Thursday, May 31, 2012

A Report from Inside the World's Next Super Boom Country: Mongolia

There are huge mineral deposits inside Mongolia and limited government (for now), which could result in the area being a huge opportunity for the super adventurous. David Pilling, Asia Editor for FT, recently spent some time in the country and sent out these tweets about Mongolia (and one tweet about Japan):
My Mongolian fact of the day. 20 years ago, Ulan Bator had 300 cars. Now: 300K (and traffic jams in every direction). Progress or what?
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The FT prides itself on our scoops. But apparently this guy beat me to the Mongolia story pic.twitter.com/kbnOR1Zm

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Our man in Japan (1 of 4) got inside Fukushima nuclear reactor No 4 and concluded it's not yet safe http://t.co/2yYBHbe3

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To recap, I'm in Mongolia for 3-4 days. First visit. Here's a photo from 1 of new tower blocks spring up all over place http://t.co/L9W1BEv1

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Mongolia sets yr head spinning. Growing 20% a yr (roughly) &likely to continue. GDP per capita $2,000 but cd soon become richest in world

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Russian influence lingers. Pollster, discussing president's prospects for re-election, said: "I bet 3 cognacs to 1 he will". Why not vodka?

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I need to eat. Been going since 6am so pretty tired. Food is excellent. I didn't expect since this is national dish http://t.co/Dw85HPcp

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It's called boodog and here is a recipe for its preparation. I must try before I leave http://t.co/no7qIduH

http://www.mongolfood.info/en/recipes/boodog.html

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Rare earths here, but more important coal, copper, gold, wind (massive amounts of all). This is the Qatar of Asia

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3m people & at least $1tn of stuff in ground (and they haven't really started looking yet). You do the math

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They're advertising London Olympics in downtown Ulan Bator. Is there an ad for Mongolian wrestling in Leicester Sq? http://t.co/X9YEpc6a

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Right, need to go bed now. Have to get up at 6am tomorrow to prepare for interview with Mongolian president. Wish me luck

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Morning. I'm up to do a bit of research for an interview in front of a live audience of Mongolia's President Elbegdorj.

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I've read up abt President Elbegdorj. He studied at Leeds Uni where my dad taught when I was a kid. I'll ask if he's a Leeds FC fan

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Back in hotel typing up transcript of interview with President Elbegdorj: "To describe democracy in one word: 'learning from your mistakes'"

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What's in the closet? "Whether the dinosaur of corruption takes hold of Mongolian law, that is the question."

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this was a picture of the president that I snapped during our interview http://t.co/AoZ4flTe

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And this is the guy who used to run the show http://t.co/FXbcVqi8

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Now got to write up presidential interview. Been going for nearly 13 hours, so flagging a bit. Will try to finish in 90 mins or so

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Made it out to the Mongolian steppe this afternoon. Oh alright then this is a painting
http://t.co/WJMe5G8r

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6.50am. Lots of shouting & brawling in hotel corridor last night. Pretty wrecked this morning - from disturbance not from shouting &brawling

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My story on Mongolian president. It's invisible on website. If u didn't know it was there, u'd never find it ;-) http://t.co/eyltMQwF

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7.20am Grabbing some breakfast. Then off to see "a western diplomat" for background chat. Blue skies outside. Slight chill in air

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Btw, I passed this building on way back to hotel. Does anyone know if it's Tibetan-style architecture or something else http://t.co/EM5Q9xEl

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5:48pm Finished my column> here's a teaser: Kuwait 1950. Abu Dhabi 1970. Qatar 1995. Mongolia 2012?

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I have prospect of a couple of very intriguing interviews. Trying to secure now. One with Mongolian sumo wrestler I used to follow in Japan

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6pm: Got to run. Meeting people from Oyu Tolgoi copper/gold mine for early dinner. Then one more interview, starting 8.30pm. Talk later

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11:43pm If you're counting, entering 17th hour. Days long in Asia. Back from interviews. Now need to check column & talk to newsdesk

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8.10am. This is my column: Steady, Mongolia is not yet the new Qatar http://tinyurl.com/buw3hh8

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This one goes out to @memabeye. "In 2010, Mongolia’s togrog was the world’s best-performing currency."

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21.55. Excuse the early sign off, but am off back to HK at 5am tomorrow. I'll leave you a few Mongolian thoughts before I sign off.

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I didn't get to visit the ger districts, the tented areas that make up more than half of the population of Ulan Bator. That's a regret.

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I talked to someone from the Zorig Foundation who works in the ger districts. He told me westerners have romantic views about ger life

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On the steppe, a ger is great. You can put it up in 30 mins, it's cool in summer and warm (because you can burn animal dung) in winter

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In Ulan Bator, the ger is "probably one of the worst places to live in the world". Its freezing (no animal dung to heat in -40 degrees)

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There is no running water, no sanitation. Nor are ger dwellers educated to take advantage of new opportunities of mine-fuelled boom

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So far says Zorig Foundation, "economic boom" has meant pollution, displacement, traffic jams - oh & an incredibly profitable Louis Vuitton

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My first trip to Mongolia has amazed & enthralled as I hope my tweets convey. Talk next when I get to
HK

6 comments:

  1. "This is the Qatar of Asia"

    Genius editor of FT, I thought Qatar is the Qatar of Asia.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very interesting stuff about Mongolia. But don't worry, we'll screw it up. Under "THE BILATRAL RELATIONSHIP" here:

    http://www.diplomaticandconsular.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=476&catid=148&Itemid=29&act=cp

    I read that Britain's Establishment has its teeth into the place. Lord Malloch Brown is in there. He's a big time globalist. The Duke of York is in there also. He's a front man for corporate interests. If Mongolians are getting their advice from that lot then they'll be stitched up.

    Then I wondered if Mongolia has a central bank. Wikipedia tells me they established one in 1991.

    Oh dear.

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    Replies
    1. Their president was educated at Leeds University so he has been screened, indoctrinated, and approved to run his country. One would think the Chinese and Russians would want prevent another Iraq/Iran in their backyard.

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  3. I think it's interesting that people think it's normal for big cities to have horrible traffic (like we do here in Seattle). To my Rothbardian way of thinking, all that congestion is simply a predictable failure of the state-run roads.

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  4. Mongolia? I thought Burma was the new "hot" frontier idea.

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  5. Reeks of hubris.

    Between the perverse influence of British elte in the country, and the high cost structure of projects (mines need their own rail, power plants and more) and the massive overcapacity in China I can't see Mongolia becoming another UAE.

    ReplyDelete