Mongolia Rising is a monthly newspaper about a country that most of the world has decided it already understands. Mongolia is the land of Chinggis Khaan, of horses and eagles and the open steppe, of a mining boom that was going to change everything and then, depending on who you ask, did or didn’t. All of that is true, and none of it is the story.
The story is what is happening now. A government with a parliamentary majority and a reform programme it intends to see through. A renegotiated Oyu Tolgoi agreement that will shape the national balance sheet for a generation. State-owned enterprises being readied for public markets. Data centres, solar fields, battery storage and a sovereign conversation about artificial intelligence, all taking place in a country of three and a half million people wedged between Russia and China and determined to be more than a corridor between them. Mongolia’s third-neighbour policy is no longer a diplomatic slogan. It is an economic strategy with real counterparties, and it deserves reporting that takes it seriously.
That is what we set out to do.
What we cover
Each issue runs to sixteen pages and is organised into five sections: Politics, Economy, Mining and Energy, Foreign Affairs and Culture. We report from Ulaanbaatar and from the aimags, and we read the country from the outside as well, through the capitals that matter to it: Beijing and Moscow, obviously, but also Washington, Tokyo, Seoul, Canberra, Brussels and the Gulf.
We interview the people making the decisions. Our first issue opens with a cover conversation with the Prime Minister. In the same issue you will find the chief executive of the country’s largest telecoms operator, a senior banker, a cashmere house that competes in Milan and Paris, and a property developer rebuilding the capital’s skyline. We think the best way to understand a country’s direction is to ask the people steering it, then check their answers against the numbers.
We also make room for the parts of Mongolia that don’t fit in a spreadsheet. Every issue closes with a photo essay. Our Culture pages cover film, music, fashion, food and sport, because a country’s confidence shows up in those places long before it shows up in GDP.
How we work
We publish in English. Our readers are investors, diplomats, executives, scholars, policy people and members of the Mongolian diaspora who want to follow their country without wading through press releases or waiting for the occasional wire-service piece.
We are not a news service. By the time our paper lands, the headlines have moved on, and that suits us. Monthly publication gives us the time to explain, to put a decision in context, to go back to a story six months after everyone else has forgotten it and ask what actually happened. If you want to know what was announced, there are faster places to look. If you want to know what it means, start here.
We have a point of view. We think Mongolia is undersold, underreported and more consequential than its population suggests, and we are not shy about saying so. We also think the best way to make that case is with accurate reporting, named sources, verified figures and interviews that ask real questions. Where we get something wrong, we correct it in print and online, and we say that we did.
Mongolia Rising is published by Redhill, an independent strategic communications group with offices in Ulaanbaatar, Singapore and across Asia.
How we pay for it
Mongolia Rising is supported by advertising and by subscriptions. Around forty per cent of each issue is paid space, clearly marked and kept separate from editorial. Our advertisers are the companies and institutions that want to be seen by the people who read us, and we are grateful for them. They do not see our stories before publication, and they do not shape them.
Where to find us
The print edition appears in the first week of every month and is distributed in Ulaanbaatar through [hotels, embassies, business lounges and selected retailers] and to subscribers abroad. Every issue is also published in full on this site, and our newsletter brings each edition, plus occasional pieces between issues, straight to your inbox.
We read every message we receive. Story ideas, corrections, requests for back issues and advertising enquiries can all be sent through the Contact page. If you are in Ulaanbaatar, come and find us.
Mongolia is rising. We are here to report it properly.