Future for Foreign Investment in Mongolia Bright

November 27, 2009 Posted by China Briefing Reading Time: 2 minutes

Mongolia

BEIJING, Nov. 27 – The future for Mongolia is very bright according to Ganhhuyag Hutagt, the chief executive officer for TenGer Financial Group of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, who spoke at to a reception hosted by the Business Advisory Council of the Greater Tumen Initiative in Beijing on Monday.

Discussing investment trends and opportunities in Mongolia, Mr. Hutagt said he believed that the country’s location between Russia and China was an advantage. Every invested dollar will be worth US$1.84 in the future he said.

Opportunities exist for foreign investment in several sectors in Mongolia, including, mining (where 100 percent foreign ownership is possible), wind and solar energy, and housing. Mongolia’s main industries – construction materials, mining (coal, copper, molybdenum, fluorspar, tin, tungsten and gold), oil, food and beverages, animal product processing and cashmere and natural fiber manufacturing – currently account for 21.4 percent of Mongolia’s GDP.

Mongolia’s economy is centered on agriculture and mining, with independent businesses limited mainly to the capital of Ulaanbaatar. While the country has a labor law that is heavily pro-employee and labor unions are quite strong, beneficial tax rates (one of the most favorable in the world with VAT, corporate income tax and individual income tax all at 10 percent) and abundant natural resources make investing in Mongolia, especially in key sectors like mining and infrastructure, attractive.

The United Nations Development Program-supported Greater Tumen Initiative was established in 1995. With the four member countries of China, Mongolia, South Korea and Russia, it has functioned as a unique intergovernmental platform for economic cooperation in Northeast Asia. The goal of GTI is to strengthen economic cooperation for greater growth and sustainable development in Northeast Asia, and in Greater Tumen region in particular. In 2005 the GTI Business Advisory Council, is a private-public partnership comprised of regional business leaders, was created with a goal to attract new and better businesses to the region and make the region more business friendly.

Related Reading:
The Greater Tumen Initiative web site