Mongolian spymaster arrested in Britain

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A Mongolian spymaster who says he was lured to Britain on false pretenses is due in court to fight extradition on kidnapping allegations.

Bat Khurts, head of Mongolia's counterterrorism agency, was arrested at Heathrow Airport in September. He claims he was invited to London for security talks, only to be detained.

Khurts is wanted over the kidnapping of a Mongolian man suspected of murdering a government official there a decade ago. The suspect was abducted in France in 2003, driven to Germany and flown back to Mongolia, where he later died.

Khurts' lawyers accuse Britain of ''duplicitously luring'' him to his arrest.

Britain says it had to arrest Khurts because Germany had issued a warrant.

Khurts is due at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

Mongolian spy chief fights extradition in UK court

WASHINGTON POST

By JILL LAWLESS

The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 5, 2011; 1:24 PM

LONDON -- A lawyer for a Mongolian spymaster who was clapped into handcuffs as his plane landed in London said Wednesday that the case should be a warning to other countries to be careful if they plan to send senior officials to Britain.

Bat Khurts, a chief at Mongolia's National Security Council, says he thought he was arriving to attend high-level security talks when he was detained on a European arrest warrant as his Aeroflot plane landed at Heathrow Airport in September. Khurts, 41, is wanted in Germany for questioning over the kidnapping of a Mongolian murder suspect there in 2003.
Lawyer Alun Jones told a court hearing that Khurts' arrest violated his diplomatic immunity as a senior government official.
Jones also said British officials "colluded ... to deceive him" by granting Khurts a visa when they knew there was an arrest warrant out for him.
"The U.K. authorities granted him a visa for the sole purpose of securing his arrest on arrival," Jones said.
He said that if Khurts was not released, "then other countries better look out when they're planning to send senior civil servants to this country."
"The Foreign Office might be planning, behind their backs, to arrest them," Jones said.
Lawyers for the British and German governments will present their case at a later hearing.
Khurts is wanted over the kidnapping of a Mongolian man suspected of murdering a government official 13 years go. The suspect, Damiran Enkhbat, was abducted in France in 2003, driven to Germany and flown back to Mongolia, where he was imprisoned and where human rights groups say he was tortured. He later died of liver disease.
Enkhbat had been suspected in the still unsolved murder of Sanjaasuren Zorig, a prominent politician and government minister stabbed to death in Ulan Bator in 1998.
Britain says it had to arrest Khurts because Germany had issued a warrant.
The spy chief, who has been held in prison since his arrest, is fighting extradition. He appeared in court in a gray sweat shirt and blue trousers, answering questions and following proceedings through a Russian interpreter.
His lawyers said they would apply for bail at a hearing on Jan. 12. The extradition case will resume on Feb. 3.

Lawyer: Mongolian chief had immunity from arrest

(UKPA) – 16 hours ago

A Mongolian spy chief allegedly lured to the UK so he could be arrested at London's Heathrow Airport should not have been detained because he is covered by diplomatic immunity, a court has heard.

Bat Khurts, the head of the executive office of Mongolia's National Security Council, was on official government business which protected him from arrest, his lawyer Alun Jones told magistrates.

Khurts legal team claim the 41-year-old was duped into coming to the UK so he could be arrested and jailed under a European Arrest Warrant and extradited to Germany at the behest of the German government.

He appeared at City of Westminster magistrates court in London where he is fighting extradition.

Mr Jones said the spy chief was told he was coming to the UK for high-level Government talks on a new era of intelligence cooperation relating to Muslim fundamentalism. But instead, as soon as his Aeroflot flight touched down at Heathrow airport last September, he was handcuffed and arrested.

Mr Jones said Khurts was a senior civil servant representing his government and was therefore covered under the Special Missions Convention which granted him immunity from detention and arrest.

He told the court: "The defendant was plainly on a special mission. He has immunities and should not have been arrested and should not be in custody. They know he's a very senior civil servant, know he's on government business to further diplomatic relations that constitute a special mission."

