The Ministry of Food and Agriculture reported that it will be supporting the export of heat-processed meat to Japan under the economic partnership agreement (EPA) established between the two countries. State Secretary of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture N.Ariunbold said, “Mongolia needs to ensure its preparedness for exporting heat-processed meat to meet Japanese standards. Under the EPA we will not pay any taxes for exporting mutton and goat meat to the Japanese market. Japan will exempt a 4.2 percent tax on canned and semi-finished meat products within ten years. The EPA allows Mongolia to export canned beef products with set tariffs and volume allowances. “We believe that it is important to export meat and meat products to Japan by developing Mongolia’s farming industry. We will focus on that issue in the future. Two new meat factories that will meet Japan’s meat and meat product import requirements were opened in Mongolia. Currently, we are holding negotiations with the Japanese side. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture places great importance on boosting cooperation with Japanese producers, and believes that it is vital to export value-added meat products to Japan,” Ariunbold said. The ministry reported that Mongolia will export meat and meat products to China and Russia this year. China buys the largest quantity of Mongolia’s meat, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture reported that it has delivered proposals and requests to Chinese professional organizations to remove the restrictions placed on meat from the central regions of Mongolia due to a past foot-and- mouth disease outbreak. The ministry also reported that 12 domestic companies exported 4,715 tons of meat and meat products to foreign countries in 2015. In 2016, Mongolia exported over 1,000 tons of meat to foreign markets.