EU relations with Mongolia

13.4.2011

Question for oral answer O-000091/2011
to the Commission
Rule 115
Paolo Bartolozzi, Vito Bonsignore, Mario Mauro, Gabriele Albertini, Roberta Angelilli, Aldo Patriciello, Lara Comi, Giovanni Collino, Salvatore Iacolino, Raffaele Baldassarre, Cristiana Muscardini, Barbara Matera, Erminia Mazzoni, Sergio Paolo Frances Silvestris, Carlo Fidanza, Iva Zanicchi, Alfredo Pallone, Licia Ronzulli, Antonio Cancian, Alfredo Antoniozzi, Giovanni La Via, Marco Scurria, Sergio Berlato, Amalia Sartori, Elisabetta Gardini, Potito Salatto, Alfreds Rubiks, Bart Staes, Britta Thomsen, Piotr Borys, Joachim Zeller, Niccolò Rinaldi, Bogdan Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Jaromír Kohlíček, Hannes Swoboda, Vilja Savisaar-Toomast, Herbert Dorfmann, Jarosław Kalinowski, Kyriacos Triantaphyllides, Béla Kovács, Inese Vaidere, Elisabeth Jeggle, Ivari Padar, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Rolandas Paksas, Ivars Godmanis

At present, EU relations with Mongolia are based on the framework of the 1993 EU-Mongolia Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

The EU and Mongolia, however, are in the process of concluding a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA). This Agreement, initialled on 20 December 2010 in Ulaanbaatar, has not been signed yet, and awaits ratification by the EU and by the Member States (according to their respective ratification procedures). The Agreement, therefore, will have to be submitted to the European Parliament under the consent procedure.

In this context it is also important to underline that the EU is not yet represented by a Delegation in Ulaanbaatar. Such an initiative could significantly contribute to a further deepening of our political and economic cooperation.

Taking into consideration the ties that have developed between the EU and Mongolia, a stable country whose democratic movement will be celebrating its centenary this year, can the Commission inform Parliament:

– on the main characteristics of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and the foreseeable schedule for ratification and subsequent entry into force?

– on the possibilities of opening a European Union Delegation in Ulaanbaatar in the near future?

Tabled: 13.4.2011

Forwarded: 15.4.2011

Deadline for reply: 22.4.2011