On the sidelines of the June 27 Supreme Eurasian Economic Council's meeting in Minsk, an Interim Trade Agreement was signed between the Eurasian Economic Union and its Member States, on the one part, and Mongolia, on the other part.
The document was signed by: Mher Grigoryan, Vice Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia; Natalia Petkevich, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus; Serik Jumangarin, Deputy Prime Minister — Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Daniyar Amangeldiev, First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic; Alexey Overchuk, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation; Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission; as well as Uchral Nyam-osor, Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia and Minister of Economy and Development.
The signed agreement marks a new stage in the development of trade relations between the EAEU countries and Mongolia. It covers 367 commodity sub-items for each party, on which customs duties will be zeroed out or reduced from the date the document enters into force.
The agreement is concluded for three years with a possibility to renew it for an additional three-year period.
"According to statistics, tariff preferences will cover $2 billion of EAEU exports to Mongolia, i.e. more than 90%. The agreed preferences will allow EAEU companies to save up to $100 million annually," noted Andrey Slepnev, Minister in charge of Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
As he explained, in accordance with the signed trade agreement agriculturists of the EAEU countries will have preferential conditions for supplying to the Mongolian market such essentials as wheat, corn, dairy products, vegetable oils, meat and poultry products, sugar, confectionery, cheese, mineral water and alcoholic beverages. As for industrial goods, growth in supplies is forecast for metallurgy products (ferroalloys, hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel, rods, angles, pipes, etc.), motor vehicles (cars, buses, trucks, special machinery, automotive components, trailers, etc.), products of railway engineering and chemical industry (polymers, plastic sheets and parts), tires, nitrogen fertilizers, medicines, etc.
In turn, Mongolian goods with preferential access will be meat (horse meat, cattle meat, mutton, canned meat, offal), dairy products (yogurts, cheese), light industry goods (wool, yarns), as well as finished light industry products of high-quality, including knitted and textile clothing.
Possibilities for further cooperation are set out in the non-tariff part of the agreement: in technical regulation, sanitary, veterinary and phytosanitary measures, customs cooperation, e-commerce and economic cooperation.
"Over the past few years, trade turnover between the EAEU and Mongolia has already grown more than one and a half times. We expect that once the agreement is operational, this trend will be maintained and reinforced, which will allow us to increase our trade turnover to $3 billion," Andrey Slepnev stated.Once signed, the Interim Trade Agreement will be submitted for ratification procedures in Mongolia and the EAEU countries required for its enactment.
