AKIPRESS.COM - The 20th Mongolia and Russian Inter-Governmental Commission Meeting for trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation took place on December 13-14 in Ulaanbaatar, reports news.mn.
Vice-Premier U.Khurelsukh has led the Mongolian delegation and Sergei Donskoi, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment the Russian delegation.
The two sides have signed a protocol and agreed to strengthen cooperation in the spheres of food, agriculture, environment, technology, highways and other forms of transportation.
Minister Donskoi said: "The 20th Inter-Governmental Commission Meeting between our two countries has been a great success. We have discussed cooperation in a number of sectors. Out of these, I would like to highlight trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Mongolia. Currently, economic cooperation faces some difficulties; the volume of trade between our two countries decreased by 22% in 2015 and it had a negative rating in 2016. We need to put into action the ideas negotiated at a political level."
The two countries agreed on the following:
- Mongolian and Russian central banks will organize a meeting of creditors in 2017;
- 70 Mongolian students will receive scholarships from the Russian Federation to study at universities under supervision of the Ministry of Transport;
- intergovernmental agreement on railway transportation will be signed in 2017;
- the second stage in the joint programme for ‘making Mongolian livestock more healthy’ will be started. This project is essential in order to increase exports to Russia;
The countries agreed to hold an annual meeting on forest fire prevention issues.
The next 21st Mongolia and Russian Inter-Governmental Commission Meeting will be held in Russia in February 2017.
The Russian side expressed interest in establishing a joint company and participation in Mongolian energy projects, reconstruction of power stations.