Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry Mr Enkhbayar and representatives from the Ministry of Economy and Development, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Protection, as well as EU Member States (Czech Republic and France) and the European Investment Bank participated in the meeting. The parties discussed and confirmed two new project proposals, along with financing opportunities and future cooperation.

MoECC, 2024

The Forest Partnership between Mongolia and the European Union started in 2022, with signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by Khurelsukh, President of Mongolia and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The cooperation was further strengthened with the approval of the Roadmap of the Forest Partnership in 2023.

The Partnership focuses on addressing the challenges and issues in the forestry sector related to mitigating the negative impacts of climate change, protecting and preserving environment, restoring forests and creating green jobs in line with the country’s development priorities.

Today’s meeting focussed on the review of the Forest Partnership’s achievements as well as the presentation of two new initiatives: firstly, the preparation of the portfolio of projects that will be funded by the European Union via a grant and by the European Investment Bank via a loan, and secondly the EU-funded Forest Global Value Chain Programme, focussing on the forestry institutional reform, implemented by the FAO. Both initiatives have been welcome and strongly supported by the co-chairs and the working group members.   

MoECC, 2024

Under the Forest Partnership, the first phase of the project “Ensuring Sustainable Agricultural Management and Ecosystem Stability in Mongolia” (STREAM) project has been successfully completed earlier this year, and the second phase STREAM+ project has started in August 2024. STREAM+ project is jointly initiated by the European Union, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of Mongolia, and being implemented by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) until 2028.

The implementation of the Forest Partnership Roadmap aims at bringing positive results in improving inter-sectoral coordination and enable Mongolia to implement more efficient and climate-resilient activities, which will not only raise the living standards of rural populations but also help protect the environment for future generations.

MoECC, 2024