The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Mongolia Office signed two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) at the ERIA Annex office in Central Jakarta, Indonesia, on 4 March 2016.

Signatories to the MoU were H.E. Mrs Battsetseg Shagdar, Ambassador of Mongolia to Indonesia, and Mr Izuru Kobayashi, ERIA's Chief Operating Officer.

The two MoUs spell out the framework for cooperation between the two organisations to conduct joint studies. The first study will focus on supporting the regional integration and connectivity between Asia and Europe, acknowledging that increased connectivity and cooperation in Asian countries and connectivity between Europe and Asia will be a driver for strong global value chains, among others. The second study, to be conducted with the Energy Ministry of Mongolia, will focus on power grid development plan in the country.

Discussions between H.E. Mr Danba Gankhuyag, State Secretary of the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Prof Hidetoshi Nishimura, President of ERIA, during the former's visit to ERIA in October 2015 laid the foundation for this cooperation through joint studies on connectivity.

The two MoUs focus on a few key areas such as policy recommendations to support connectivity between Asia and Europe, creating better institutions using through people-to-people connectivity, analysis on connectivity vis-a-vis trade and investment, and power development plan using clean coal technologies.

Both organisations will contribute resources to conduct joint projects by creating working groups. Outcomes of these working groups are expected to be presented at the upcoming ASEM Summit in Ulaanbaatar in July 2016.