ABOUT MONGOLIA-EU PARTNERSHIP AND COOPERATION AGREEMENT

Ulaanbaatar, /MONTSAME/ The first round talks ran Thursday in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish a partnership and cooperation agreement between Mongolia and the European Union (EU).
The sides expressed their satisfaction with active development of the Mongolia-EU relations, and noted they are attaching great importance to these talks, which will widen the bilateral cooperation in all spheres and enrich it with new contents. The sides agreed to host the next round of the talks in Brussels, Belgium, and to bring it to an end in the short run.
The Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) of the EU, which is made with states, covers all the spheres for bilateral collaboration as for the structure. However, the EU established the PCA with many countries with a variety of contents depending on countries' characters and interests.
The EU established the PCA with the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in late 1990s. Main purposes of these PCAs are to conduct political talks, create mechanism for the talks, enhance the democracy and system of human rights, to back efforts for developing the market economy.
The PCA were also established with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. These agreements focuse directions on supporting free trade, issue on intellectual property, reducing difficulties in commerce and on regulation on origin of products. In addition, it includes issues on immigration, human trafficking, and trade of drugs.
Mongolia put forward its proposal on establishment of the PCA in 2006. Official talks started September 2009, the first round of the talks was conducted January 21, 2010.
B.Khuder
16.24