Economic partnership agreement to be signed with South Korea

During his official visit to South Korea, Speaker of Parliament G.Zandanshatar met Speaker of the National Assembly Kim Jin-pyo on October 26 to exchange views on the expansion of bilateral relations and cooperation.

In specific, the parties talked about and shared their views on the issue of widening their cooperation in the fields of history, culture, science, technology, tourism and mining.

In order to enhance economic cooperation between the countries, attract more investment and create a supportive legal environment, Speaker G.Zandanshatar pledged to intensify efforts at the parliamentary level to renew the Agreement on the Mutual Promotion and Protection of Investments and establish an economic partnership agreement.

Highlighting that in the past 32 years, relations and cooperation between the two countries have advanced quickly to the level of Strategic Partnership, the Mongolian speaker said that South Korea has consistently backed Mongolia since its democratic transition. He expressed his interest in intensifying bilateral cooperation to improve parliamentary democracy and learn from the best practices of the National Assembly of South Korea based on shared values of democracy, human rights, freedom and a free market economy.

The speaker also mentioned that Mongolia and South Korea are stepping up their partnership in the areas of the environment and green development, and emphasized how crucial it is for both countries to support investments and financing for green projects as well as accelerate development based on the green economy.

G.Zandanshatar expressed his desire to intensify and broaden the cooperation between the parliamentary friendship groups and the secretariats.

During the meeting, Speaker Kim noted the crucial role that parliaments and parliamentary friendship groups play in fostering a stable legal framework and enriching bilateral relations with economic content. He then emphasized the value of establishing an economic partnership agreement, ensuring investment guarantees and fortifying ties between the people and enterprises of the two countries.

He said that it is possible to elevate economic ties to a new level by leveraging South Korea’s cuttingedge technology, innovation and industrial development and Mongolia’s abundant natural resources, before requesting support for the establishment of a research center for rare earth elements, which was agreed upon during the South Korean foreign minister’s visit to Mongolia in August.

On Thursday, Speaker G.Zandanshatar also gave an address at Trans-Pacific Sustainability Dialogue.

He remarked, “As Mongolia is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, it is implementing the ‘Billions of Trees’ national movement in order to mitigate climate change, reduce its negative effects, reduce deforestation and degradation, and ensure the balance of the ecosystem. Our country is located in a region with huge renewable energy resources. This shows that Mongolia has the potential to increase renewable energy production and further contribute to regional energy cooperation.”