🫱🏻‍🫲🏼 How Naadam Became Diplomacy

Mongolian Bank Hit by EU Sanctions

July 27, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

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Happy Monday! ☀️ What a scorcher last week was. The good news? This week is expected to be a little cooler, with plenty of rain to keep things bearable. Summer is still summering, but we all know how this goes in Mongolia, autumn has a habit of arriving before anyone's ready. So make the most of these long days while they last. 😎

What’s inside today’s edition…

  • 🚫 Mongolian Bank Hit by EU Sanctions

  • 🫱🏻‍🫲🏼 How Naadam Became Diplomacy

  • 📱 Crackdown on Kids’ Social Media

We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get moving. 🐐

MARKET

EU: The EU’s 21st sanctions package, adopted last Thursday, introduces transaction bans on 4 third-country banks, including 1 Mongolian bank.

BOM: The Bank of Mongolia partners with the International Finance Corporation to strengthen climate risk management

TMK: TMK Energy (TMK.AX) has brought in veteran petroleum engineer Steve Skinner as Chief Operating Officer to lead the next phase of development for its Gurvantes XXXV coal seam gas project in Mongolia.

🤔 The New Face of Naadam: How an 800-Year-Old Festival Became a Diplomatic Platform

For the past 4 consecutive years, Mongolia has hosted a foreign head of state or monarch as the official Guest of Honor at its National Naadam Festival. 

🛫 A Deliberate 4-Year Streak

Naadam has increasingly become a stage for diplomacy. In 2023, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov attended the festival, followed by Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck in 2024. In 2025, Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako made a rare imperial visit centered around Naadam, and in 2026, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung became the first Korean head of state to attend as Guest of Honor. 

  • This unbroken sequence is no coincidence. Mongolian officials have systematically elevated Naadam from a domestic holiday into a high-level diplomatic stage.

🧩 Why Naadam Works as Diplomacy

Unlike formal state banquets or conference halls, Naadam offers visiting leaders an immersive experience of Mongolian identity. Guests sit alongside the President at the National Stadium, watch traditional performances, and often visit the horse-racing grounds at Khui Doloon Khudag. The setting creates informal yet highly symbolic moments that formal diplomacy rarely achieves.

  • 🤗 By hosting foreign leaders at Naadam, Mongolia has turned the festival into a powerful soft diplomacy platform. The 2025 visit by Japan's Emperor and Empress and the 2026 visit by South Korean President Lee Jae-myung generated widespread media coverage, bringing Naadam to millions of new viewers.

💭 Results Beyond Symbolism

Each visit has been paired with concrete outcomes such as bilateral agreements, business forums, and renewed strategic partnerships. The 2026 visit by President Lee, for instance, produced 21 cooperation documents and marked the first South Korean presidential state visit in 15 years.

Overall… By linking its most sacred national festival to carefully chosen state visits, Mongolia has turned tradition into leverage. Naadam is no longer only about celebrating the past. It has become a platform for shaping the country’s future relationships on the world stage.

⭐ Selected for you

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

  • Mongolia Sees 25.7% Rise in Foreign Arrivals in First Half of 2026. (TheNation)

  • Jade Gas Secures A$1bn Funding for Coal Bed Methane Gas, LNG Development in Mongolia. (MiningWeekly)

  • ‘Fuel Price Volatility Poses Risks to Economic Stability’. (TheUBPost)

  • Copper is Central to Mongolia’s Growth But Requires Policy Shifts. (MongolianMiningJournal)

POLITICS

  • British Media Highlights Mongolia in Criticism of Plans to Increase the UK’s Foreign Aid Budget. (CityAM)

  • Scaling AI in Education Systems: Lessons from Mongolia (A Three-Layer Architecture for Scaling AI from Tools to Systems). (WorldBankBlogs)

  • UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad on Mongolia, Desertification, and COP17. (TheDiplomat)

  • Korea's Mongolian Mineral Bet May Become a Geopolitical Tightrope Walk Between China, Russia and the U.S. (KoreaJoongAngDaily)

  • Armenian Government Approves Ratification of Amendments to Visa Agreement with Mongolia. (ArmenPress)

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

  • Mongolia Breaks Ground on First Independent Institute of International Studies. (ANN)

  • Geoeconomic Constraint and Strategic Autonomy in Mongolia: The Taming of the Steppe’s Wild Horse. (AU)

🛑 Mongolia Moves to Regulate Children’s Social Media Use

Mongolia has taken a significant step toward protecting children online. A group of Members of Parliament recently submitted the draft Law on Regulating Children’s Participation in Social Media to the Parliament. The bill aims to create the country’s first comprehensive legal framework for children’s digital safety.

👉🏻 What the Draft Law Proposes?

The core provision bans children under the age of 13 from creating or maintaining accounts on social media platforms. For those aged 13 to 16, the law introduces stricter rules such as platforms would be required to offer age-appropriate versions of their services, limit addictive design features, and obtain verified parental consent. Companies that fail to comply could face penalties.

🧐 Why the Age of 13?

The age threshold of 13 is not arbitrary. It aligns with international standards, including the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the default minimum age set by major platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Lawmakers argue that children under 13 lack the cognitive maturity to handle online risks, while those between 13 and 16 still need structured safeguards during a critical developmental stage.

☠️ The Scale of the Problem

Mongolian children are already heavy users of social media. According to available data, a large share of teenagers are active on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. More concerning are the safety findings, a Save the Children survey found that 1 in 2 children has experienced cyberbullying at least once. A 2025 UNDP study further revealed that roughly 1/3 of children aged 9–12 and more than half of those aged 13–17 reported being bullied or insulted online.

  • 🔢 These numbers help explain the urgency behind the bill. Lawmakers and child-rights advocates point to rising cases of online harassment, exposure to harmful content, and mental-health impacts as evidence that voluntary platform policies are no longer sufficient.

What happens next

The draft is currently in the early stages of parliamentary review. If passed, it would place new obligations on both social media companies and parents, marking a major shift in how Mongolia approaches children's digital lives. However, enforcement could prove difficult, and overly strict restrictions may simply push children toward less regulated corners of the internet.

For now, the submission of the bill signals that Mongolia is ready to treat children’s online safety as a matter of law rather than private responsibility.

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Publisher: Ts.Ankhbayar
Writer: M.Khulan
Graphics by: Ts.Tselmeg

Disclaimer: The information Inside Mongolia provides is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to be or constitute financial advice, trading advice, or any other advice. The decision whether to consider the information we provide is solely our readers' independent decision.