For the first time, the Business School of National University of Mongolia (NUM) convened a conference on Mongolia’s Regional Integration and Trade Policy from 15 to 16 of December 2017. The conference took place in the Foreign Ministry of Mongolia. Various partners such as the Inner Mongolian University of Finance and Economics jointly implemented the academic event which brought together over 30 Mongolian and international researchers. Alongside other partners, such as the Northeast Asian Think Tank ERINA, GIZ supported the event.
During the conference, researchers and practitioners from the public and private sector discussed issues such as and presented up-to-date research on trade facilitation, cross-border economic zones, trade policy and other core processes of regional integration and cooperation.
Magnus Brod, GIZ SCSI Programme Director, shared insights on Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI) as a platform for regional integration. The initiative with the member countries Mongolia, China, Russian Federation, and the Republic of Korea, is an example for the flexible Asian regionalism. In his presentation, he pointed out three success factors for regional integration: first, the elaboration and approval of regional agreements, second, the implementation of regional agreements on the national level, and lastly the utilisation of improved framework regarding trade and investment. All three aspects need to be in place for Mongolia to harness the benefits from regional cooperation regarding job creation, stability and economic development.
GIZ SCSI is supporting Mongolia’s active involvement in regional mechanisms such as GTI since 2010 with a special emphasis on trade facilitation and local government cooperation in Northeast Asia.