Kwon Hye-jin, Director general for trade negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, visited Mongolia to meet with trade and resources officials, including Batkhuu Idesh, who heads Mongolia’s CEPA negotiation team, according to theasiatoday.org. During the meeting, Kwon called for efforts to bridge differences in areas where talks had stalled, as South Korea and Mongolia discussed accelerating negotiations for a bilateral comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA). The agreement is expected to deepen critical minerals cooperation, the outlet reported.

South Korea and Mongolia had held four rounds of CEPA negotiations until November 2024, but the talks have stalled due to concerns within Mongolia over market opening and differences over details in agreement on goods and rules of origin, according to the ministry. Kwon’s visit aimed to address these specific hurdles to resume progress on the bilateral deal.

In a separate development, trade officials from South Korea and Uzbekistan discussed economic cooperation, Yonhap reported. These discussions occurred ahead of the S. Korea-Central Asia summit, signaling ongoing diplomatic engagement with Central Asian nations.