Italy to open Embassy in Ulaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Republic of Italy will open its Embassy in Mongolia next year. Such a decision has been made as a result of the official visit of Mongolia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs to Italy October 23-24 of 2015 when the sides shared views on ways of boosting the bilateral relations and cooperation in economic and cultural spheres. Having established the diplomatic ties in 1970, the two countries intensified a cooperation in politics, economy and culture in 1990s. Mongolia opened its Embassy on October 17 of 2011 in Rome. As of present, Mr Sh.Odonbaatar has been the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to Italy. In a scope of the bilateral cooperation, the two countries established an intergovernmental agreement in 1993 on supporting and co-protecting investments, an intergovernmental agreement in 1996 on the economic and technical cooperation, another agreement in 2003, and an agreement on exempting diplomatic passport holders from visa requirements in 2014. Mongolia began trading with Italy in 1973. The Mongolian side imports facilities, manufacturing tools, foods, shoes and clothes from Italy, and exports to it leather, wool and cashmere. As of 2013, 52 Italian companies invested USD 26.8 million in Mongolia, mostly in commerce, foods and processing of livestock products. In 2014, the Mongolian export to Italy stood at USD 51.4 million, whereas the import--USD 45.3 million.