A woman stands beside a group of goats gathered near a metal livestock pen on a dry open plain
Goats in Govisumber province, Mongolia, in August. Cashmere is among the products granted duty-free access to the Eurasian Economic Union under an agreement in force since July. Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images

ULAANBAATAR — Mongolia's provisional trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union entered into force on July 22, opening duty-free access to a common market of 190 million consumers for the products it most wants to sell: wool, cashmere, leather and meat.

Two months later, officials from both sides spent two days in Ulaanbaatar discussing why that has not yet translated into shipments.

The second Forum of Regions of Russia and Mongolia, held on Sept. 14 and 15, brought together more than 400 representatives from 14 Russian regions — among them Irkutsk, Buryatia, Altai Krai, Tuva, Kalmykia, Zabaykalsky Krai, Primorsky Krai and Sakha — alongside government bodies and businesses from the Mongolian aimags of Khövsgöl, Töv, Khovd and Uvs. Russia's delegation was led by Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, Mongolia's by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Development Jadambyn Enkhbayar.

Tariffs were never the obstacle

The Joint Committee established under the trade agreement held its first meeting on the sidelines of the forum, and the agenda indicates where the difficulty lies.

Mr. Overchuk gave particular attention to non-tariff regulation: technical regulations, sanitary and veterinary controls, and customs procedures. Those are the mechanisms that determine whether a Mongolian meat consignment can legally enter Russia, not the duty rate applied when it does.

For a country exporting livestock products, veterinary certification is the binding constraint. Rules-of-origin verification, predictable customs treatment, logistics capacity and — not least — buyers all sit between preferential access and an actual shipment. The agreement has moved from tariff policy into supply-chain policy, and the Joint Committee is the mechanism through which one becomes the other, or does not.

A first Trade in Goods Subcommittee is planned for the end of this year, with a ministerial meeting expected in the first quarter of 2027.

What the other side wants

Access runs both ways, and the EAEU's list is instructive.

Its representatives raised access to the Mongolian market for tobacco and tobacco products, eggs, fish and meat preserves, alcohol and flour.

Mongolia is seeking to sell raw and semi-processed commodities into a market of 190 million. The union is seeking to sell processed consumer goods into a market of 3.5 million. That is the ordinary shape of trade between a small economy and a large bloc, and it is worth stating rather than leaving implicit.

The relationship around it

Russian and Mongolian regions held close to 30 joint events in the first nine months of 2026, and more than 70 Russian constituent entities maintain regular ties with Mongolian partners.

Russia continues to supply Mongolia with fuel and lubricants. Mutual tourist flows have reached nearly 500,000 trips, about 95 percent of them by road — a figure that explains the interest in expanding air services, including a possible resumption of direct flights between Moscow and Ulaanbaatar. Nineteen Russian regions have indicated readiness to develop joint travel routes under the Great Tea Road project.

Russia has allocated 620 state-funded university places for Mongolian students for the 2026/2027 academic year. The two countries have marked the 105th anniversary of diplomatic relations with roughly 30 events.

The wider position

On Sept. 2 and 3, China, Russia and Mongolia held their second joint border defence exercise. President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh met both Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. Prime Minister Uchral Nyam-Osor met Mr. Putin in early September.

Mongolia's declared foreign policy is the Third Neighbour strategy — maintaining partnerships beyond the two states that surround it. What the past month describes is not distance from either, but an attempt to ensure that neither relationship becomes exclusive.