Mr Khurts is fighting extradition to Germany over claims he was involved in the kidnap, false imprisonment and return of a Mongolian national suspected of murdering a government official.

It is alleged Khurts was involved in the kidnap of Enkhbat Damiran from France, driving him to Berlin, drugging him and flying him back to Mongolia.

The hearing was adjourned until February 3 at the same court. Khurts was remanded in custody until a bail hearing on January 12.

Copyright © 2011 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

Mongolian spy 'lured to UK to be arrested'

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER

By Wesley Johnson

Wednesday, 5 January 2011
A senior member of the Mongolian security services was lured to Britain so he could be arrested and jailed under a European Arrest Warrant, his lawyer said yesterday.
Bat Khurts, the head of the executive office of Mongolia's National Security Council, thought he was coming to the UK for talks on Muslim fundamentalism. But his solicitor said the Foreign Office was "duplicitously luring Mr Khurts to his arrest and imprisonment at the behest of the German government".
The 41-year-old was arrested at Heathrow in September and will appear before City of Westminster magistrates today to fight extradition to Germany. He is accused of involvement in the kidnap of a Mongolian national in France, who was allegedly drugged and returned to Mongolia from Berlin.

Foreign Office 'lured Mongolian official to UK'

Mr Batbold cancelled a trip to the UK in November - the reason is disputed A Mongolian security services official is due in court in the UK to fight extradition to Germany amid claims he was lured to Britain to be arrested.
Bat Khurts' lawyer says the UK government told him he was coming for talks but acted "duplicitously" at the behest of the German government.
Mr Khurts, 41, was allegedly involved in the kidnap and false imprisonment of a Mongolian national in 2003.
The UK Foreign Office said the arrest was in no way a political statement.
Mr Khurts, the head of the executive office of Mongolia's National Security Council, was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport in September and is being held at Wandsworth prison in south west London.
Continue reading the main story.

Foreign Office statement

He will appear before City of Westminster magistrates on Wednesday.
His solicitor, Duncan MacDonald of law firm JD Spicer, said his client had no idea a European Arrest Warrant existed.
He said Mr Khurts had thought he had been invited to the UK for official government talks on intelligence co-operation relating to Muslim fundamentalism.
The UK's national security advisor Sir Peter Ricketts and his strategy and counter-terrorism director William Nye were among those he thought he was meeting.
There had been "prolonged correspondence" prior to the trip, Mr MacDonald added.
"It seems the Foreign Office was duplicitously luring Mr Khurts to his arrest and imprisonment at the behest of the German government," he said.
"This is no way to treat any individual, let alone a senior official of an allied nation."

'Kidnapped and drugged'

The warrant for Mr Khurts' arrest relates to the kidnap, false imprisonment and repatriation of Mongolian national Enkhbat Damiran, who has since died.
Mr Damiran was wanted in connection with the murder of Mongolian minister Zorig Sanjasuuren.
It is alleged that Mr Khurts helped kidnap Mr Damiran in France before driving him to Berlin in Germany, drugging him and flying him back to Mongolia.
Mr MacDonald says Mongolian prime minister Sukhbaataryn Batbold cancelled a trip to the UK in November as a result of Mr Khurts' arrest - and has no plans to reinstate it.
But the UK Foreign Office said it was postponed because of parliamentary business in Mongolia, and officials were looking to reschedule it.
A spokesman said: "Mr Bat Khurts was arrested under the European Arrest Warrant issued by the German judicial authorities.
"The arrest in no way amounts to a diplomatic or political statement by the British government.
"Judicial authorities, which are wholly independent of the government, are carrying out their independent legal function in accordance with the law.
"His extradition is now before the courts and it would be inappropriate for us to pass further comment at this stage."

