Mongolia's foreign trade turnover up 32pc in 2022

Mongolia's foreign trade turnover rose to 21.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, up 32.1 percent from the previous year, official data showed. Exports rose 35.7 percent to 12.5 billion dollars, while imports increased 27.2 percent to 8.7 billion dollars, the National Statistics Office said on Tuesday, noting that the Asian country registered a foreign trade surplus of 3.8 billion dollars.

Most of the export growth came from mineral products, textiles and precious metals jewelry, which accounted for 97 percent of total exports. Europe's largest known deposit of rare earth elements, essential for the manufacturing of electric vehicles, has been discovered in Sweden's far north, boosting Europe's hopes of cutting its dependence on China.

Swedish mining group LKAB said the newly-explored deposit, found right next to its iron ore mine, contained more than one million tonnes of rare earth oxides.

"This is the largest known deposit of rare earth elements in our part of the world, and it could become a significant building block for producing the critical raw materials that are absolutely crucial to enable the green transition," LKAB's chief executive Jan Mostrom said in a statement.

"We face a supply problem. Without mines, there can be no electric vehicles," Mostrom added. While the find is believed to be the biggest in Europe, it remains small on a global scale, representing less than one percent of the 120 million tonnes estimated worldwide by the US Geological Survey.

In 2021, the European Commission said that 98 percent of the rare earths used in the EU were imported from China, prompting Brussels to urge member states to develop their own extraction capacities.

LKAB's find was presented as a delegation from the European Commission visited Sweden, which took over the rotating EU presidency at the start of the year.

"Today, the EU is way too dependent on other countries for these materials," Swedish Energy Minister Ebba Busch told a press conference, pointing specifically to Russia and China. "This must change. We must take responsibility for the raw material supply needed for the (green) transition," she added.

The Fijian government will aim to reduce its debt which stood at 91.1 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

According to Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) on Tuesday, Fiji's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Biman Prasad said that Fiji's debt level is already high, and its fiscal strategy is that putting the island nation on a trajectory of reducing debt and ensuring that there is a balance that is always maintained in terms of the expenditure and priority areas. This is part of a broader strategy where all government ministries will be reexamining their various policies and programs, he said, adding that this strategy will mean changes to budget allocations.

Prasad said that as a government, they want to make sure that they avoid wastage, and avoid expenditure that may not be a priority at the current point in time for the people and for the country. The head of the United Arab Emirates' national oil company was named as president of this year's COP28 climate talks.

Sultan al-Jaber, chief executive of the UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), will be the first CEO to take the role at the UN summit, said a statement carried by the official WAM news agency.

"I sincerely believe that climate action today is an immense economic opportunity for investment in sustainable growth," he was quoted as saying, promising a "pragmatic" approach.

Jaber, the UAE's minister of industry, is also the Gulf state's special envoy for climate change and has taken part in more than 10 COP meetings. He is CEO of Masdar, the UAE's renewable energy company, and has "played a key role in shaping the country's clean energy path", the statement said.

And Rachel Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School of international affairs at Tufts University in the US, warned: "The incoming COP president has a dilemma.

"The UAE is competing to be the most efficient and lowest-cost source of fossil fuels as global production must diminish through the energy transition," she said. "It will be challenging as COP president to unite countries around more aggressive action while at the same time suggesting that other producers stop producing because UAE has you covered.