Mongolia and Japan Enter Economic Partnership

On 8th of May 2016, Governments of Mongolia and Japan exchanged a diplomatic note verbale on implementation of the Mongolia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Accordingly, the agreement entered into force starting from 7th of June 2016.

The agreement seeks to increase trade of goods and services, encourage investment and people-to-people relations between the two countries. It is also an important part of Mongolia’s efforts at strengthening its own regional economic integration. The agreement enables Mongolia to attract investment and adopt know-how from Japan, export its goods and services to Japan and to third markets and to further link itself with regional economies and production chains.

The agreement covers liberalization of 5700 tariff lines from Mongolian side and 9300 tariff lines from Japanese, enabling Mongolian businessmen to supply goods originating from Mongolia to Japanese market ate preferential tariff rates.

The annual monetary circulation in trade between Mongolia and Japan is generally between USD 300 million to USD 500 million, which is equal to 3-4 percent of the entire international trade of Mongolia. The parties expect this number to grow due to the positive effects of the new EPA agreement.