Facilitating trade with EU discussed at joint meeting

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Mongolia and the EU, the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) held on May 29 a joint meeting with Ambassadors and Non-Resident Ambassadors of EU countries to Mongolia.

The parties shared views on further cooperation between the EU and the MNCCI, facilitating and boosting the Mongolian trade with EU countries and tackling problems and barriers in it.

By the year 2018, Mongolia exported goods of EUR 74 million to EU countries, and forty percent of the exported products were semi-processed commodities. The country imported goods of EUR 313 million from EU, and 88 percent were machines and equipment.

In 2005, Mongolia was included in the Generalized System of Preference (GSP+) which allows the country to export its 7,200 kinds of products to EU countries. However, the types of products have been still limited over the past decade, and most of the exported things were combed cashmere, cashmere knitted goods, felt products, carpets, Mongolian yurts, wooden furniture and semi-processed leather.

The EU has been implementing a number of projects to refine upon a trade policy of Mongolia, facilitate trade and support the Mongolian export, and one of them is the EU-funded Trade Related Assistance for Mongolia (TRAM) project which commenced in 2017.

Participants at the meeting said Mongolian companies still encounter non-tariff difficulties although they enjoy the tariff discounts, so the MNCCI Chairman O.Amartuvshin emphasized Mongolian companies and relevant bodies should closely cooperate with the EU government in maximizing kinds of products and harmonizing them with EU standards and hygiene.

The Ambassadors said they will carry on the cooperation with Mongolia in resolving the above issues, also improving the standards of Mongolian exporting goods, conducting a research on the exporting environment, creating and expanding clusters for exporting products.