15 марта 2024 — 18:00
Work on an interim trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Mongolia may be completed by the end of this year. This was reported to BelTA by the press service of the Eurasian Economic Commission following the results of consultations held on March 13-14 in Moscow on the conclusion of this agreement, which assumes a limited commodity coverage.
"Mongolia is one of the priority partners of the EAEU, the expansion of trade and economic ties with which is given special importance. The EAEU and Mongolia have a wide range of opportunities both to increase the competitiveness of national industrial production, and to deepen bilateral trade, as well as to improve conditions for access to each other's markets," the EEC stated.
"Future agreements should be mutually beneficial and have the unconditional support of our peoples and our business. It is not by chance that we started talking about a temporary agreement, because time is really important. It is important for us to quickly and promptly achieve the result that everyone will feel," said Andrei Slepnev, a member of the Board (Minister) for Trade of the EEC, opening the consultations.
"It should be noted that since the days of the Soviet Union, Mongolia has considered Russia and other EAEU countries as priority foreign trade partners, but today their share in the total trade turnover is small. The future agreement should give an impetus to change the current situation," said Chimediin Khurelbaatar, Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia's Economy and Development.
"Following the consultations, the parties confirmed their focus on completing work on the agreement by the end of the year," the press service added.
In 2017-2021, the volume of trade between the EAEU and Mongolia increased by 34%, to $1.96 billion.