Category Archives: International Agreements

Guest Post: A BIT of Project Finance Arbitrage in Mongolia

Posted on April 1, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Kinnari Bhatt As Jennifer Lander observed last week, RIO is getting out the big guns. My new book – Concessionaires, Financiers and Communities: Implementing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights to Land in Transnational Development Projects, shows how investors like RIO use … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Foreign Investment, International Agreements, Kinnari Bhatt, Law, Mining, Mining Governance, Mongolia and ..., Oyu Tolgoi, Oyu Tolgoi, Research on Mongolia, Taxes | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Investor-State Arbitration and Mongolia’s Rapidly Shrinking Policy Space

Posted on March 11, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Jennifer Lander On the 20th of February, Rio Tinto initiated arbitration proceedings against the Government of Mongolia at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) through Oyu Tolgoi LLC. The escalation of the dispute over the alleged … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Foreign Investment, International Agreements, Jennifer Lander, Law, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Oyu Tolgoi, Oyu Tolgoi, Policy, Taxes, Trade | Leave a comment

Rio Tinto in Mongolia

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Recently, Bulgan B and I pointed out that there have been as many CEOs at Oyu Tolgoi over the past ten years as there have been PMs of Mongolia. I also appeared on a live BBC radio … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreign Investment, International Agreements, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Nationalism, Oyu Tolgoi, Policy | Leave a comment

Implications of Power Politics for OT and Elsewhere “Offshore”

Posted on April 22, 2018 by marissa smith

By Marissa Smith About a week ago, Mendee and I agreed to write a pair of blog posts on the question of how OT and the current wave of corruption investigations and arrests, most recently involving former Prime Ministers Ch. … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Development, Foreign Investment, Infrastructure, International Agreements, International Relations, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, North Korea, Oyu Tolgoi | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: A quick reaction to the on-going Facebook conversations on Oyu Tolgoi agreement and the role of Mr Bayartsogt in signing it

Posted on March 28, 2018 by mendee

By Undariya Tumursukh The news that the Swiss are investigating the possible corruption case involving the former Finance Minister S. Bayartsogt (DP) and Rio Tinto has triggered some agitated discussion, including on Facebook, about Mr. Bayartsogt’s central role in concluding … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Foreign Investment, International Agreements, Mining, Oyu Tolgoi, Undariya Tumursukh | 1 Comment

SOMO Report “Mining Taxes”

Posted on February 1, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes The Dutch Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) published a report focused on a whole list of issues related to financial and governance structures for the Oyu Tolgoi project. The report was written by SOMO’s Vincent Kiezebrink and … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Corruption, EU, Foreign Investment, International Agreements, International Relations, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Oyu Tolgoi, Policy, Public Policy, Taxes | Tagged | Leave a comment

SOMO Report Preamble: Assumptions

Posted on February 1, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes It struck me while reading the SOMO report on Oyu Tolgoi governance and tax structures that there are a number of big assumptions and elements in the Mongolian context that are not discussed explicitly, but that are … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreign Investment, International Agreements, Mining, Mining Governance, Oyu Tolgoi, Policy, Public Policy, Taxes | Tagged | Leave a comment

How Are We To Think About Rio’s Balancing of Political Risk and Taxation in Light of SOMO Report?

Posted on February 1, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Rio Tinto’s response to the SOMO report claims that the convoluted corporate structure that has been created for Oyu Tolgoi is not aimed at saving taxes, but rather at reducing investment risk. For as long as Rio … Continue reading →

Posted in International Agreements, Mining, Mining Governance, Oyu Tolgoi, Public Policy, Taxes | Tagged | Leave a comment

Unequal Match: Mongolia versus Rio Tinto

Posted on February 1, 2018 by mendee

By Mendee Jargalsaikhan If one describes the bargaining game between Mongolia, a small and isolated resource-rich state, and Rio Tinto, a giant multinational corporation, through the Mongolian national pastime sport – wrestling, it is truly an unequal match between the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Foreign Investment, International Agreements, Mendee Jargalsaikhan, Mining, Mongolia and ..., Oyu Tolgoi | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Agreement between Canada and Mongolia for the Promotion and Protection of Investments – a Glance at Its Nature, Significance and Features

Posted on December 10, 2017 by Julian Dierkes

By Bajar Scharaw On 8 September 2016, Canada and Mongolia signed an international Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments (the Canada-Mongolia Investment Agreement). The Agreement entered into force on 24 February 2017 and created legally-binding obligations for both … Continue reading →

Posted in Bajar Scharaw, Canada, Foreign Investment, Foreign Policy, International Agreements, Law, Trade | 2 Comments

Impacts of International Exchanges

Posted on December 4, 2016 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes [With thanks to CIRDI’s Marie-Luise Ermisch for contributing some of these.] During the first workshop we co-organized with the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ International Cooperation Fund, a number of impacts arose in an incidental manner, but … Continue reading →

Posted in CIRDI, Development, International Agreements, Kyrgyz Republic, Mining Governance | Tagged | Leave a comment

Contract transparency in Mongolian Mining

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Julian Dierkes

 Unbundling contract transparency in the extractive industry: the case of Mongolia – Part I Contract transparency is crucial in ensuring deals in the extractive industry deliver better outcomes for the host nation and community. Civil society has long campaigned for … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, International Agreements, Mining, Oyu Tolgoi, Social Movements | Tagged | 3 Comments

Guest Post: Assessing Khan Resources Arbitration

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Julian Dierkes

Matthew Levine Following expropriation of Dornod uranium investment, Khan Resources announces conclusion of arbitration with Mongolian government Intro Khan, a mining company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange’s venture board, its holding company, and its erstwhile joint-venture partner, recently announced … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Canada, Foreign Investment, International Agreements, International Relations | 1 Comment

Arbitration Award to Khan Resources

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Julian Dierkes

On Mar 2 2015 it was announced that erstwhile Canadian uranium miner Khan Resources was awarded US$100mio in arbitration proceedings administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague (Netherlands). The proceedings were rooted in the 2009 cancellation … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Foreign Investment, International Agreements, International Relations, Mining | Tagged | Leave a comment

FM Baird to Visit Mongolia

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Julian Dierkes

According to Mongolian news sources ( 24 Tsag | infomongolia.com), Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird will be visiting Ulaanbaatar July 23-25. There’s no official Canadian announcement as of July 20, but let’s assume that this visit is really happening, after … Continue reading →

Posted in Bilateral Aid, Business, Canada, Diaspora, Foreign Policy, International Agreements, International Relations, Mongolia and ... | Tagged | Leave a comment