President Lee Jae-myung, on a state visit to Mongolia, held a summit with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh on the 9th (local time) and said the two countries will "join forces to reach $1 billion in trade by 2030, taking the principled conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) negotiations as an opportunity."
That day, President Lee said, "The two countries agreed to expand cooperation in the economy, trade, and investment, and to strengthen cooperation in supply chains and critical minerals," adding, "The two countries confirmed a shared vision to open the 'golden era of Korea-Mongolia relations' together and adopted a joint declaration reflecting that goal."
President Lee added, "This joint declaration is the greatest outcome of the talks and will become an important milestone for the bilateral relationship going forward."
That day, the two leaders declared the principled conclusion of negotiations on the Korea-Mongolia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The main points of the principled conclusion are as follows: ▲ accelerating cooperation on critical mineral supply chains ▲ strengthening distribution cooperation and advancing K-consumer goods ▲ diversifying industrial and investment cooperation.
Mongolia, a resource-rich country with copper and rare earths, will, through this CEPA, immediately remove the 2%–5% import tariffs that Korea had imposed on these minerals, establishing an institutional foundation for our corporations to secure key raw materials more economically.
CEPA also codifies the basis for cooperation between the two countries in the energy and minerals sectors, enabling institutional support for bilateral cooperation on critical mineral supply chains.
The Korea-Mongolia CEPA is Mongolia's second bilateral FTA after the Japan-Mongolia EPA, which took effect in 2016.
The two countries also signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to strengthen cooperation in each field, including artificial intelligence (AI), the energy transition, and the health industry.
The two countries signed an MOU on cooperation in the energy transition and agreed to cooperate on promoting clean energy generation projects, expanding power infrastructure, and modernizing aging power grids. In addition, regarding Mongolia's desertification and yellow dust issues that affect all of Northeast Asia, the two countries also signed an MOU to promote forest restoration and sustainable forest management.
Cooperation in the economic sector was also strengthened. The two countries signed a distribution and logistics cooperation MOU and agreed to establish a "distribution and logistics policy council" (tentative name), a cooperation framework in which Director General-level officials from Korea and Mongolia participate, and to expand cooperation in goods, personnel, and infrastructure.
The two countries also revised the health cooperation memorandum of understanding (MOU). Through this, they agreed to cooperate in the health industry in the following areas: ▲ cooperation on health care systems such as primary care and training health care personnel ▲ management of noncommunicable diseases such as cancer and cardio-cerebrovascular diseases ▲ AI-based Digital Healthcare.
President Khurelsukh said, "The Republic of Korea is Mongolia's 'third neighbor' and a country with which we have an important strategic partnership," adding, "Through this historic visit (by President Lee), we will be able to open a golden era in bilateral relations," and "This visit will make a valuable contribution to increasing substantive economic cooperation."