U.S.-Mongolia Transparency Agreement Lays FTA Foundation, Mongolia Says
The U.S.-Mongolian trade and investment transparency agreement signed Sept. 24 commits both parties to apply impartial trade and investment procedure and provides opportunity for private sector appeal, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in a press release (here). The agreement will also apply bribery and corruption disciplines, the release said.
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“Producers, suppliers, exporters and investors need the predictability that comes with a clear understanding of the policies and practices that are going to be applied,” said Froman in the release. The U.S. and Mongolia partnered to sign a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement in 2004. The Sept. 24-signed transparency agreement is the first stand-alone U.S. transparency agreement, USTR said. U.S. exports to Mongolia grew nearly six hundred percent in two years, to more than $665 in 2012, USTR said. The agreement document provides opportunity to expand that relationship, according to the Mongolian Foreign Ministry.
“The document serves as a precondition for concluding a free trade agreement with the United States,” the Mongolian Foreign Ministry said (here). The U.S. currently shares free trade agreements with 20 countries (here). The administration also continues to push the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership trade pacts (see 13091118).