Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and the United States and at the initiative of the Bank of Mongolia, an academic conference “35 Years of Mongolia-United States Cooperation” was held on December 12, 2022. The conference was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, the Ministry of Economy and Development, the Embassy of the United States of America in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the AmCham Mongolia.

Governor of the Bank of Mongolia B. Lkhagvasuren,  State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs N. Ankhbayar, and the United States Ambassador to Mongolia Richard L. Buangan made opening remarks.

The conference participants made presentations on the current state of bilateral trade and economic cooperation and exchanged views on the opportunities and roadmap for further development of existing cooperation.

According to the presentations of the participants, the trade turnover between the two countries reached its highest level in 2011 at USD 541 million; in October 2022, it reached USD 218 million. Mongolia mainly exports goods from its manufacturing sector to the U.S. Imports from the U.S. mainly comprise cars, car parts, machinery and equipment, food, and consumer goods.

In October 2022, Mongolia exported goods worth USD 9 million to the U.S., of which 94 percent were manufacturing inputs. Total exports to the U.S. were at their highest in 2003–2008 and 2017 due to increased exports of gold and manufacturing input products such as cashmere goods, shoes, and clothes.

In October 2022, i) cashmere goods, ii) machinery, equipment, and parts, iii) shoes, clothes, and other manufacturing inputs accounted for 52, 33, and 9 percent of manufacturing input exported to the USA.

In October 2022, Mongolia’s imports from the U.S. reached USD 209 million, which is 3 percent of Mongolia`s total imports. Mongolia primarily imports capital and consumer goods from the U.S.

Total imports from the U.S. were at their highest from 2011 to 2013 due to increased imports of machinery, equipment, and supplies, vehicles other than passenger cars, and parts of capital sector goods. In October 2022, USD 131 million of capital sector goods and USD 62 million of consumer goods were imported from the U.S. Passenger cars, parts, food, and other non-durables are the most common consumer goods imported from the U.S.

In the 2nd quarter of 2022, Mongolia’s direct investment position reached USD 27.1 billion, of which 2.5% or USD 679 million is related to the U.S.

Full presentations can be found here.