SOME ISSUES OF INCREASING TRADE BETWEEN MONGOLIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Abstract In the Northeast Asian region, Mongolia and the Republic of Korea have had long-standing friendly political and economic relations. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and Republic of Korea in 1990, relations have strengthened in a variety of areas, including politics, culture, education, economy and investment. For instance, Korea and Mongolia's bilateral trade rose significantly by 146 times from USD 2.7 million in 1990 to USD 395 million in 2011. In 2011, leaders of the two countries signed the “Comprehensive Partnership Agreement”, representing a new stage in bilateral cooperation. They set a goal to develop cooperation in several areas as a result of the agreement. However, there have been no substantial improvements in trade sector, in last years. According to the statistics, trade turnover peaked at USD 520 million in 2013, then steadily declined and reached to USD 257 million in 2020. In 2016, leaders of the two countries agreed to form a joint working group to study the possibility of concluding an economic partnership agreement between Mongolia and the Korea to expand trade and economic cooperation. In 2017, a feasibility study on the Mongolia-Korea EPA was launched, but no formal decision on the agreement has been made. The main aim of this research was to examine the current state of trade between the Mongolia and Korea and conduct analysis in order to find out opportunities to increase and sustain the trade between the two counties.