Prime Minister Altankhuyag Norov was interviewed by journalists of the Mongolian press media on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister stated that transparent action, hearing the public and providing feedback on results to the public are the main principles of the reformist Government.
The Prime Minister also said that he received civilian complaints and proposals on every subject via the “11-11” center every day, the “Solve problems in a new way-222” meeting once a month and met sectors and agencies in order to hear urgent  issues from  8:40 to 11:00 am every day.

Reporters and journalists from every press media operating in Mongolia turned out to the lecture Hall at the National University of Mongolia in order to question the country`s political and economic stance and its business and social circumstances.

-Consumer product prices are increasing this time of the year. The Government promised to hold back on consumer products prices surges. Can the Government meet expectations?

-One of the priority targets of the Government is to freeze consumer product price increases and not let prices surge. Foremost we keep a policy to restrict price surges on products such as meat, flour, transportation, building materials, oil and fuel; the most needed by civilians.

We started taking certain measures to stabilize prices on the most needed consumer products working with Mongol Bank. The results are now being seen.

Due to Tsagaan Sar consumer products are formally increased every year.

But we could not watch the prices increase without doing anything. As a result 5 programs by the Government this year are working on making sure the price surge is less than previous years.

Currently consumer prices have been increased by 20 to 30 MNT in contrast to 100 and 200 MNT increases in past years.

We will keep working on the price restrictions. The Government gave directions to implementing agencies to launch a sale of reserved meat in the market. Therefore meat prices will be stabilized.

-The President commissioned to the Government to hasten the proposed development projects on the railway, V Power Plant, Industrial Park and the Oil Refinery in Darkhan that are believed to be significant to the country`s economic growth.

-What is the proposed time to start these projects?

-The President heard reports about what has been done on reducing air pollution over the past two years and what will be done in the near future and gave directions to the Government.

The Ministries and Implementing Agencies gave the report that there was a small reduction in air pollution and toxic substances.

The plan to provide households in ger district with energy efficient stoves and improved fuel failed. Therefore the reformist Government will keep focusing on reducing air pollution by 60-70 percent over 2-3 years. But this is not enough to fight against only smoke. We should consider air pollution reduction along with the  Master Plan to re-arrange ger districts.

-What is the current financial situation of Erdenes TT LLC. Reports say that the company has halted coal exports due to a debt with Tsagaan khad coal transport loading facility.  Is there any possibility to improve the terms of contract with CHALCO on coal export?  What measures have been taken?

-Tavan Tolgoi LLC is debt-ridden. The company has debts of 110 billion MNT to commercial banks. It also must pay interest to the banks every month. Erdenes TT LLC took 350 million US dollars from CHALCO in advance. Currently the company has a debt of 300 billion MNT.

The interest rate for the loan is even higher than the Government bond. It will be hard for the company to make profit even after the debts are paid.

The reason is the deal signed with CHALCO is fatal. According to the agreement that the Mongolia side signed, Mongolia must sell coal at 50-70 US dollars if the market price is 70-100 US dollar to China.

We can withdraw from the agreement only after paying 50 million US dollars.

At least the country will get out from this situation.

-How are the proceedings of the Oil Refinery which is to be built in Darkhan. Is it true that the oil refinery will process imported oil from Russia?

-After hearing 10 company’s presentation on the oil refinery project the Government decided to support the oil refinery in Darkhan. The issue has been raised at Government level numerous times but was left unsolved.

-The Government reached a decision to build an oil refinery with the capacity to process 2 million tons of crude oil by 2015.  Japan is ready to finance the project with a lower interest rate loan than a bond interest. The Government hopes the agreement with Japan on the project finance will be signed in February.

-Therefore the Government has given directions to the Minister for Economic Development to determine the Government and investor`s investment stake in the project.

We hope the main options to take on the project will be obvious by February.
One thing that experts and public raise concerns over is the import of crude oil. Some people say that we will stay dependent on Russia if we import crude oil to process so we will still be dependent on Russian imported fuel. They claim there would be no difference. Actually there is a difference. Mongolia currently produces 360,000 tons of crude oil a year. The production output will rise further.

This year we are supposed to produce over 700,000 tons and even one million tons of crude oil in 2014.

Mongolia will be no longer be dependent on one supplier. Instead we will produce it ourselves. The reason is that now we can explore for crude oil but we cannot process it.

-There is dispute over rail track width. Do you agree with Enkhsaikhan Mendsaikhan on the rail policy?

-Altankhuyag Norov, Battulga Khaltmaa and Enkhsaikhan Mendsaikhan should not decide what width the rail track should be. The width of the rail is state policy. Parliament determined that rails should be laid 1,520 millimeters apart. But there is a sentence in the law that says the Government should submit a suggestion to parliament if it is to export coal directly.

Therefore there should not be a dispute over rail width. The rail width is designated according to state policy and to a feasibility study.