The United States and Mongolia held the third Joint Council meeting under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) on March 12, 2007

"On March 12, 2007, Mongolia and the United States held the third Joint Council meeting under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).  The delegations were led by Mongolia's Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade Yo. Sodbaatar and Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Timothy   Stratford, and included representatives of other relevant ministries and agencies from each country. The TIFA Joint Council meeting discussed present and future cooperation, the elimination of barriers to trade and investment, and concrete steps to further improve trade relations. Assistant USTR Stratford and US Ambassador Minton held meetings with N.Enkhbold, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and N.Bayartsaikhan, Interim Minister for Industry and Trade, apart from the other sectoral meetings with relevant Ministries and agencies.

During the meeting, the delegations noted two steps to increase cooperation.  The first step is the March 13-15 outreach efforts in Ulaanbaatar, Erdenet and Darkhan to promote expanded use by Mongolian exporters of the United States General System of Preferences (GSP) program.  These efforts have been jointly organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.  In addition, the U.S. Trade Development Agency has agreed to sponsor an orientation visit of Mongolian officials visit U.S. Federal and state governments to review methods for setting health and safety standards. "