Source: BBC News
4 January 2011 Last updated at 19:17 GMT

Why Mongolia and Sri Lanka are top of the stock markets

One exchange is the world's smallest, the other is in a country recovering from war, but they're both thriving

By James Moore

Tuesday, 28 December 201ZE

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If you had invested in a tracker fund at the start of the year, which of the world's stock markets would have done the most for your pound? China, or somewhere nearby? How about one of the resource-rich economies of Latin America, growing fat on the commodities boom? The answer is none of the above (and you would have lost money in China, where the rather overheated stock market went into a sharp reverse). No, the winner of this year's stock-market crown is the Mongolian Stock Exchange in Ulan Bator, although resources are largely the reason for its victory. Opened in 1991, the world's smallest stock exchange by market capitalisation has gained a stunning 187 per cent so far this year (in sterling terms), and a still impressive 136 per cent when measured in the local currency, the tugrik.

However, actually investing a pound there is something of a challenge. According to data from Bloomberg, this year's best-performing stock market, to which you could more easily gain some exposure, has been that of Sri Lanka. Had you invested a pound in the Colombo market at the start of the year, your money would have turned into £2.07 at the close of last week. Investors in the local currency, the Sri Lankan rupee, saw their money increase by 92.3 per cent.

How has the island nation pulled it off? Well, an end to years of strife between the country's government and the independence-seeking Tamils in the north and east has helped. In May 2009 government forces crushed separatist rebels, bringing to a close four decades of ethnic tensions that the United Nations says may have cost up to 100,000 lives.

Although the aftermath of the war was messy, and the island still has many issues to deal with, the stock exchange in Colombo immediately benefited, rising 128 per cent in 2009 as investors poured in. And this year it put in a repeat performance. A booming IT sector – the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a prominent investor, having bought the Sri Lankan technology company MilleniumIT in September last year – and its proximity to booming South-east Asian economies such as India and China, have provided a lot of the impetus, as have government privatisations and a rash of other flotations.

"We have between 60 and 75 initial public offerings lined up for next year. That includes five state entities and 35 finance companies," said Malik Cader, director-general of the Sri Lankan Securities and Exchange Commission, earlier this month. Xavier Rolet, the chief executive of the LSE, also talks enthusiastically about what he has bought. War is supposed to be good for business. Peace is much better, but a bit of democracy wouldn't go amiss; just think how high the country could fly then.

Other than Sri Lanka, the resource-rich economies of Latin America came heavily into play among this year's top-performing markets. Peru and Chile were stars, Argentina, one of the continent's two heavyweights alongside Brazil, also did well, as did Colombia. That has to be put in context: there is an element of bounce-back after the dark years of the recession. All the same, putting a pound into tracking these markets at the start of the year would have produced a more-than-healthy return.

Bill Dinning, head of strategy at Aegon Asset Management, says: "These markets are very much resource plays. We've seen a boom in the prices of industrial metals, and precious metals have also done very well. And there is some support for it still. The outlook for economic growth in 2011 has improved, in the US, in Germany and even here.

"I think we are still playing that game and that will sustain parts of the commodity complex that fuels the markets of these countries. The one thing to watch for is whether the energy complex joins in the bull market. Gasoline is up 10 per cent this year and crude oil has averaged the second-highest price since 2008. That would actually be a worry and a break on growth."

Two other stellar performers, the Thai and Indonesian stock markets, both play into the Asian economic boom, which has continued despite the weakness of Europe and the US, driven by China.

Thailand has not been without its challenges, not least the continuing political instability which led to protests earlier this year. But concerns that this could derail the economy's recovery have proved unfounded. Consumer spending has been on the rise, export growth is strong, and one of the factors that could hamper this – inflation – has remained relatively low.

Elections are expected to be held towards the end of next year, and a repeat of the recent unrest cannot be ruled out, but fund managers say Thailand's equity markets remain cheap and should continue to perform strongly throughout 2011. A word to the wise: peace is good for business. Just look at Sri Lanka.

Robert Quinn, the chief European equity strategist at S&P Equity Research, explains the attraction of the emerging markets, whose stock exchanges have done so well. He said: "We've seen a real acceleration of the global industrial cycle in the latter parts of this year. A lot of money has come out of equities in developed countries and towards emerging markets, which offer a better risk-return profile than other assets at the moment."

