing a glossary of mortgage-related concepts and terms. The glossary includes definitions and terms used in the legal and financial communities, and it is designed for those involved in the legal and regulatory aspects of the primary and secondary mortgage markets. The glossary is planned for release in September. The July monthly project newsletter had an article presenting the glossary.

Business Development Support

New tourist circuits for western aimags: On 7 August, following a 19-day field trip to assess the tourism potential of Bayan-Ulgii, Khovd, Zavkhan, Uvs, and Gobi-Altai aimags, an EPRC-sponsored team led a workshop on “Packaging and Marketing Adventure Tourism in Western Mongolia”. Representatives of thirteen organizations— including the Ministry of Roads, Transportation and Tourism, tour operators, ger camps, tourism NGOs, international agencies and donor organizations—attended the workshop. The next stage in the development, packaging and promotion of adventure tourism in the western aimags will be a presentation of selected products at the Japan Association of Travel Agents World Tourism Fair 2008 in Tokyo, and at the World Travel Market 2008 travel trade fair in London.

Tourism Promotion: EPRC continues to assist the Mongolia National Tourism Organization (MNTO) with development of the Odyssey “Mongolia Guide and Companion” book. In August the first 100 photos contributed by the author and Mongolian photographers were selected and manuscript drafting progresses. The draft manuscript will be sent for MNTO review in early October. This book will not only be a major promotional tool for Mongolian tourism but also a significant source of revenue for the MNTO.

Energy Sector Support

Energy sector financial status: The Energy Regulatory Authority (ERA) resolution to increase electricity and heat retail tariffs issued on 30 June 2008 was the subject of two Cabinet meetings. Ultimately the Cabinet accepted the increases with strong support from the Minister of Fuel and Energy. Prior to the tariff increase, the ERA held several information and education sessions with the public concerning the new block tariff system, of which the lowest block is the new lifeline tariff. The ERA maintains that the revised tariff program has general public acceptance.

Competitive electricity market design: The project delivered a draft report entitled “Proposed Competitive Electricity Market Design for Mongolia’s Central Energy System” to the ERA. The project will discuss the report with the ERA and the five largest energy entities in September.

Development of the CHP #5 tender process and documents: The tender was issued via the Mongolian media on 1 August 2008. Proposals are due by 30 October 2008. To date eleven companies have purchased the tender package. They are all from China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

Consensus Building, Public Education, and National Dialogue Support

Second program of the Open Government “Facts, Figures and Opinion” series under design: The project has finished the initial design and completed the bulk of researching and processing of figures for the second program of this series. The program will focus on recent price increases, and show price increases of selected products, factors affecting the increases, and what can be done to bring inflation under control. Project technical staff have completed most of the data collection, processing, and analysis to explain the underlying factors behind the price increases. Based on these and an outline for the program, a script writer is currently working on a first cut of the second program.

Web access to “Facts, Figures & Opinions” and “Open Talks” TV program series videos: EPRC completed conversion of two TV programs this month. One was a documentary of the first program of the “Open Talks” series—the December 2004 program featuring then Speaker of the House, Mr. Enkhbayar N., and then Prime Minister, Mr. Elbegdorj Ts. The other program was the first of the “Facts, Figures & Opinions” series, on Ulaanbaatar heating issues. Flash video versions of both are available on the project website in two versions: one for lower bandwidth access (YouTube typical resolution), and another for higher bandwidth. Both will be available for downloading.

The EPRC Project has initiated discussions with the Cabinet Secretariat’s Open Government website to act as a public access repository of these flash videos and upload them to YouTube for wider potential public access. The project has also begun 10-14 minute selections of highlights of each of the Open Talks program series to convert them to flash video and make them available through the Open Government and project websites, and negotiate links to these through other Mongolian websites.

Project management

Contract amendment executed to extend the project to June 2011: USAID exercised the option to extend the project for three years, and the contract amendment was finalized on 21 August.

Performance Management Plan: Per the contract, the project is preparing a Performance Management Plan (PMP) for submission to USAID before 18 September 2008. The report will follow and expand upon the document “Performance Monitoring Plan Review,” recently submitted to the Mission.