Ulaanbaatar – On June 22 2018, the 18th Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI) Consultative Commission (CC) Meeting with the theme on “Enhance Connectivity, Promote Economic Integration in the region” was successfully held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The high-level delegates from the GTI Member States (Mongolia, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, and the Russian Federation), as well as the representatives from line ministries, the local governments of Northeast Asia, financial institutions, research institutions and international organizations attended the meeting.
This year, the side event High-level Forum on Priority Development Programs: Financial Cooperation Initiatives was also successfully organized on 21 June 2018 by Development Bank of Mongolia (DBM), where Mr. U. Enkhtuvshin, Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia, member of the Parliament of Mongolia gave the opening speech. During the forum, not only Priority Development Programs and major projects in Mining and Agriculture sectors were presented and discussed, Exim banks, Commercial banks and international financial organizations also had a panel discussion on the Sound financing mechanism for successful implementation of priority projects and programs.
On the day of 18th CC Meeting, Ms. Bulgantuya Khurelbaatar (Vice Minister for Finance of Mongolia) as the CC Chair of GTI signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and GTI with the witness of Mr. Tuguldur Baajiikhuu (Director of GTI Secretariat). The MOU aimed at deepening institutionalized cooperation between UNWTO and GTI, and identifying the areas and modalities of collaboration.
With the welcome speech delivered by head delegates from each member state, the 18th CC Meeting started. As Chair of the meeting, Ms. Bulgantuya Khurelbaatar listed out the consistent support from Mongolia to a variety of regional cooperation initiatives of GTI countries in the regional cooperation expansion. To further deepen and intensify the NEA cooperation, she called for the joint efforts on upgrading GTI to a new level – running consistently and effectively with legal independence, and committed to supporting the joint projects and studies of GTI related to financing and investment, as well as partnership promotion with Multilateral Development Banks (MDB).
In the speech by Mr. Ren Hongbin (Assistant Minister of Ministry of Commerce, People’s Republic of China), he expressed China’s determination to promote economic globalization and regional integration and to contribute to the growth and prosperity in the Greater Tumen Sub-region with various examples, and proposed to make efforts in following aspects to further strengthen regional connectivity and promote integration: 1) to accelerate the legal transition of the GTI to an independent international organization; 2) to expand the circle of friends; 3) to implement key projects.
Mr. Hwang Kunil (Deputy Minister of Ministry of Strategy and Finance, Republic of Korea) began his remarks with appreciation to the efforts of the international community including GTI member countries on facilitating the organization of inner-Korean summit twice this year. Also, the first-ever US-DPRK Summit was held recently. The permanent peace on the Korean peninsula and the strong synergy between members’ regional initiatives and GTI will bring enormous opportunities for mutual cooperation and co-prosperity in NEA once achieved. Since GTI has made steady progress since its inception in 1992, he believed that now GTI should make strategic efforts to take the regional cooperation into a higher level, by transforming into an international organization and encouraging DPRK to rejoin the GTI soon.
Ms. Natalia Stapran (Director General of Ministry of Economic Development, Russian Federation) emphasized the significance of developing the Project Office mechanism as well as the identification and implementation of solid projects of the GTI core sectors in her remarks. To maximize the potential of GTI for multilateral cooperation, she encouraged to expand the areas and prospects of collaboration, to develop the public-private partnership mechanism, to introduce the advance innovative technologies, and to deepen the interaction of GTI and other international organizations and MDB.
During the first session, the representatives carefully reviewed the progress on the development of Project Office Mechanism, endorsed the Interim Guideline for Staff Recruitment and the Concept Paper on the Business Cooperation, and had an in-depth discussion on the legal transition of GTI. Member countries supported and acknowledged the importance of the development of GTI Project Office mechanism as well as the business cooperation working group, urge GTI the strengthen the partnership development and reaffirmed their pledge to conclude the legal transition soon.
The GTI member states further reviewed the active activities and substantive progress in Transport, Trade & Investment, Tourism, Energy, Environment and Agriculture since the 17th CC Meeting, appraised the tangible progress and multiple achievements, and endorsed the following documents.
- Project Proposal: Joint exposition of GTI member countries at the XXII Pacific International Tourism Exhibition
- Project Proposal: Training for the GTI local governments on marketing of tourism destinations and tourism planning
- Project Proposal: China Agriculture Technical Study Tour
- Project Proposal: Policy Dialogue on Industrial Parks
- Project Proposal: GTI Northeast Asia Economic Cooperation Seminar
- Project Proposal: GTI workshop on FTA&RTA
During the Meeting, the joint sessions with GTI Local Cooperation Committee, NEA EXIM Banks Association, GTI Research Institutions Network (RIN) and GTI partners were conducted. Member states reviewed with satisfaction on the main outcomes and progress of NEA Local Cooperation Committee, collaborative efforts by EXIM Banks Association members in advancing and financing of Specialized Grain Terminal in Zarubino Port, and two Joint Projects of Research Institute Network: Promoting Connectivity in GTI in Physical, Institutional and People-to-People Dimensions, and Prospect of Greater Tumen Regional Cooperation. The chair expressed gratitude to the continuous strong support provided by international partners including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Economic Research Institute for Northeast Asia (ERINA) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Before the conclusion, the Meeting approved the 2017 Expenditure, the 2018 Budget Proposal and the 2018 Work Plan. The text of Ulaanbaatar Declaration was adopted by the official delegations.
Immediately after the Meeting, the government of the People’s Republic of China took the role of GTI CC Chairmanship. The 19th CC Meeting will take place in China in 2019.