One of the important factors to consider when looking at markets is currency – if you look at how markets performed in terms of local currency, as opposed to how they would have performed if you had invested a pound, you get different results. The euro-denominated market in Estonia, for example, has performed exceptionally strongly: it is up 72 per cent in local currency terms. However, in sterling, it has produced a slightly less impressive 65 per cent rise. This is because of the euro's weakness against the pound (and just about every other currency). Elsewhere, sterling's weakness helps inflate returns.

Mr Quinn says: "As for the Baltic states such as Lithuania and Estonia, they took a lot of the adjustment in wages and public spending early, when compared to their counterparts in some of the other weaker Eurozone states on the periphery. Of course, Ireland took an early hit, too. The problem there was that it didn't sort out its banks."

Jerome Booth, head of research and co-founder of fund manager Ashmore Investment Management, says of the markets: "Emerging markets generally should be trading at a premium to the developed world. Inflation, not deflationary pressures, is the main risk, but it is controllable. You have very strongly growing economies without the downside risk of the developed world.

"South-south trade and investment has taken off," Mr Booth continues. "Central banks have started to buy each other's reserves so they are weaning themselves off the old system. There is vibrant growth in investing and demand. This is where you find the bulk of land, people, energy consumption and production. Not to invest in these places is bizarre, particularly when the big risks are at home."


THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER

Mongolia leader here for loan, ties

By ALEX MARTIN

Staff writer

Japan and Mongolia can benefit by strengthening their strategic partnership and combining Japan's advanced technology with Mongolia's abundant natural resources, Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj said Friday in Tokyo.

Elbegdorj, a former two-time prime minister, was visiting Japan to sign a ¥500 million loan from the government to develop his nation's small and midsize businesses and for measures against Mongolia's deteriorating environment.

"The two nations can cooperate long-term in all fields," Elbegdorj said during a news conference at the Japan National Press Club.

Tokyo aims to promote stronger ties with Mongolia to secure new sources of rare earth minerals and break Japan's reliance on China for the vital elements.

"I understand Japan's strong interest toward rare earths. We would like to jointly develop the resources," he said.

Elbegdorj acknowledged that Mongolia's rapid transformation in the last two decades into an open market economy has taken a toll on the environment, but said his country has been working on countermeasures and ways to create renewable energy sources.

Regarding the recent territorial spat between Japan and China over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, Elbegdorj said he hopes the issue can be solved peacefully.

THE JAPAN TIMES

TOKYO to use ODA to promote Japan's satellite industry

TOKYO to use ODA to promote Japan's satellite industry

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The government has decided to provide funding for developing countries' space satellite projects under its official development assistance, government sources said Friday.

The first such aid funds are expected to be offered to Vietnam to help Japanese companies secure business related to a planned satellite launch by the Southeast Asian country.

The government had previously opposed disbursing ODA funds for satellite projects on the grounds that the ODA program should primarily serve the goal of eradicating poverty.

But Tokyo has changed its mind after seeing European countries successfully use ODA funding to benefit their aerospace industries. Japan now plans to extend low-interest, yen-denominated loans to emerging economies to support Japanese firms in the race to secure satellite-related deals abroad, they said.

Since Seiji Maehara became foreign minister last year, the ministry has shifted its position on funding foreign satellite projects with aid funds as Maehara believes the government should help to promote Japanese infrastructure exports.

Vietnam earlier asked Japan for loans to carry out its 30 billion yen project to build a space center and launch a weather satellite.

Among Japanese companies, NEC Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. manufacture satellites.

French and Belgian firms have already been awarded contracts in connection with the Vietnamese space program, apparently aided by their respective countries' ODA.

Japanese companies are afraid of falling behind Western competitors and only one Japanese satellite, with key components made by Japanese firms, has been delivered to a foreign buyer.

Japan is aiming to export five to 10 satellites in five years' time.

