Mongolia has been acknowledged as the 7th participating state of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement at the 42nd session of the APTA Standing Committee convened in Incheon, the Republic of Korea.Established in 1975, APTA’s aim is to promote economic development and cooperation through the adoption of mutually beneficial trade liberalization measures and to promote intra-regional trade through the exchange of mutually agreed concessions by member countries.

At the session, UNESCAP Executive Secretary Noeleen Heyzer stated that APTA regional trade arrangements will bring benefits to Mongolia. 

Open to all developing member countries, APTA is a region-wide trade agreement spanning East and South Asia, with potential to expand to other sub-regions, including Central Asia and the Pacific. It is also the first multilateral agreement among the developing countries in the region to adopt common operational procedures for certification and verification of the origin of goods.