Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his support. He makes two points that warrant response. On the matter of the form of framework agreement which members will have, it is a rather standard agreement with a wide range of references and issues from human rights to trade to counter-terrorism. I do not see any aspect which is specifically designed for the EU's relationship with Mongolia. Rather, it is indicative of the fact that Mongolia is anxious, as is the EU, to co-operate in a formal partnership along the lines other countries have engaged with the European Union. It is a form of common standard.

On human rights, I remarked earlier that Mongolia is currently a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the 2016-2018 term. Since 1992 and the introduction of a democratic constitution in Mongolia, there has been a remarkable success in that country in the transition to a market economy and democracy, as borne out in United Nations assessments. I acknowledge the significant progress on human rights in Mongolia. It has a national human rights commission which has been judged to be fully compliant with the Paris principles on national human rights institutions. In 2015, the Mongolian Parliament voted in favour of a new criminal code which abolished the death penalty for all crimes and which took effect from September 2016. The first ever EU-Mongolia human rights dialogue took place in March 2017. There has been and continues to be much progress in that regard.