The government earmarked funding for the development of advanced small satellites in its draft budget for the year from April. It will also send a delegation of government and corporate officials to Mongolia and Cambodia in February in the hope of winning satellite-related business.

(Mainichi Japan) January 1, 2011

THE MAINICHI DAILY NEWS

Sumo star Asashoryu quits in wake of assault scandal

(CNN) -- Sumo grand champion Asashoryu held a tear-filled press conference to announce his retirement on Thursday in the wake of allegations about his drunken assault on a man outside a Tokyo nightclub last month.

The 29-year-old, who became the first Mongolian to earn the highest ranking in Japan's most revered sport in 2003 and only the third non-Japanese, apologized in a statement broadcast on television.

"I am taking responsibility for having caused so much trouble," he said. "I have caused a lot of trouble for so many people. I decided to step down to bring this to a closure.

"I have no regrets about sumo. There was a big difference about what was reported in the media about the incident and what actually happened."

Asashoryu, real name Dagvadorj Dolgorsuren, is the third most successful wrestler in sumo's 2,000-year history but also one of the most controversial.

He won his 25th Emperor's Cup title last month but during that tournament he allegedly attacked a man in the early hours of January 16 after a night of drinking, leaving him with a broken nose and other facial injuries according to Japanese media reports.

In 2007 he became the first grand champion, or Yokozuna, to be suspended after pulling out of a tournament due to a cited injury and then being filmed playing in a charity soccer match.

Asashoryu, who divorced from his wife last year, was also the first Yokozuna to be disqualified from a bout after he pulled the top knot of an opponent in 2003.

Police have yet to indicate whether they will take action over the latest incident, which initially saw one of Asashoryu's managers say he had been the victim before an unnamed nightclub worker came forward.

Japan Today's Web site reported that the two parties had reached a settlement and made a report to the police on Tuesday.

The Japan Sumo Association met on Monday to investigate the incident.

''He felt compelled to resign for misconduct which was inexcusable, and the board accepted it," its chairman Musashigawa said in a statement.

"I want to apologize to all of the fans and to the person injured in the incident. We will work together to make sure there is no recurrence of this.''

Sumo wrestlers are seen as almost God-like figures in Japan, but the sport's image has been hit recently.

In 2008, Russian wrestler Wakanoho was arrested for possessing the illegal drug marijuana and three others were taken away by police over allegations they beat a 17-year-old trainee to death.

Japan Times on line, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010

Mongolian press ridicules JSA

ULAN BATOR (Kyodo) Several Mongolian newspapers on Friday featured articles on their front pages reporting that a conspiracy was behind former yokozuna Asashoryu's decision to quit sumo over his alleged assault of a man in downtown Tokyo.

Most of them failed to mention Asashoryu's problematic behavior, instead stressing that Japanese sumo officials had pressured him to retire for fear of the fiery yokozuna breaking sumo legend and former yokozuna Taiho's record of 32 title wins.

The newspapers credited Asashoryu with helping bolster sumo's waning fan base as well as contributing to the increase in revenue for the ancient Japanese sport.

Zuunii Medee, a national newspaper, called on the "suspension of sumo broadcasts in Mongolia."

Khaltmaagiin Battulga, who is president of the Mongolian Judo Federation and a minister in the government, said in an interview with Mongolyn Medee, "It appears that Japanese people were afraid of a yokozuna who has foreign nationality breaking a record in the country's traditional sport."

Asashoryu, whose real name is Dolgorsuren Dagvadorj, does not hold Japanese citizenship and therefore cannot remain with the Japan Sumo Association now that he is retired.

TIMELINE:MONGOLIA

Timeline: Mongolia

A chronology of key events:

1206-63 - Following unification of the Mongol tribes, Genghis Khan launches a campaign of conquest. His sons and grandsons create the world's biggest land empire.

1267-1368 - Weakened by disunity, the empire implodes. Ming troops oust the Mongols from Dadu - present-day Beijing.

