South Korea and Mongolia have resumed official cooperation in science and technology after 14 years. The countries will hold a joint committee and a science and technology forum and strengthen cooperation between research institutes.

South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said on July 9 it held the third South Korea-Mongolia Joint Committee on Science and Technology with Mongolia's Ministry of Economy and Development on July 8 in Ulaanbaatar. It was the first joint committee meeting since 2012.

The two countries signed the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of the Mongolian People's Republic on Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation in 1991 and held joint committee meetings twice in 2010 and 2012. Official exchanges through the joint committee have been suspended since then.

The latest joint committee meeting was led by Bae Kyung-hoon (배경훈), deputy prime minister and minister of science and ICT, and Jadambyn Enkhbayar (자담빈 엔흐바야르), Mongolia's minister of economy and development. About 50 people, including officials from the two governments and research institutes, attended as delegations.

The two sides discussed ways to strengthen science and technology cooperation, including personnel exchanges and joint research. They also signed a memorandum of understanding, or MoU, to support science and technology cooperation between research institutes.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences signed an MoU to build a bilateral science and technology cooperation framework. The Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences will pursue cooperation in mineral resources. The Korean Collection for Type Cultures at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology and the Institute of Biology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences will cooperate in biotechnology.

The ministry signed an MoU on science and technology cooperation with Mongolia's Ministry of Economy and Development covering biotechnology, mineral resources, climate change and the environment, energy, and IT and AI, among other areas. It also held a South Korea-Mongolia science and technology forum with the Mongolian ministry to share cooperation agendas among science and technology innovation players in the two countries.

Bae said, "Through this joint committee meeting held after 14 years, we resumed science and technology cooperation and exchanges between South Korea and Mongolia and created momentum to revitalise science and technology cooperation between the two countries going forward." He added, "We will combine Mongolia's dynamic growth potential and natural resources with South Korea's science and technology innovation capabilities to create mutually beneficial science and technology cooperation outcomes."