CAREC Institute Contributes to Discussion on Industrial Policies for Mongolia

Chief Economist of the CAREC Institute, Dr. Hans Holzhacker provided inputs to the Workshop “Industrial Policy for Mongolia’s Ministry of Economy and Development: Sectoral Performance and Policy Implementation,” which was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 14-16 August 2023. The workshop was organized by UNIDO in cooperation with the German Development Cooperation with the goal to facilitate the capacity development of policymakers in Mongolia on industrial policy.

During his presentation, Dr. Hans Holzhacker provided an overview of economic developments in the CAREC region with a specific focus on Mongolia. He pointed to the challenges and opportunities of the current disruptive technological and climate change and highlighted the need for diversifying Mongolia’s production and export structure. Dr. Hans Holzhacker stated that more production downstream of mining would be desirable as Mongolia is highly dependent on a few raw materials, mainly coal and copper, and the development of their export prices. About 25 percent of Mongolia’s GDP comes from mining while manufacturing accounts for only about 8 percent of GDP.

Participants of the workshop discussed international best policy practices for industrial diversification, newly emerging sectors, and development of small and medium enterprises. Experts from the Korea Institute of Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) highlighted the Korean experience. A special section of the workshop was devoted to UNIDO’s Evidence-Based Industrial Policymaking and the Enhancing the Quality of Industrial Policies Toolkit, where participants learned how to map the existing industrial policies, to identify policy gaps, duplications, missed synergies, etc., considering the best practices from other countries, and to advocate for industrial policy improvement.