1380 - The Golden Horde is defeated by the Russian Prince Dmitriy Donskoy. Ming troops destroy the Mongol capital, Karakorum.

Manchu rule

1636 - The Manchu (Qing) empire conquers the southern Mongols, creating Inner Mongolia.

1691 - The Qing empire offers protection to the northern Mongols, creating Outer Mongolia.

1727 - The Treaty of Kyakhta fixes the western border between the Russian and Manchu empires, confirming Qing dominion over Mongolia and Tuva.

First Soviet satellite state

1911 - The Qing dynasty falls and Outer Mongolia declares its independence. Russia and the Republic of China recognise its autonomy.

1919 - The Chinese army occupies Outer Mongolia.

1920 - Mongolian revolutionaries found the Mongolian People's Party and open contact with Bolsheviks in Siberia.

1921 - With Red Army support, Mongolian revolutionaries drive out Chinese and Tsarist forces and install the Mongolian "people's government".

1924 - The People's Party chooses Lenin's "road to socialism bypassing capitalism" and renames itself the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP). The Mongolian People's Republic is proclaimed.

Purges

1928-32 - "Rightists" who want private enterprise are ousted. "Leftists" who want communes are ousted. A "counter-revolutionary uprising" against the confiscation of monastery property is suppressed.

1937 - Mongolian Prime Minister Genden is arrested in the USSR and shot for spying for Japan. The Minister of War Marshal Demid is poisoned aboard a Trans-Siberian train. Monasteries are destroyed and lamas murdered.

1939 - Mongolian and Soviet troops commanded by General Zhukov defeat an invasion by Japanese and Manchukuo forces in the Battle of Halhyn Gol (Nomonhan).

1939 - "Mongolia's Stalin", interior minister and new Minister of War Choybalsan, is appointed prime minister. Ex-PM Amar is tried in the USSR and shot for spying for Japan.

International recognition

1945-46 - Yalta conference agrees to preserve the status quo - Soviet control - in Mongolia. Mongolians vote for independence in a UN plebiscite. Mongolia is recognised by the Republic of China.

1949-55 - Relations established with the People's Republic of China. Railway built across Mongolia linking Russia and China.

1952 - Choybalsan dies, and is replaced as prime minister by Tsedenbal, the MPRP general secretary since 1940.

1961-63 - UN Security Council approves Mongolia's UN membership. Diplomatic relations established with the UK.

Soviet buffer against China

1966 - Soviet Communist Party General-Secretary Brezhnev signs a friendship treaty in Ulan Bator allowing secret stationing of Soviet troops in Mongolia.

1973-81 - Mongolia accuses China of planning annexation, protests against Chinese leaders' call for withdrawal of Soviet troops, accuses China of "aggressive intentions" and expels some Chinese residents.

1984 - "Mongolia's Brezhnev", party General-Secretary Tsedenbal, head of state since 1974, is forced out of office by the MPRP Politburo.

1986 - Gorbachev's Vladivostok speech opens the way to detente with China and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Mongolia.

Democracy

1990 - Street demonstrations force resignation of the MPRP Politburo. Political parties are legalised. Elections to the Great Hural (parliament) are won by the MPRP, but 19 of the 50 seats in a new standing legislature go to non-communists.

1992 - Mongolia's new constitution gives first place to human rights and freedoms. In the first democratic elections the MPRP wins 71 of the 76 seats in the new single-chamber Great Hural.

2001: On the campaign trail with Bagabandi

1993 - The first direct presidential elections are won by Ochirbat, nominated by the National and Social Democrats.

1996 - The National and Social Democrats win 50 seats in the Great Hural elections, but the MPRP can deny a quorum, hindering passage of legislation.

1997 - MPRP candidate Bagabandi wins presidential election.

2000 - After the democrats form three new governments in two years the MPRP wins 72 seats in the Great Hural elections. The National and Social Democrats and three other parties form a new Democratic Party.

2001 February - UN launches appeal for $8.7m (£6m) to support herders suffering in worst winter conditions in more than 50 years.

2001 May - President Bagabandi re-elected.

2001 October - IMF approves nearly $40 million in low-interest loans over next three years to help tackle poverty and boost economic growth.

2002 November - Dalai Lama visits. China denounces trip and warns Mongolian leaders not to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader.

2003 July - It is announced that 200 soldiers will be sent to Iraq to contribute to peacekeeping.

2004 January - Russia writes off all but $300 million of Mongolia's debts.

Power-sharing

2004 June-August - Parliamentary elections, in which the opposition performs strongly, result in political deadlock over contested results. Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj is eventually appointed as prime minister following power-sharing deal.

2005 March-April - Protesters in the capital demand the government's resignation and an end to poverty and official corruption.

2005 May - MPRP candidate Nambaryn Enkhbayar wins presidential election.

2005 November - President George W Bush becomes the first serving US leader to visit Mongolia.

2006 January - Coalition government headed by Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj falls after the MPRP pulls out, blaming the leadership for slow economic growth. Parliament chooses MPRP's Miyeegombo Enkhbold as the new prime minister.

2007 November - Prime Minister Miyeegombo Enkhbold resigns. He is replaced by MPRP leader Sanjagiin Bayar.

2008 July - President Enkhbayar declares a state of emergency to quell riots in the capital which left five dead and hundreds injured. Violence erupted after the opposition accused the governing party of rigging elections.

2009 May - Former Prime Minister and candidate of the opposition Democratic Party, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, wins presidential election, defeating incumbent Nambaryn Enkhbayar by a narrow margin. Governing MPRP says it accepts the result.

2009 October - Prime Minister Sanjagiin Bayar of the MPRP resigns for health reasons. Foreign Minister Sukhbaataryn Batbold succeeds him.

Mongolian New Prime Minister

Mongolia's ruling party has nominated Foreign Minister Batbold Sukhbaatar to be the country's new prime minister.

If confirmed as prime minister he will replace Bayar Sanjaa, who asked to resign due to ill health.

Mr Batbold is reputedly one of the country's wealthiest men and is expected to continue the country's pursuit of investment in mining.

Mongolia, landlocked between Russia and China, is poor despite rich deposits of copper, gold, uranium, silver and oil.

The ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) will submit Mr Batbold's nomination to President Elbegdorj Tsakhia, who is expected to give his approval in the next few days.

After that, the Mongolian parliament, called the State Great Khural, will vote on his confirmation.

Natural resources

Parliament had earlier approved the request of Mr Bayar to resign - he has suffered from hepatitis C and related liver problems and was hospitalised again last week.

He had recently overseen the signing of a long-debated deal between Mongolia and two mining companies - Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe Mines.
A mix of old and new buildings on the outskirts of Ulan Batur
The Mongolian government says economic development is a priority

This would see the development of a $4bn (£2.44bn) gold and copper mine, the Oyu Tolgoi mine in the Gobi Desert.

"I regret that I couldn't finish what I planned to do," Mr Bayar told lawmakers, according to state television.

"The government still has a lot of work to do," he said.

Mr Bayar became prime minister in November 2007 after assuming the leadership of the MPRP, which had ruled the country for decades as a one-party communist state until a peaceful move to multi-party politics in the 1990s.

He was confirmed in his post in September 2008, two months after riots erupted in the capital Ulan Bator over a disputed June parliamentary election victory by the MPRP. Five people were killed.

The MPRP still controls the 76-seat parliament, but Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj of the opposition Democratic Party won the presidency in May, creating a virtual coalition government.

Mongolia's location, between Russia and China, has prompted feelings of vulnerability, requiring its leaders to carefully balance conflicting interests.

Mr Batbold was educated in Moscow and London.

Between 1992 and 2000, he headed the trading company Altai Trading Company Limited, which formed a gold mining joint venture with Canadian firm Centerra Gold Inc.

Altai Trading, which has hotel and cashmere interests, is now being managed by Mr Batbold's wife.